Prototype Interface Design - Usability Engineering - Essay Example

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………….PG 2 2 INFORMATION ON THE CHOSEN INTERFACE DESIGN……………………PG3 3 TARGET GROUP ANALYSIS…………………………………………………....PG4 4.1 PAPER PROTOTYPE DESIGNS………………………………………………….PG 6 4.1.2 HOMEPAGE…………………………………………………………………….PG 6 4.1.3 MOVIE CATEGORIES………………………………………………………....PG 7 4.1.4 PURCHASING……………………………………………………………….….PG 8 5.1 APPLICATION OF HUMAN THEORIES ON THE INTERFACE DESIGN…....PG 8 6.1 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………….PG 12 Prototype interface design 1.1 INTRODUCTION The capability of modern mobile device cannot be overstated, it has been predicted by field analysts that by the year 2016 the mobile phone will surpass a personal computer as the main medium for web access. This trend has been influenced by the changing landscape in technology advancement which has resulted in cheap devices, fast mobile broad band and tools such as cloud computing. (Galloway, 2012) The effect of these has trickled down to designers and highly qualified content developers who are falling over themselves in outdoing each other on who comes up with the best ingenious application and software good enough to be integrated into the mobile device with ease. To develop such applications experts are applying interface design, which is the process involved in combining multiple modules which communicate with each other with the main purpose of improving the experience of a user. Interface design is being widely applied on computers, machines, development of software’s and in our case it is widely applied on mobile phones. (Tidwell, 2011) To be able to better aspire the imagination of end users, the maker of mobile devices have developed gadgets which are slim, with large screens which have very efficient processors to boot. Such qualities are making interface designs a dominate feature in the mobile device. For its own efficiency, an interface design should be simple to a fault, quick in accessibility and favors understanding of content and navigation. An interface that does not meet the above characteristics on mobile phones fails to achieve its purpose by a certain margin. During the study of this report the developer is going to tackle through a step to step analysis of his interface design creation. The interface creation is specifically for mobile phone devices for use by lovers of movies. 2.1 INFORMATION ON THE CHOSEN INTERFACE DESIGN The design goes by the maiden name of mobile application movies for rent. The idea is unique in its totality and it will excite the consumers in more ways than one. With this design the developer aims to introduce a practical approach to movie entertainment while assisting the industry make respectable amounts on the same. The platform has a simple component behind it. A customer can either buy or rent a movie online. The customer chooses the movie they would love to watch, then using the global accepted card payment options the customer pays online and immediately they get an option to download the chosen movie. Under the rent option, a customer can lease a movie for a few days after which upon the expiring of those days the movie disintegrates and ceases to play until the extension of the lease period. Under the option the movie can only be played and watched using the aid of a mobile phone. Under the buying option, consumers have a right to fully own a movie into perpetuity, the buyer purchases it online and once all the payments have been made, the consumer gets an option to down load the movie into the mobile device and they get to own it. Focusing on the mobile phone, not every kind of a device has a capability of downloading and watching a movie. The design focuses on the increased appetite of consumers to buy smart phones. Customers are eager to buy mobile devices which are sleek and sophisticated with a capability of internet access and good screens. For the application to work with ease a mobile phone needs to have:- Ability to connect to internet hotspots Bluetooth and USB attachments Chat through video capability Huge memory capability Video viewer capability Excellent microprocessors. These are aspects which are easily available in today’s smart phones, the cost has drastically reduced despite this capabilities. This has enabled a lot of consumers to own phones and it is this interesting analysis that has motivated the development of mobile application movies for rent interface designs. 3.1 TARGET GROUP ANALYSES In order to develop such an ingenious interface design, the developer had to carry out a user analysis program in order to determine the target market. To develop an interface it calls for a market gap identification, so that the designer can achieve the right uptake and maybe make some money out of it (Kurosu, 2011). The designer in this report decided to carry through an analysis targeting movie fanatics. The factors the developer looked into were age and difficulties the target group had in trying to access a preferred movie. The designer went out to the streets and tried to get the views of the populace through the use of a questioner. It had the following deliberate questions-: Questions yes no Do you own a smart phone? Would you love a mobile application that allows you to buy a movie online? Would you love a mobile application that