SIMS 213
User Interface Design and Development

Project Overview

Assign 1
project proposal

Assign 2
personas, goals, and task analysis

Assign 3
Scenarios, Comparative Analysis, and Initial Design

Assign 4
Low-fi Prototying & Usability Testing

Project Presentation (powerpoint file)

Assign 5
First Interactive Prototype

Assign 6
Project Heuristic Evaluation

Assign 7
Second Interactive Prototype

Assign 8
Pilot Usability Study

Assign 9
Third Interactive Prototype

Project Overview

The 21st century gold rush is in China. As the country emerges both as the world's largest consumer market and as a major business contender, increasing numbers of companies are seeking to establish value chain relationships, joint ventures, and regional offices in China. Other individuals are looking to launch companies in China, and students are looking for jobs. All want to better understand China’s high-tech industry and how it has developed over time. These prospectors need a multitude of resources: books, maps, industry analyst reports, news articles, and news group postings. Internet portals (such as Sina.com, China.com, and Sohu.com) are currently the best source for consolidated information but tend to present text-heavy information that is time-intensive for people to use. Many portals try to be all things to all users, offering news as well as games and dating services. Others simply aggregate links to news articles, many of which may no longer be accessible. Users often must contend with information overload and outdated information.

Our Solution

We are designing an English-language portal to Chinese high-tech industry information for people looking to find jobs, research school projects, stay abreast of industry news, analyze trends, determine the size of various markets, look for potential business opportunities, and see who key players are. Our goal is to leverage various resources — possibly including company databases, links to news stories and weblogs, descriptions of China-related professional events and associations, graphical information (maps showing industry concentration by region; statistical graphs and charts), and news group postings — via a clean interface and efficient search engine. Through a single portal, users will be able to view trends for specific industries over time, track industry-specific news in China and related commentary, view the growth of their industry in the major booming regions, research newsworthy companies, and obtain other information on doing business in China or with Chinese companies.

Final Prototype
http://dream.sims.berkeley.edu:8080/MappingChina/index.jsp

 
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