Schedule

This schedule is subject to change. Click to expand each week.

Week 1

Our focus in Week One is to introduce you to the basic practices of interaction design and the human centered design process that includes research, concept generation, prototyping, testing, and refinement. You will also form working teams for the remainder of the session, develop group rapport, and begin to explore the problem space of your session-long project.

Week 1 Readings (to do before Wed class)

Monday Jan 3

  • Lecture: Course introduction

  • Review course website and course logistics

  • Course communication tools (Slack, Zoom, etc.)

  • Lecture: Visual Organization

  • Intro A2: Digital Poster

  • ALL: Sketching practice

  • GROUPS: Socializing (Meet your Peers)

Deliverables due by 11:59 pm Tuesday Jan 4th


Studio 1

  • Discussion of readings

  • Create A2 sketches to share / review


Wednesday Jan 5

  • CRIT: Share A2 stage 2 iterations (black/white only)

  • Lecture: Image and Color

  • Intro A3: Mobile Information Systems (User Research)

    • Read design topics/briefs

    • Explore the problem space

  • Research Sprint Intro

  • TEAMS: Team Formation

    • Teams co-create social contract and choose tools/ times for collaboration

    • Start on secondary research


Week 1 Readings


Deliverables due by 11:59pm on Sunday Aug 8th

  • A2 final deliverables and report

    • submit stage 3 designs to slide deck (see assignment for link)

    • submit final PDF on Canvas

  • Create team folders and add links to Class Dashboard

  • Post team contract to team folder


Studio 2

  • Create team folders

  • Figure out how you are going to work together as a team

  • Secondary research

Week 2

Our focus in Week Two is learning research methods, conducting research, developing understanding and empathy for your users by developing user personas.


Monday Aug 9

  • Discussion: Digital Poster highlights & lessons learned

  • ALL: Review any open questions about A3

  • Lecture: Qualitative Research & Analysis

    • Intro to QDA tools (Dovetail, Miro)

  • Teams provided access to video data and begin analysis process

  • TEAMS: meet in small groups to work on A3

    • Share secondary research

    • Setup free Dovetail account.

Deliverables (Due by 11:59 pm Aug 10)

  • Secondary research resources & contacts list


Week 2 Readings (for Wednesday)


Studio 1

  • Readings discussion

  • Use Dovetail to analyze survey/ interviews

  • Create insights


Wednesday Aug 11

  • GROUPS:

    • Review of primary & secondary research

  • Lectures: Personas

  • TEAMS: meet in small groups to work on A3

    • share drafts of recruitment messages and do activities on Miro: personas, scenarios, ideas, and stories


Deliverables due by 11:59pm on Sunday Aug 15

    • Assumption Personas

    • Video analysis report/or Insights in Dovetail (exported as .pdf)


Studio 2

  • TEAMS continue activities on Miro: personas, scenarios, ideas, and stories.


Week 3

Our focus in Week Three is defining the product vision with storyboards and prototyping: this is how we communicate how the application will function for the user.

Week 3 Readings (for Monday)


Monday Aug 16

  • CRIT: Share personas

  • Lecture: Storyboards and Interviews

  • TEAMS to work on storyboards and interview guides


Deliverables due by 11:59pm on Tuesday Aug 17:

  • Storyboard & Interview guides (draft)


Studio 1

  • Practice interviews with someone in class

  • TEAMS: Refine storyboards and interview guides


Wednesday Aug 18

  • CRIT: Share Storyboards & Interview Guides

    • Within + Between team feedback

  • Lecture: Prototyping

  • Intro A4: Mobile Information Systems (Prototyping)

  • Figma demo


Deliverables due by 11:59pm on Sunday Aug 22:

  • Storyboard interviews detailed findings (a short report/ or insights in Dovetail exported as .pdf)

  • A3 User Research presentation slides (submit PDF on Canvas)

  • A3 team peer evaluation


Week 3 Readings


Studio 2

    • Synthesize findings

    • Prepare for research presentation

    • Practice/ record (optional) your presentation

Week 4

In Week Four teams will work together to build an interactive and innovative mobile information system to address user needs or desires. While A3 was all about getting to the right design (addressing a meaningful problem), A4 is about getting the design right (creating an elegant solution to the problems you identified in A3). At this stage, user testing and feedback is crucial to refining the details of your user interface and interactions.

Monday Aug 23

  • CRIT: User Research presentations.

    • Present user research for peer feedback --> use to clarify product vision

  • Lecture: Competitive analysis

  • TEAMS: Prototyping work session

    • Draft sketches /wireframe core user flows


Deliverables due by 11:59pm on Tuesday Aug 24:

  • Competitive Analysis

  • Sketches and Wireframes

  • Lo-Fi Prototype


Week 4 Readings (to do by Wednesday)


Studio 1

  • ALL: Readings discussion

  • TEAMS: work session

    • Work on lo-fi prototypes and prepare for testing


Wednesday Aug 25

  • CRIT: Competitive analysis

  • CRIT: Share lo-fi prototypes

    • BREAKOUTS: user testing on lo-fi prototypes

  • Lecture: Design Systems & Mobile Screen Design

  • TEAMS: Work session

    • Mood boards & style guides

    • Start screen designs


Deliverables due by 11:59pm on Sunday Aug 29:

  • Mood boards and style guides


Studio 2

  • Practice prototyping in Figma

  • Work on Mood boards and style guides


Week 5

In Week Five you will make final preparations for your final deliverable prototype (this is the last version of your project we will be grading!) as well as your presentations. The presentation serve as your “final exam” for the course.

Monday Aug 30

  • CRIT: share moodboards and style guides

    • Within and between team feedback

  • Lecture: Final Presentations

    • Examples of finished products

  • TEAMS: work session

    • Finish moodboards and style guides

    • Create screen designs

    • Create hi-fi prototype

    • Prepare for online user testing

Deliverables (due by 11:59pm on Tuesday Aug 31)

  • Hi-Fi Prototype


Studio 1

    • Refine prototypes and testing protocol

    • Practice testing


Wednesday Sept 1

  • CRIT: Share hi-fi prototypes

    • Within and between team feedback

  • TEAMS: Work Session

    • Collect/Analyze user testing results

    • Refine Hi-Fi Prototype


Deliverables (due by 11:59pm on Thursday Sept 2)

  • User testing results

  • Final Presentation Slides


Studio 2

    • Collect/analyze user testing results

    • Refine hi-fi prototype

    • Work on final presentation

Finals day

Final Presentations

  • Friday Sept 3rd from 11:30-2:30.

Deliverables (due by 11:59pm on Monday Sept 5th)