User Centered DesignLesson 4

Agenda

Topics• Survey results• Multiple screen and logic components for

the App• User-centered Design

Activities

• Check-in for Survey Results – (15 mins.)• Colored Dots tutorial – (30 mins.)• Introduction to User-centered design – (10

mins.)• Usability testing (20 mins.)• Creating a Paper Prototype (30 mins.)• Wrap-up – (10 mins.)

Check in

• Share interesting results or trends from your surveys

• Is there a good size market for your app?• Are you looking to make any changes on your

app idea based on the survey ideas?

Colored Dots

This tutorial shows how to create apps that have multiple screens. In App Inventor, you can have a screen and can open a second screen. Later, the second screen can return to the initial screen that opened it. You can have as many screens as you like, but each screen closes by returning to the screen that opened it. The screens can share information by passing and returning values when they open and close. The screens also share the same TinyDB data, which they can use to store and share values.http://tinyurl.com/k2qahq7

Colored Dots

This tutorial is an introduction to:

Multiple Screens TinyDB Brush Picker

Multiple Screens• You can add screens in the designer

and use the screen transitions in blocks editor to decide which screen to go to next For Example: if they push the

menu button go to the menu screen

• Screen 1 will always be the screen the app starts on – probably best to make it a welcome screen

• You have to “package for the phone” to test moving between screens

Tiny DB• Besides opening screens and returning values, the different

screens in a multiple screen app can communicate through TinyDB. To do this, give every screen its individual TinyDB component.

• ColoredDots uses TinyDB to let you name the colors you create and save them to later use. The saving and naming will be done in Brush_Picker, as shown in the blocks later

Brush PickerThe main job of Brush_Picker is to create a color from the red-green-blue values entered in the text boxes and provide that color to Screen1. One thing the Brush_Picker needs to check is that it's using good values for colors and dot size. Each of the red, green, blue values should be a number between 0 and 255.

Putting it all together

What is User-Centered Design?

Designing things with the user in mind.You are not always the user.

Designing with the user in mind?• Crash dummies – moving from only men to women and children!• http://tinyurl.com/kb34cec • Crash dummies are a perfect example of not designing with the user in

mind. When they were first created, they were all shaped like adult men. As a result, women and children where killed by automobile accidents at a higher rate than men. Now, there are female dummies, male dummies, and children dummies. Now designers are even considering making crash dummies bulkier to accommodate the increasing average weight in the United States. These dummy designers are now creating dummies with the user in mind.

How to design with the user in mind?

Which remote looks easier to use?

Keep it simple!

Source: Debra Lauterbach

What is User Interface? • User Interface: link between the user person and

the technology• User Interface Design: designing technology that

makes sense to user – “intuitive” design

User Interface: Buttons

User Interface: Touch Screen

Prototyping Lifecycle

Have users test the

prototype and ask them questions

about their experience

with it. Incorporate feedback.

Who is your user?

What do they expect?

What do they want?

What does it need to do? What is the goal?

Prototyping. Create samples. Source: Debra Lauterbach

Usability Testing

• Watch video on testing usability: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TbyXq3XHSc

• Ask participants to shares thoughts about creating prototypes based on the video

Activity: Usability testing of competitor apps

• Investigate 2 or 3 apps that are similar in function to yours or that have the same target customer

• Search on App Store for iPhone and Google Play for Android apps

• Browse the apps and discuss the following: What does it do well? What could it do better? Make notes about the features/interface Color scheme, size/layout of buttons, readability, etc.

Optional: If participants have their workbooks ask them to fill in the chart on page 11 of the workbook

So you have competition… So what?

• You can make a better product!• Plastic bags can cover you from the rain…but

aren’t you glad people invented raincoats?

Activity: Prototype Plan (20 min.)

• Skills and tools you need• Components and skills• Research tutorials and videos• Divide up the work: each team member will

program at least one screen.

Plan for completing a prototype

Features Resources Timeframe

Activity: Create a paper prototype

Task List

• Finish the paper prototype and bring to next session

• Also, continue to gather survey responses to make sure that the team better understands the market of their app

Wrap-Up

• Share a photo of your session with WeTech at wetech@iie.org

• Encourage participants to join WeTech Technovation Facebook group to stay connected with the larger community - http://tinyurl.com/mmzjwed