allows you to rent a movie online? How old are you? The developer managed to print 50 questioner papers. The supply was made half to the females and the other half to the male populace. The result of the research showed that despite the age factor around 85% of respondents owned a smart phone. Further analysis showed that almost 90% agreed favorably to the development of movie mobile application. Most of those who responded in support were aged between 18 to 40yrs. That age blanket shows the vast potential of this application. In the process of questioner filling, the developer sort to understand the reactions better, and he asked specific questions through a word of mouth, and it became apparent that most the respondents liked the fact they will do away with huge volumes of DVD’s that they stock at home. Most of the DVD’s that the respondents talked about, contained data related to movies they once watched and are not in need of watching them again. In this regard the rent component incorporated in the interface excited most of the respondents. The interface also made it easier for a phone owner to fully utilize the inbuilt components of the device better, components such as a video viewer were said to better and fully utilized through movie watching. The application was also said to change the aspects of movie to a more robust and exciting experience. Since the consumer could watch a movie anywhere and anytime on the go. This in reality means an individual could be able to watch a lot of movies than previously. 4.1 PAPER PROTOTYPE DESIGNS In this section the developer aims to analyze a step to step application of mobile application movies for rent, the developer has applied the simplicity principle in the designs and has eased understanding coupled with simple navigation format. Once the application has been integrated into the mobile phone, all the user does is click on the icon and the home page will come through. The outlook will be as illustrated in figure 1.1 4.1.2Home page Figure 1.1 In the illustration once the user is on the home page, they can either register to sign up as members, by clicking on the sign up option, or if they are already members they can go right ahead and log in as users and they will be directed to a page that looks as figure 2.2 illustrated below. 4.1.3 Movie categories Figure 2.2 Once login has taken place, the user is directed to a page that looks as illustrated above. The user decides the kind of movies he would like to watch depending on the categories given. Each category has a list of movies similar to the genre the user has selected. It is at this moment that the owner chooses the movie of choice then the process of buying or renting starts. The page that follows, gives the user two options, either to buy or to rent the particular movie of choice, it also shows the prices on offer that correspond to the above named options. Figure 3.3 brings the explanation into perspective. 4.1.4 Purchasing Figure 3.3 Figure 3.3 clearly shows the options to choose from and the corresponding prices. A client presses the icon they wish to apply, either to buy or to rent. The prices are well illustrated on the interface. Upon clicking on the any icon, the user puts in their payment details and they download the movie with ease. The prototype has a simple structure as the background, the modules are simple and the ease of navigation cannot be overstated. The user has been well taken of, and the interface will be a life changing application that is bound to excite many. 5.1 APPLICATION OF HUMAN THEORIES ON THE INTERFACE DESIGN The illustrations below show the real designs when completed. The formulations of the illustrations below designs show an aspect of human appeal on the interface. Some of the factors taken care in the above interface include: Appeal-: the interface is attractive it offers an aura of beauty and mood to have. The first step to capturing the imagination of users is through the designing of an interface that looks good on the phone. Simple navigation- the navigation technique is simple. The interface is simple to operate, while moving from the home page to the purchasing option, the language used is clear and the steps followed are easy. (Carroll, 2003) Understanding- the interface is simple to understand. Any person belonging to any age bracket can easily understand the technology used. Tech savvy is not needed in its application. Acceptability- this factor plays a major role in the uptake of technology (Nickerson). The interface can be easily accepted based on the research that was previously carried out. Practicability- the interface is practical in its application. It offers the real deal when it comes to movie watching and movie purchasing. It eases the headache of being held with tens of DVD’s at home and also the aspect of watching a movie anywhere at any one time. (Lal, 2013). Analysis of this prototype and the features The use of Photoshop in my design is actually appropriate for testing ideas and also interactions on the real device prior to getting into development stage. I personally used Photoshop to produce my software prototype. This software tool is also good for revealing a proof-of-concept to the internal teams and/or stakeholders whenever pitching an idea. Developing prototype design using Photoshop is appropriate for mobile apps though it has a bit steeper