Design Process - Case Study Example

Download file to see previous pages Interactive systems design is essential in creating software interfaces. The aim is to illustrate how the prototypes can help designers generate and demonstrate what they intend to deliver. Designers can get feedback from clients and users of the software before completing the development process. The prototypes enable developers choose among the best alternatives in order create the best solution (Langer, 2008). This is usually accompanied with reason in the documentation of why the designer chose the alternative. A prototype is just a representation or a model of an interactive system. The software may not be presented in its full detail, but the interface must be fully presented. The interface may only handle a small code or algorithm in the system, but it is essential in interactive systems. Prototypes usually require several design phases that would take the user through scale of the interactive system. It is essential for software prototypes to develop into final software products because it carries the user’s expectation. When a user is pleased with a representation of the software prototype, it is logical to deliver to the expectation of the user. The process of creativity in software design is intuitive and oriented on new discoveries. Generating new ideas is more essential than evaluating existing ideas to ensure that everything is in order. Creating an interface is a process that involves the inclusion of Human-Computer Interaction. Human Computer Interaction is a multidisciplinary subject that combines scientific elements with design (Dix, 2004). Interface design is a creative process but requires software engineering skills to evolve into operational software. Scientific methods are also used to study the effectiveness of the interfaces and software. Different design processes requires different prototype applications prototypes are either part of the design or just design objects. Prototypes that are viewed as design objects have benefits that include support of creativity and helping developer to generate ideas. The prototypes can also help a designer explore the design working space and discover some issues about the user. The prototype also encourages communication between the user and developer during the design process. This is likely to reduce the amount of errors that are usually generated during the development process. There are four dimensions that can be used to define prototypes and their application. The first dimension is the representation technique, which describes the form of prototype used. They include computer simulations and paper sketches. The next dimension is the precision that involves a level of detail where the prototype is evaluated. The evaluation criteria used is whether the prototype is highly polished or rough. The interactivity dimension describes the extent in which the user can interact with the prototype. This is best achieved when the prototype is fully interactive (Pilone & Miles, 2008). The evolution is the final dimension, which describes the expected life cycle of the prototype. Some of the expected lifecycles include iterative and throw away life cycles. This project design requires the use of representational prototype because it involves the use of computer simulations. This is because the project takes the form of a computer program. A number of sketches on paper are considered a prototype, but a computer simulation is the most appropriate prototype in this case. An online prototype is ...Download file to see next pagesRead More