SIMS 213 Assignment: Third Interactive Prototype

Third Interactive Prototype
SIMS 213, Spring 2006
Due on Thurday, May 11, 9am

Goal:

    The goal of this assignment is to complete the final iteration on your project prototype and write up a summary of the entire project.

UI Redesign:

    You have performed a pilot usability study of your prototype. Incorporate as many of the changes suggested by this study as you can into the final version of your UI prototype. The prototype should be frozen (that is, not modified further) by the due date of this assignment.

Write-up:

    This is a group assignment, so please work as a group. Note which parts each of your team members contributes to.

    A runnable version of your prototype must be available off of your project web page along with information on how to use it (passwords, scenarios, etc).

    Your write-up should be comprehensive (including sketches and screen dumps). Your entire write-up and web page should be up to date with all of the files stored locally (so that we can just copy the site for our archives -- links should be relative.) It is ok to reuse text that you've used for other assignments, so long as it is up-to-date. These materials should include your final class presentation.

    Suggested outline for writeup:

    1. Problem statement.
    2. Solution Overview (1 paragraph)
    3. Personas and Scenarios (final versions)
    4. Describe the Final Interface Design
      • Describe the functionality (i.e., what you can do with it)
      • Provide a description of the main parts of the interaction flow. This can be a flowchart. This is important because it will provide you with a record of how the UI worked or was intended to work, long after the implementation no longer works. It could in principle also act as a deliverable to hand off to an implementor.
      • What was left unimplemented?
      • Tools you used to develop the system
        • Tools used for prototyping and implementing the UI
        • Pros and cons of these tools for your project
    5. Design Evolution
      • Describe how your UI changed from initial sketches, low-fi testing, HE, and final usability test.
      • Show what the major changes were and why they were made.
      • Describe which of the three evaluation technique (low-fi prototype run-through, heuristic evaluation, pilot usability test) was most valuable to your prototypes usability and why.
    6. Link to class presentation.