learning curve. My choice of using Photoshop in my prototype design had an upper hand in the following area as I could: Validate assumptions Discover problems early Explore alternatives Shorten the feedback loop Design more iterations Brainstorm ideas Conduct early usability testing Implement it cheaper and faster Helps communication between me and user Ensure the right thing is being designed My prototype interface design has incorporated certain features such as the payment screen, movie description screen which has the options of purchasing or renting as well as an option of numerous movies categories ranging from TV shows, comedy, action, romantic, horror and drama as shown below Evaluation of the usability engineering techniques used in my phone interface prototype My phone interface prototype benefited immensely from the use of usability engineering techniques. A review of task analysis approach was necessary so as to develop a better picture of human activity whilst analyzing their general weakness, limitation and possibility for design improvement. Central to my interface design was genuine understanding of what users would actually want to do. The question which guided me while developing the interface design where such like, what are the user`s tasks? What is really the nature of those tasks? Several techniques have been suggested to assist answer such like questions. However, task analysis techniques proved particularly vital in my design since they enabled a rigorous and structured characterization of users activity. The technique offered me a framework for investigation of the prevailing practices to facilitate the development of my interface design. Task analysis is particularly valuable in context of HCI (human-computer interaction). The user interfaces ought to be specified at an exceptionally low level. For instance, in terms of specific interaction styles and widget, whilst mapping efficiently to users` higher level tasks. Phone interfaces are normally highly inflexible than interacting with another person or a physical environment. This inflexibility magnifies the effect of interface design problem while making a close integration of the task structure and also interface support especially crucial. My prototype interface design also benefited and become better by borrowing from a task analysis generated in discipline of Human Factors, that has a lengthy history of concern with design process and also how human-centered issues need to be included in system design. A lot of Human Factors has always been occupied by human participation in exceedingly big and complex systems, normally military systems. However, my phone prototype design factored in human factors that allow efficient human-system interaction as well as a design that is human friendly. Traditionally, Human Factors is actually the only discipline with an elongated record of involvement and also concern with human-system design that long predating a newer field of Human-Computer Interaction. A walkthrough of my prototype design by the user indeed assisted greatly in making my prototype a better design. The feedback did mention that although my choice of font colors as well as my font styles in the application for greater part of the areas in the application was awesome, there were certain problems emerging from the font sizes and also font colors employed in some sections. This made me to reconsider my choice of font size and color which I made effort to change to as to attract and never make users strain while utilizing the my design. The specific part of the interface design which experienced greater changes are a result of the walkthrough was the payment screen whose details were not initially illegible to user. Another section where changes were made was at the movie description screen that had the options of purchasing or renting. The description given about a movie was against a yellow background and also the font used for the textual description was too small and appears like small dots in the application. I changed the font used and the description given about a movie. 6.1 CONCLUSION The interface was excellent in its execution. The purpose was to make sure that as the mobile platform grows and gains speed in overtaking a personal computer, so will the interface reach more people. The only hindrance is that the interface was only made to fit in the mobile phones; no other devices were taken into consideration. The other challenge was the type of phone to be used in accommodating the interface, it soon became apparent that, not every kind of a mobile device could accommodate the interface; hence the developer had to change the design to specifically fit in a smart phone which has an incorporated and well manufactured video viewer. Due to the challenges of finger thumbs hitting on tiny icons, the developer saw it necessary to enlarge the icons used in the interface, making it quit easy to navigate and scroll using a touch screen. The task analysis played a major role in the creation of the prototype. The response offered by the respondents was enough to encourage the development. The end result, the developer was able to develop an interface that managed to meet, a user friendly requirement. The uptake is projected to be positive; clients will soon catch up to the idea of renting a movie online. Classmate feedback The author