INFO 360: Design Methods

Instructor: Lindah Kotut
Meeting Times: Monday, Wednesday 10:30AM-12:20 PM (JHN 175)
TAs: Hummd Alikhan and Lily Rajan
Office Hours: See Canvas

Course Description

In this class we'll teach you how to think like a designer. You'll learn what designers do, how they do it, and how to do some of the things they do. We'll consider the design of user interfaces and information systems, and focus on five aspects of design thinking: empathy, definition, ideation, prototyping, and evaluation.
The goal of this class is to think like a designer: how do you study and assess a problem, formulate a hypothesis, devise solutions and test them. We'll focus on the design of meaningful user interfaces and information systems that bring value to its users.

All upto date information will be posted on Canvas.

Course Schedule

Week/Dates          Topic Description Readings Due
Week 1
Jan 04		 Course Introduction Course welcome and orientation.
  • None
 Activity 0: Please introduce Yourself
Week 2
Jan 09		 Design & Problem Definition Design Thinking: Empathy, Design Roles and Design Tools
  • Chapter 1 and 2 of Design Methods by Amy Ko
 Design 1: Design Pitch
Jan 11 The "Problem": Problem Definition, Design Research and Research Methods
  • Video: "How to design breakthrough inventions" (2013)
 Activity 1: Empathy
Design 2: Good and Bad Designs
Week 3
Jan 16		 MLK Day. No Class Scheduled.
Jan 18 Ideation & Sketching Brainstorming: Brainstorming Strategies and Sketching
  • "Anatomy of Sketching" by Bill Buxton (2014)
Design 3: Sketching
Week 4
Jan 23		 User Research Ideation Strategies: Storyboarding and Scenario Design
  • "Storyboards Help Visualize UX Ideas" by Rachel Krause (2018)
  • "Scenario-Based Design" by Mary Beth Rosson and Hohn M. Caroll (2002)
 Activity 2: Brainstorming
Jan 25 How to approach user-facing problems: Personas, Affinity Mapping and Journey-mapping
After framing the problem facing users, what are the strategies for coming up with solutions?
  • Chapter 4: "How to Define Problems" in Design Methods by Amy Ko
Activity 3: Personas, Scenarios and Storyboards
Week 5
Jan 30		 User Interface Designing for, and with users.
  • "Principles of Participatory Design" from Participatory Design Handbook
  • Chapter 7: "How to Design interfaces" in Design Methods by Amy Ko
 Activity 4: User Research
Feb 01 How to design user interfaces.
  • Chapter 8: "How to be Critical" in Design Methods by Amy Ko
  • "How to Critique" by VentureBeat (2014)
 Activity 5: User Interface + Rapid Prototyping
TEAM 1: Ideation
Week 6
Feb 06		 Evaluation & Critiques How to critique designs and conduct empirical evaluations.
  • Chapter 9: "How to Evaluate Empirically" in Design Methods by Amy Ko
 Activity 6: User Testing
Feb 08 How to conduct heuristic evaluations.
  • Chapter 10: "How to Evaluate Analytically" in Design Methods by Amy Ko
  • "How Apple Is Giving Design A Bad Name" (FastCompany, 2015)
 Activity 7: Heuristic Evaluation
TEAM 2: Problem Statement
Week 7
Feb 13		 Wireframes & High-Fidelity Prototypes Wire-framing and Market Research
  • "Competitive Usability Evaluations: Learning from Your Competition" (2013)
 Design 4: Individual Prototype
Feb 15 High fidelity planning and design.
  • "Breaking the Fidelity Barrier" by McCurdy et al (2006)
  • "How to Do Better with Gender on Surveys: A Guide for HCI Researchers" by Katta Spiel (2019)
Assignment
Week 8
Feb 20		 Presidents' Day. No Classes Scheduled.
Feb 22 High Fidelity Prototypes & Design Aesthetics How to iterate over your prototype: Aesthetics, Brand Identity and User Feedback Design 5: High-Fidelity Prototype
TEAM 4: User Testing + Iterative Prototype
Week 9
Feb 27		 Dark Patterns and Storytelling Dark patterns/deceptive designs
Mar 01 Getting your story ready TEAM 5: User Testing + High-Fidelity Prototype
Week 10
Mar 06		 Demo Presentations Final Team Presentations Part I
Mar 08 Final Team Presentations Part II TEAM 6: Final Prototype

Grading and Late Submission Policy

There are four groups of assignments that will determine your final grade for this class:

  • 5%: Other (Peer feedback, course evaluation, and any other class survey)
  • 20%: Design Assignments/Discussions (individual/group)
  • 30%: Class Activities (Group)
  • 45%: Team Project.

Late Policy

  • All Assignments are due by 11:59pm on the selected day. You each have 5 "bank days" for the entire quarter, that allow you to submit one or more of your individual assignment late with no explanation. For example, you can can submit three assignments a day late and a fourth assignment two days late. When you wish to use your bank days, let the TA know and they will adjust the due date for your assignment so that you are able to submit late.
  • There are no late day allowances for Group Assignments. If there is an emergency, or something that is affecting the group progress, let the teaching team know.
  • If you are having trouble keeping up with the class pace due to illness or other extenuating circumstances, or are generally struggling, let any of the teaching team know and we'll work on making sure you have the resources to succeed.