Assessment 3: Design Assignment

Changes to Assessment Deliverables


Tutorial Groups Affected: 1) All undergraduate students.

2) All postgraduate students.

Type: Group & Individual

Due: Week 10. Document uploaded to Turnitin the night before your tutorial.

Background:
You have previously been tasked to deliver a Paper Prototype in Week 8, followed by a Usability Report in
Week 10. This has now changed. The teaching staff have decided to merge these two deliverables
into one assessable item due in in Week 10.

What do you need to do?

1) As a group you will together write a Problem Scenario and a Future Use Scenario in relation to your
group's design idea. Both of these scenarios should not be longer than 300 words. Remember: your
scenario is based on one of the Personas you created.

2) As a group you will together create a Storyboard of how your design/product/system fits into the
users context.

3) As a group you will together agree on a specified goal to give to your testing participants. For
example: for a taxi booking app, the goal might be be to book a taxi from Chatswood to Surry Hills.

4) After agreeing on the Problem Scenario, Future Use Scenario and Storyboard that you created as a
group, you will individually create you own Paper Prototype. This will be your interpretation of how
the interface should look. Think about what screens must you design for your user to accomplish the
specified goal?

5) For your tutorial in Week 8, you will bring draft* versions of your groups’ Scenarios, Storyboards
and Specified Goal, in addition to your individual Paper Prototype. During the tutorial, we will spend
some time refining your work (providing help and suggestions), before discussing prototype evaluation
techniques. This will be followed by an activity where other students in your class will test your paper
prototype, whilst you observe and document what happens using Evaluation Template (provided).

*Drafts should be 90% complete. You won’t be able to participate in the activity if you haven’t brought
anything substantive to class.
6) Between your tutorial in Week 8 and Week 10, you will individually:
1) Carry out a usability evaluation of your paper prototype with (at least) one of your research
participants. This evaluation will involve documenting your observations of your participant using
your prototype by using the Evaluation Template provided on UTSOnline. You will also be
required to film the prototype being used. This film should not take longer than five minutes,
and only needs to show your participant using your paper prototype from start to finish.



Part of the reason we want you to complete your own paper prototype is so you can compare
which aspects of your design were more/less usable compared to the designs of the paper
prototypes of your other group members.

2) Prepare your Usability Report


Report due in soft copy in your tutorial in Week 10. Document should be uploaded to Turnitin the
night before

How should your individual Usability Report be structured?

Cover UTS assignment coversheet, followed by a cover page for your report.

Section 1 The persona your group has decided to design for.


This section of the report will be identical to the other members of your group

Section 2 Problem Scenario and a Future Use Scenario. 


This section of the report will be identical to the other members of your group

Section 3 Storyboard. 

This section of the report will be identical to the other members of your group
Section 4 Specified Goal.
This section of the report will be identical to the other members of your group

Section 5 Prototype Evaluation:

1) Include link to your video (hosted on YouTube or Vimeo).
2) Completed Evaluation Template (details covered in the Lectures and Tutorials in Week 8).

Section 6 Recommendations for improvements to your prototype. Recommendations should reference

annotated photos if required.
Section 7 Appendix. Include photos of your prototype being used.
What is the weighing of the combined assessment?
The assessment is weighted at 18%. Comprised of 8% for the paper prototype and 10% for the usability
report)

How will this be assessed?

The usability report will be assessed in two sections, and you will then be provided with a combined
mark.