of this report also participated in another class members application user walkthrough as a user. Khalial movie mobile application was the prototype design that the author walked through, and the following feedback was submitted. The user found the application usable in terms of the choice of colors. The user also found the application easy to use in terms of navigation and the logical flow of tasks was also very easy and comprehensible for the user, as one task logically led to another. During the walkthrough, the application was also realized to have a number of usability issues. Although the choice of font colors and font styles in the application for majority of the areas in the application was great, there were a number of problems arising from the font sizes and colors adopted in some sections. An example of this was the font used in the confirm button on the user registration screen. The size of the font is too small making the word illegible and the situation particularly becomes worse for users with eye sight challenges. The choice of the font style also makes the situation worse as the characters in the word are not spaced out, and thus resulting in illegibility of the words. Another section where a similar usability issue was encountered was at the movie description screen with the options of purchasing or renting. The description provided about a movie is against a yellow background and the font used for the textual description is too small and appears like small dots in the application. At the payment screen is a form whose details should be filled in by a user. However, the form labels are not legible at all and a user has to strain trying to read the textual content. As a result, the user was forced to ignore the page as he could not comprehend what was required. This poses a problem as users may add the wrong details or totally ignore the requirements of the screen page. It was therefore recommended that the designer improves the prototype by making use of more legible font styles and making use of larger fonts. My comment on the classmate`s feedback I agree and think the comments the user has made towards my design are valid and need to be addressed in order to have a superior design. As the user said, the font size and font color on payment screen and other areas are a bit small and therefore they need to be large enough so as not to make the user to strain a lot. Feedback on my classmate design Abdul restaurant mobile web app screen interface design prototypes was developed using Photoshop and was the prototype design that the user(myself) walked through, and as a user I submitted the following feedback ; The user found the application usable in terms of font size and font color. The user also realized the application was easy to use in terms of navigation and the logical flow of tasks was also very straight forward and comprehensible for the user, as one task logically led to another. The design also had provision for detailed information required from the user that was necessary to understand and establish the user. During the walkthrough, the application was also realized to have a number of usability issues. Although the choice of font size, font color and font styles in the application for majority of the areas in the application was great, there were a number of problems arising from the choice of colors adopted in some sections. An example of this was the overall color used in the in the design outlook. The intensity of the color is too dull making the word appear less attractive and the situation principally becomes worse for users who dislike dull colors and have attitude with non bright colors. The choice of the font color also makes the situation worse as it`s only one color depriving the user of the beauty of color variety. It is therefore recommended that the designer enhance the prototype by making use of more attractive or bright colors in the overall design look and also provide more than one fonts color so as to capture all users in terms color preference. List of references CARROLL, J. M. (2003). HCI models, theories, and frameworks toward a multidisciplinary Science. San Francisco, Calif, Morgan Kaufmann. http://www.engineeringvillage.com/controller/servlet/OpenURL?genre=book&isbn=9781558608085. TIDWELL, J. (2011). Designing interfaces. Sebastopol, CA, OReilly. http://proquestcombo.safaribooksonline.com/9781449379711. GALLOWAY, A. R. (2012). The interface effect. Cambridge, UK, Polity. LAL, R. (2013). Digital Design Essentials: 100 Interface Guides for Optimal User Experiences on Desktop. Gloucester, MA, Rockport Publishers. HOOBER, S., & BERKMAN, E. (2012). Designing mobile interfaces / Steven Hoober, Eric Berkman. BALLARD, B. (2005). User interface design guidelines J2ME MIDP 2.0. Lawrence, KS, Little Springs Design. KUROSU, M. (2011). Human centered design second international conference, HCD 2011, held as part of HCI International 2011, Orlando, FL, USA, and July 9-14, 2011: proceedings. Berlin [etc.], Springer Link. RYU, H. (2009). Mobile user interface analysis and design: a practitioners guide to designing user interface for mobile devices. New York, Nova Science Publishers. KRANNICH, D. (2012). Research in Media Informatics on Advanced User Interfaces. Norderstedt, Books on Demand. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:101:1-201206114139. Read More