NM4210: User Experience Design

Introduction

Overview

Traditionally, the focus of most interactive design education has been on producing objects. In this module the emphasis is shifted from object production to user experience building.

User experience design takes a holistic, multidisciplinary approach to the design of an interactive product. It defines a product's form, behavior, and content.

User experience design is a quality and not a skill; a quality essential for professionals involved in research/producing/managing/designing interactive products.

Education of a user experience designer broadly involves exposure to the following…

  1. Information Design/Architecture (theories in  communication, information processing, representation and semiotics)
  2. Interaction/Interface Design (theories in interaction design, usability testing)
  3. Sensorial Design (colour theory, visual design, perception, visual thinking)
  4. Product design (form, affordance, ergonomics)
  5. Business Strategy (innovation, buyer behavior, branding, desirability, marketing)
  6. Social and psychological Issues (persuasion, behavior modification, emotion, community, design culture)

This module supplements NM2208 and NM3208 modules in the new media studies area and most of the modules in the interactive media area of CNM programme.

Module outline

This module introduces the concept of user experience design and its importance in the networked economy. User experience is a term used to describe the overall quality of experience a person has when interacting with a product or a system. It most commonly refers to e-commerce, but it also applies to the outcome of user interaction with any product/system/environment. 

This module will introduce concepts in user-centric design, desirability, affordance (real and perceived), emotion design and related concepts in anthropology, psychology, computer science, management, marketing, and semiotics.

Objectives:

Aim of this module is to shift students’ focus from “object centeredness” to “user and experience centeredness” when analyzing/developing interactive products.

  • Students will understand the difference between designing objects and designing experiences, opportunities, and self-organizing systems.
  • Students will analyze and synthesize the relevant aspects of meaningful human interactions in a networked and mediated environment, including:
    • The physical, cognitive/emotional, social, political, economic, and cultural dimensions of these interactions; and
    • The relationship of such interactions to commerce, learning, work, play, and community.

Module structure:

  • Introduction to the User Experience
  • User Experience methodology
  • Understanding the user
  • Experience analysis
  • Experience strategies
  • Theories of Interaction design and information architecture 
  • Business and marketing (innovation, branding, buyer behaviour etc.)
  • Usability testing Methods
  • Techniques to create interactive experiences
  • Measuring the quality of experience

 Module requirements

  1. 2-3 Weekly assignments
  2. 8 Weeks term project
  3. Learning electronic Journal  (blog)

Format

  • Seminar, lecture

Evaluation:

  • Participation                                        10%
  • Two assignments + presentation              20%
  • Final project  + report + presentations     60%
  • Learning  report                                    10%

Attendance

NM4210 module calls for regular attendance and participation. Students must fulfill minimum of 88% attendance. Attendance below 88% affects your grade. In case of serious problem, such as accident, illness, family or personal problem that causes significant absence, please contact me as soon as possible.

IMPORTANT: If your attendance falls below 75% and you don't have a valid reason for your absence, you shall be given a failing grade.

Important: House rules

Work Environment

  • Punctuality: Please be in the class room on time (if your are late by more than 5mts you'll be marked absent)
  • No mobile communication devices
  • No emails, chats during the class (If you break this rule you will be marked absent for that day)
  • No consumables: food, drinks
  • No companions: friends, family, pets (real or virtual)

Essential Tools

  • Sketch book
  • Pencils and eraser: Pencils (HB, B, 2B, 3B), 0.5mm clutch pencil and eraser.
  • Pens: Felt tip (black) and fine tip black pens.
  • Markers: Colour felt tip markers
  • Paper:
  • Tools: Cutter, Scissors, Ruler
  • Camera: digital
  • Computer stationary: Thumb drive

Essential Text/Reference books:

  • Observing the user experience: a practitioner's guide to user research, Mike Kuniavsky, 2003, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers
  • Envisioning Information Edward Tufte, 1990 Graphics Press
  • Apple Human Interface Guidelines: The Apple Desktop Interface Apple Computer, Inc., 1988 Addison-Wesley
  • The Design of Everyday Things D.A. Norman, 1988 Basic Books
  • Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping Paco Underhill, 2000 Touchstone Books
  • The Brand Gap Marty Neumeier, 2003 New Riders,
  • The Social Life of Things Arjun Appadurai, 1986 Cambridge University Press,
  • The Meaning of Things Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Eugene Rochberg-Halton
  • Information Design edited by Robert Jacobson, Ph.D., 1999 MIT Press
  • Don't Make Me aThink Steve Krug, 2000 New Riders
  • Designing Visual Interfaces Kevin Mullet and Darrell Sano, 1995 SunSoft Press,
  • A Pattern Language Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein, 1977 Oxford University Press
  • How Buildings Learn Stuart Brand, 1994 Viking
  • A Natural History of the Senses Diane Ackerman, 1991 VintageA Primer of Visual Literacy Donis A. Dondi s,1973 MIT Press
  • The Experience Economy James H. Gilmore, B. Joseph Pine II , 1999 Harvard Business School Press
  • Built For Use: Driving Profits Through User Experience Karen Donoghue, 2002 McGraw-Hill
  • Design for Society Nigel Whiteley, 1997 Reaktion Books
  • Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D. 1984, Quill/William Morris
  • The Social Life of Things Arjun Appadurai, 1986 Cambridge University Press,
  • Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience Mihaly Csiksentimihalyi, 1991 Harper Collins
  • Participatory Design: Principles and Practices Douglas Schuler, Aki Namioka (Editor), 1993 Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc