IFI7103 Interface and
Interaction Design
Hans Põldoja
Tallinn University

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Focus of the course
• Focus on web-based user interfaces
• Topics: personas, scenarios, user stories,
information architecture, wireframes, prototypes,
usability, accessibility, user testing

Structure of the course
• 3 × 2 day workshop (30 hours)
• Group projects (30 hours)
• Independent reading and book summary (60
hours)
• Graded assessment

Learning environment
• Course blog: http://imkedesign.wordpress.com
• Delicious: http://delicious.com
• Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net
• Scribd: http://www.scribd.com
• Tag: imkedesign

http://imkedesign.wordpress.com

http://www.shelfari.com/ifi/tags/ifi7103

Historical background

IS / MIS
• Information systems / management information
systems (1960’s and 1970’s):
• Humans seen as information processors with
limited abilities
• Machine seen as an actor that is replacing well-
defined routines
• System is in the centre

Participatory design
• Opposition movement agains MIS and technical
view on design (1970’s, Nordic countries)
• User is seen as active actor and skilled craftsman
• System seen as a tool, not as an actor

Human-Computer Interaction
• Study of interaction between people (users) and
computers
• Combines computer science, communication
theory, graphic design, industrial design, linguistics,
cognitive psychology
• Lab experiments, strong influence of cognitive
psychology
• Gap between theory and practice

Usability
• Opposition to HCI in 1980’s and 1990’s
• Serving the needs of software industry
• Designing with “users in mind”
• Usability evaluation methods

Interaction design
• Shaping of interactive products and services with a
specific focus on their use
• Design discipline affiliated with industrial design
and architecture
• Disappointment in technical approaches (HCI,
usability)
• More products and services are targeted for
consumer markets

Current developments
• User experience design
• Happiness design ;) ?

Design as a process

The Pervasive Usability Process
Requirements Conceptual Mockups and
Production Launch
analysis design prototypes
Evaluation

Schedule of the course
• 09.02 — personas, scenarios, design sessions
• 10.02 — user stories, conceptual design
• 30.03 — information architecture
• 31.03 — wireframes and prototypes
• 16.04–17.04 — usability, accessibility, finalizing the
design

Requirements analysis
• Requirements specification
• User interviews
• User surveys
• Competitive analysis

Requirements analysis
• Requirements specification > Personas, scenarios
• User interviews > Participatory design sessions
• User surveys
• Competitive analysis

Personas

Personas
• Photo
• Background info (age, gender, computer, tech skills,
disabilities, ...)
• Goals with the web site (experience goals, end
goals)
• Information seeking styles
• Usability needs

Scenarios

Participatory design
sessions

Participatory design sessions
• Write guidelines for arranging the design session
• Find 2...4 users for the design session
• Present scenarios and ask feedback
• Take notes, record the session and make a
summary

Competitive analysis

Competitive analysis
• Title and URL
• Screenshot
• Pros
• Cons
• Usability Issues

Project ideas

Your idea comes
here....

References
• Brinck, T., Gergle, D., Wood, S.D. (2002). Usability for the web: designing web
sites that work. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.

Photos
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/hanspoldoja/1762379848/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/cybertaur1/463401444/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/enzomolinari/1306012480/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/robandstephanielevy/234434882/

Thank you!
• hans.poldoja@tlu.ee
• Skype: hanspoldoja