Section 1: Paper Prototype Criteria

Based on the draft prototype we (the tutors) see in class, photos in the appendix of your report and what
we see in the evaluation video, we will mark you prototype against the following criteria:
1. How well it applies the Design Principles taught (especially feedback)
2. How well it applies the Usability Principles taught
3. Evidence of linkage between scenario and storyboard
4. Completeness: whether it has all the necessary key components
5. How suitable and ready it is for the first round of usability testing
6. Suitability to the user population (we will refer to your persona) 


Section 1: Paper Prototype Grading

• To receive a HD (8%), you must present an exceptionally well-produced and complete Paper Prototype
that fulfils all the criteria at an outstanding standard
• To receive a D (6%), you must present a very well-produced and complete Paper Prototype that fulfils all
the criteria at a very good standard
• To receive a C (5%), you must present a complete Paper Prototype that fulfils most the criteria at a good
standard
• You will receive a P (4%) if your Paper Prototype shows that you have a basic understanding of how to
construct one, however it needs improvement in some areas yet fulfils most of the criteria at a
satisfactory standard.
• You will receive a F (2%) if you produce a Paper Prototype, however your Prototype requires significant
improvements, and/or has not fulfilled any or most of the criteria.
Section 2: Usability Report Criteria
The Usability Report will be assessed based on the following criteria:
1. Level of detail documented during the evaluation
2. Correct use of the Evaluation Template
3. Grasp of the heuristics and principles discussed
4. Insightfulness of the recommendations for usability improvement


Section 2: Usability Report Grading
• To receive a HD (10%), you must present an exceptionally thorough, detailed and insightful Usability
Report that fulfils all the criteria at an outstanding standard
• To receive a D (8%), you must present a thorough and detailed Usability Report that fulfils all the criteria
at a very good standard
• To receive a C (6.5%), you must present a complete Usability Report that fulfils most the criteria at a
good standard
• You will receive a P (5%) if your report shows that you have a basic understanding on how to prepare
and present a Usability Report, even though it needs improvements in some areas and it fulfils most of
the criteria at a basic standard.
• You will receive a F (2%) if you have produced a Usability Report but it requires significant
improvements, and/or your report has not any or most of the criteria.


Why don’t we just submit a group report with our individual sections included?
One of the learning outcomes of this assignment is to help you get ‘industry ready’. That means learning
how to put together a holistic evaluation report (even if it means including duplicated content from your
group members) so it can be read on it’s own. This document can then become a part of your portfolio.

Can I test my prototype with more people?

Absolutely! The greater your sample size and the more varied the participants allows you to draw richer
insights.

This seems like more work than before…

Because the assignment has been merged and broken down discussed in greater detail, it may seems
that way. However, it isn’t the case. Remember (we discussed in the lecture and the tutorial) that to create
a paper prototype, you must create a scenario and a storyboard first. These steps help to define
what needs to be designed in your interface. We are asking you to include them in your report so when
we mark your paper prototype - we can have a better understanding how your paper prototype works.
Resources:
How do all these steps in the design process fit together?
Please read this document (From User Research to Personas, Ideation, Scenarios and Storyboards) on
UTSOnline (Week 5 Lecture Resources): https://online.uts.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-2695595-dt-content-
rid-13072663_1/courses/31260-42017-2018-AUTUMN-CITY/
From%20User%20Research%20to%20Personas%281%29.pdf

What is a scenario and how do I write one?

Scenarios are written (text-driven) stories of how your persona interact with technology to achieve a goal.
You can read more here:
1) User Scenarios: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/user-scenarios
2) Scenarios: https://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/scenarios.html
3) Week 5 Lecture Slides (these are on UTSOnline and provide all the information you need

What is a storyboard and how do I create one?

Storyboarding helps us move beyond the screen/system we are designing, and helps us to see how our
design will fit in the user’s context. It provides a more complete picture of how a user’s interaction over
time - and triggers us as designers to think about whether our application supports the user. For example
if we designed a great smartphone app for elevator technicians, we might notice in the storyboard phase
that the technician often has both his/her hands full and that they need to interact with their device via
voice - therefore we should consider how to support that functionality.

You can read more here:

1) The Narrative Storyboard (Week 5 Lecture Resources): https://online.uts.edu.au/bbcswebdav/
pid-2695592-dt-content-rid-13072821_1/courses/31260-42017-2018-AUTUMN-CITY/
Pages%20from%20Sketching%20User%20Experiences%20-
%20The%20narrative%20storyboard%281%29.pdf

Paper Prototypes
Here is the video from the lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMjozqJS44M