1. Lectures
Watch the week 8 lecture videos.
2. Reading
Choose 1-2 of the videos or articles from the reading list this week. Enter your reading reflection (250 word max) into the week 8 entry of the design notebook. Put your full name in bracket after the reading reflection paragraph. More details are available under Deliverable 1.c.
3. Design Iteration
Before creating the high-fidelity prototype, re-design your app by re-thinking the features. First, as a team, discuss the following questions based on your findings from interviews (affinity diagrams and work models): (i) What is the main problem you are trying to address? (ii) Are your current set of features really going to solve the main problem? Why or why not? Second, re-design your app by adding new features or modifying existing features. Important: refine features that are too general into features that are more specific and targeted towards solving the user’s problem (see lecture video for more explanation). Finally, for each new or modified features, re-do some of the design activities (e.g., storyboards, sketches, user flows). Include in design notebook photos and writeups for the three steps above.
4. Create High-Fidelity Prototype
As a team, start to create one high-fidelity prototype on Figma. For consistency, all students should use Figma and not any other high-fidelity prototyping tools. First, review your observations from the low-fidelity prototype evaluation. When are you making users think? How can you improve the design of your app to not make users think so much? Second, discuss and decide on the high-level design choices. What message is your app trying to convey? How can colour and logo convey that message? What is the high-level purpose of your app? How can the home screen clearly communicate this purpose? The list of things to decide on include: (1) whether you want to design for iPhone or Android (pick one), (2) Name of the App, (3) Logo, (4) Color Schemes, (5) Key features + changes to the interface / user flow, (6) Feedback and error messages (what happens if users did the wrong thing), (7) Who is prototyping which screens. Split up the screens amongst your teammates. Finally, transfer your sketches / low-fidelity prototypes into high-fidelity Figma mockups and interactions. You have individually created your own low-fidelity prototype; discuss and contrast the merits of each design, and merge all the ideas into a consistent and coherent design for the team's high-fidelity prototype. Include in design notebook a writeup about your discussion and screenshots of your high-fidelity prototype in progress. You are not expected to finish your high-fidelity prototype this week; you will have the next 2-3 weeks to iterate on the design and complete the prototype.
5. Interview 1-2 users to evaluate hi-fi prototype
As a team, find a user or two---someone you know from outside of this class, or another student in CS449/649 who is not in your team and not in your buddy team---to interview. The interviews, from this point on, focus on hi-fi prototype evaluation. For this week, show the user your first draft of the hi-fidelity prototype design (which can be static and not yet interactive), and ask them for some feedback on the design and functionality of your app. For each interview, add a section to the design notebook to capture a summary of your findings.
Make sure you obtain their verbal consent responses, and store these responses in a spreadsheet in a password-protected computer, data server or cloud service; the TAs and instructors might ask to see this spreadsheet at a later time. Keep your raw interview data private and viewable to your team only; DO NOT put the raw data (notes and images) in the design notebook. In the design notebook, you just have to summarize your findings from the interviews. Make sure that the data is anonymized and stored in a password-protected computer, data server or cloud service. In the raw data or any report summarizing the data, interviewees should be referred to by their code names (e.g., P1, P16) instead of their real names.
An important note: your interviewees must be adult (age 19+). Our ethics protocol does NOT allow you to interview children. Note that the definition of minor varies by province. To be safe, interview someone who is 19+. You should also stay away from interviewing students/employees in K-12 schools and hospital staff (e.g., doctor, nurses), because doing so would involve the school board's and the hospital's ethics board. If you were to interview an employee of a company/organization about work-related things, you will also need permission from their manager before conducting the interviews with the employees.
6. Prepare for Challenge Report #3 Presentation
The third challenge report presentation is next Wednesday (June 30). Teams should be presenting the content from challenge report #3. If you are presenting, prepare a 5-10 minute presentation, and include a link to your slidedeck (10 slides at most) on the #presentations channel by midnight the day before the presentation. Two people from each team should present. In the challenge report presentations, be specific. For example, in describing how you went about testing assumptions, don't just say that you did interviews. Be more specific and talk about the types of questions that help to break/verify your assumptions. Give concrete examples whenever you can. Make the presentation interesting, informative, and something that other students can benefit learning from.
If you are not presenting, you need to sign up (via Calendly) to attend one of the presentations. You are expected to participate in the discussions, e.g., ask questions and provide suggestions (see Deliverable 2.b). We do monitor attendance. During discussion, keep yourself mute but turn on the webcam if you are comfortable with it. It is much more fun/natural for presenters to be talking to an audience, instead of a bunch of black screens. Also, in Zoom, there is a "raise hand" and "lower hand" functionality under "Reactions", which you can use during discussion to indicate that you have questions to ask or suggestions to give.
7. Team Monitoring
This is the second round of team monitoring; You will be doing exactly the same thing as last time, but using new survey links provided as follows. Each team member must complete the team health assessment form and the buddy team health assessment form. This surveys provide a way for each team to self-assess how the team / buddy team is functioning and whether any team processes can be improved. The surveys are anonymous (i.e., the ratings will be reported back to the team in aggregate without revealing who had rated what) and graded based on completeness only (i.e., full marks if the surveys have been completed). Each student should complete both surveys independently and honestly, without consulting with each other. After all the survey responses are collected, the instructors will release back to the team a report of the aggregated survey results (e.g., min, max, average, std of each survey item), so that the team can have a discussion next week about team processes that may need more attention. It is very important to be honest and thoughtful in your response, otherwise the survey is not useful.
Due Friday (July 2)
● Design Notebook Entry (1.c, 3.b) - the entry should capture your attendance to team meeting, your individual reflection, the documentation of your design activities (including design iteration and create high-fidelity prototype).
● User Interviews (3.a): Prototype Evaluation - complete the writeup by adding a section to your design notebook week 8 entry.
● Team Monitoring (1.b) - each team member should complete the team health assessment survey.