PSYC 579 – Design Reports
A report is due from each student at
the time of the final exam.
The purpose of this report is to examine a visual interface (of a
program, website, etc), and (i) determine the extent
to which it is optimally designed from the point of view of perceptual
mechanisms, (ii) give some suggestions as to what be done to further improve
its design.
Imagine that you have been hired by
Company X as a consultant to evaluate their latest system / website. Your job is to thoroughly analyze its
visual/interface design and prepare a report to show them three things: (i) what works, and why, (ii) what does not work, and why,
and (iii) ways that its visual design can be improved, either by modifying its
existing functionality or by adding new functionality outright.
You can select any target system you
like. But it should be complex
enough to be analyzed in terms of several different psychological mechanisms.
1.
Introduction.
The report should begin with a brief
introductory section describing what this system does. Assume that the reader
doesn't know what the system does, or how a typical user would interact with
it.
[At least 300 words; screenshots are useful]
2.
Five perception
components to investigate. Chosen from the first set of lectures
for each week (Tuesdays). For each component, provide:
a)
Background. A review of the current
state of psychological research on this component, including the basic
mechanisms involved. This should
have the form of a brief summary aimed at an uninformed (but intelligent)
reader, with emphasis on those aspects discussed in points (b)-(d). It should include relevant sections of
Ware and of Palmer, as well as any other relevant sources (including papers on
design). Each citation should be
from one or more of the following (in descending order of priority): Ware,
Palmer, Required Readings, Suggested Readings, anything else that is relevant. However, it should not make direct
mention of the course notes themselves.
[At least 450 words.]
b)
Design Strengths. Describe 3 different
aspects of the design that make good use of this component. For each, explain why, drawing on
relevant information in the review in part (a). [At least 3 x 50 = 150 words.]
c)
Design Weaknesses. Describe 3 different
aspects of the design that make poor use of this component. For each, explain why, drawing on
relevant information in the review in part (a). [At least 3 x 50 = 150 words.]
d)
Recommended Improvements. A list of 3 recommendations
about how to improve the design of the system while not interfering with
existing functionality. These can
be either a fix to a problem described above or a completely new function. For each explain why it would improve
performance, drawing on relevant information in the review in part (a). [At least 3 x 50 = 150 words.]
3.
General Conclusions. Summarizes the main highlights of the
sections above.
[At least 200 words.]
The report should total at least 300
+ 5 * (450 + 450) + 200 = 5000 words.
The document should be a pdf file.
Please email to me by the due date.
At c. 300 words a page, this report
will be over 15 pages long; it will therefore take a while to do. A good approach is to try for one component
per week on average, starting around the midterm break. You should then have most of it done by
the end of classes, and can use the week after that to polish it up some more. It is a bad idea to try to do everything
during the last two weeks of class.
Writing the report at a rate of one
or two components per week will allow you to think about your system at the
time that component is discussed in class.
When you write the review part of each perceptual component, your
understanding of its nature will still be relatively clear, and so it should be
relatively easy to do this at that time.
(If it's not, this may motivate you to ask relevant questions in
class.) Also, applying the
principles discussed in class immediately to your target system will help make
clear how the perceptual and design aspects regarding that component interact.
Frequently Asked Questions
A: Not
necessarily. If the reasons for
doing something involve different perceptual mechanisms, these can be counted
as distinct. Similarly, if the same
perceptual mechanism is used to justify different design recommendations, these
can also be counted as distinct.
A:
Recommendations that cause potential problems for other perceptual components
are okay. But the potential
problems should be pointed out, and the possible trade-offs discussed briefly.
A: The system should be such that it can at least be analyzed from three
or four. If this is not possible,
you should consider another candidate system. If the fifth component is only somewhat
relevant, be a bit imaginative—part of the value of this exercise is to
get you used to applying perceptual components to visual design. Plus, if you've done the other four
components well, you'll still get a 90 percent mark even if the fifth component
is only halfway relevant.
A: This is perfectly fine.
The lectures are intended only as an introduction to visual perception
and visual design—there is a lot more out there. Most of the "basic components"
of perception have been covered in this course, and chances are that what
you're interested in is part of an existing component (e.g., transparency is a
further development of the component on lightness and brightness.) Take a look at e.g., Palmer, and see if
it is a natural extension of something we've covered. If in doubt, contact me.
A: Pick the way that works best for you. One way of doing this is to look at
whether the issue is one of "means" or "ends". For example, depth due to motion
parallax can be analyzed in terms of motion (i.e., properties of the motions
that create depth). It could also
be analyzed in terms of depth (i.e., properties of the depth profile that
results, without much consideration of how it was generated). If in doubt, contact me.