USER EXPERIENCE RESEARCH AND DESIGN (6 SCU)

Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of this course, students are expected to be able to: identify cognitive and socio-economic factors that can make interactive software effective; define user requirements of the interface design; apply key design principles and guidelines that can assist user interface designers, and evaluate the limitations of such guidelines; create an effective evaluation based on qualitative or quantitative research methods for a particular design project; apply appropriate site structure and navigation; apply techniques of contextual analysis around the present use of technology; and elicit user requirements and present proposed solutions to a range of audience.

Topics:

This course introduces students to the important principles of user experience research and design that can be applied to either a graphical user interface (GUI), a web interface, or a mobile interface. Frequently users are exposed to software programs or websites where the information or functions are not easily identified or located. This directly impacts the effectiveness of the users in achieving their goals and therefore increases user frustration. After learning several design concepts, students should be able to identify examples of existing interfaces and draw parallels with real-world interactive devices, such as mobile phones and personal computers, as well as apply proper qualitative or quantitative research methods to continuously enhance the user experience towards the achievement of particular business goals. Combining this knowledge with the skills of using various user interface design software, the students should feel confident in creating interfaces that will best meet users’ requirements and provide a good user experience.