Author: drewcogbill

For March 6

  • Unless you have a compelling reason not to, change your blog username to your first name or even better your full name (feel free and use whatever you’re going by in class not your legal name). Do this by looking at your user profile, adding a nickname, and then selecting that nickname under ‘display name publicly as.’
  • Keep posting #thursdayplays/#thursdayapps – remember you need to post at least one on the blog before spring break
  • Go ahead and apply a design to your app. Post this to the blog to present next week.
  • Your visual design should be a next step of your interactive thinking and should incorporate your findings while prototyping. Along with your design, post 3-5 things your learned while prototyping.

For Feb 27

  • Prepare a paper prototype or digital prototype using POP- 
  • Post your paper prototype or post a link to your POP prototype to the blog
  • Prepare one or more tasks for test users to carry out with your prototype
  • Read these Neilsen articles on prototyping: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/first-rule-of-usability-dont-listen-to-users/ and http://www.nngroup.com/articles/talking-to-users/?utm_source=Alertbox&utm_campaign=2f3be47038-Alertbox_email_01_27_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_7f29a2b335-2f3be47038-24360949

Prototyping

Paper prototypes are a simulation of a digital interface with a paper. When paper prototyping, you print or draw your interface and have a tester interact with the paper like is a real, digital interface. You will play the part of the iPhone’s processor, moving things and performing actions that the phone would do. Paper prototyping is a way to quickly and with little effort test out our designs.

For your prototypes next week, you’ll have a chance to use several classmates to test out if your design works as you intend. You’ll want to prepare a goal or quest for your user to prompt them. Then, you’ll lay the first screen of your app in front of them. Test out all the aspects of your app that you’ve designed.

To be able to do this, you’ll need to iterate on the wireframes that you’ve done or wireframe for the first time all of the major screens of your app.

Tips:

  • Print out your mocks at a true to iPhone size.
  • If your app requires content (recipes, restaurants, etc.), you’ll want to provide your user with those. If you want someone to take a picture, have a separate cutout of a picture to throw onto the screen.
  • If you need the user to type, you may want to have a iPhone keyboard to put on top of your interface. This may be a good way to test if your interface needs to adjust in any way for the keyboard as well.

Alternatively, you may employ an digital prototype to test your concepts as well. Keep these lo-fi as well using the app POP.

For Thursday, Feb 19

I’ve responded to everyone’s first wireframes posts on the blog. Please email me if you have any questions or concerns.

For Thursday, Feb 19:

  • Post an iteration of your wireframe incorporating my written feedback. Focus on simplicity and clarity.
  • Check out what we would have talked about last week on accessibility and feel free to include some accessibility features in your iteration- Accessibility
  • Keep posting up your thursday plays/apps!

For Thursday Feb 6

  • Read the iOS Human Interface Guidelines and/or the Android Design Guidelines.
  • Post at least three things from the iOS Human Interface Guidelines and/or the Android Design Guidelines that surprised you, confused you, or enlightened you.
  • In a separate blog post, have one member of your team post your group’s App Scramble designs. Be prepared to present your designs for around 5 minutes.
  • Start posting mobile apps and games #thursdayplays. Remember you’ll need to post one before spring break and one after.
  • Start thinking about Project 1 ideas, and feel free to post your concepts now for feedback.

Assignment for May 6

  • Prepare a set of designs for your app. You should completely cover either all the major screens on phone or on tablet. Feel free and do both if you have time. Post these to the blog.
  • Keep posting apps that you’ve checked out to the blog. You need at least one #mondayplay in this second half of the semester.
  • As a reminder, please use the ‘students assignments’ category, not the ‘assignments’ one