Interaction Design WikiInteraction Design Process

Interaction Design Process FS19

Spring 2019: March 26 - May 3.

Instructors:
Dr Joëlle Bitton
joelle.bitton@zhdk.ch 

Nicole Foelsterl
nicole.foelsterl@zhdk.ch

Guest Lecturer:
Dr Jean-Baptiste Labrune

Project Partner:
Psychiatrie St.Gallen Nord, Ateliers-Living Museum, Zürcherstrasse 30 CH-9501 Wil (SG)
with Rose Ehemann and Nicole Ottiger

Office hours by appointment 

The module takes place from March 26 - May 3, over 6 weeks, including a production week (5), from Tuesday to Friday each week, 9.30-17.00, see detailed hours in calendar below.
Room is 4K15 for most of the module, except during production week (access to photo studio 3.F18) and final week (4.E08). Exceptions made be added in the calendar.
Class sessions include lectures, discussions, mentoring sessions, in-class exercises, home assignments and independent study blocks.
Projects are conducted in groups of 4 students. 

Overview and Objectives

This course puts the students in the context of realising an interaction design outcome from initial idea to final proposal, with a particular emphasis on field research and user-experience.
In this interaction design process, students work through the several stages of project development: Context/User Inquiry, Concept Generation, Idea Testing, Prototype Development, Evaluation and Concept Iteration. 

Following these stages of observation, creation, and evaluation, we will discuss and apply situated and user-centered methods (eg. bodystorming, context analysis, video scenarios, etc).

This course is project-based and will allow students to have a hands-on experience.
Organised in groups, students will develop innovative design concept for a product, a service or an experience. 

Topic

"With People, For the People, By the People"

The topic for this class addresses the typical design premice of people-centered design at the core of interaction design studies and human-computer interaction research. What does this premice actually mean? What are the limitations, frustrations, realities of designing on the ground? Is participatory design an actual possibility or is it a fallacy where designers end-up imposing their views unto "users". This class will challenge the assumption that interaction designers design for people as a mantra perpetuated in diverse institutions and corporations, and uncover the contradictions of a designer's agency. In particular, we'll work within the boundary of designing for/with people on the margins, with special needs, or that don't always fit the mainstream types of users.

This course will take place in partnership with patients from the Ateliers-Living Museum of Psychiatrie St.Gallen Nord, in Wil.

During the course the student will learn:

The student is expected to produce these final deliverables:

1. A working prototype, user-tested and evaluated
2. The presentation of this interaction design product, service and/or experience grounded on the understanding of the user and the context
3. The documentation of assignments and design process in a blog
 

Course Outline

Your project development is structured in following steps:

Expectations and Grading

Grades will be based on group presentations, class participation, home assignments, documentation (journal) and final work. All work should be produced in English.
Contributing to constructive group feedback is an essential aspect of class participation.
Regular attendance is required. Two or more unexcused absences will affect the final grade. Arriving late on more than one occasion will also affect the grade.

Group presentations 20% 

Final work 30%

Class participation 10% 

Journal Documentation 20%

Assignments 20%

Any assignment that remains unfulfilled receives a failing grade.  

Deliverables

Interval group presentations each week present the advancement of the group's project and highlight the specific requirements of that week.
Each presentation are structured so that each group member will introduce an aspect of the project. On average, the presentation should be 10 minutes.
The format is open: 

The final outcome of the class is a project proposal in the form of a working prototype, user-tested and represented to an external audience in the form of a film and/or a medium of your choice (installation, website, demo, etc...). For this class, there will be an emphasis on the film narrative as a way to disseminate your proposal.

A separate 'Journal' is developed by each student that reflects on learnings from the seminar. It should be in the form of an online blog (ie. WordPress, Tumblr or other):

Throughout the module, various short home assignments will be given to practice concepts discussed in class.

Course Materials

The course IAD Design Methods provides the background literature for this class.
Readings are made available in the shared IAD server, under 19FS > Sem2_IAD_PROCESS.

Additional readings can be provided as the class progresses.

Teams projects

Calendar

Week 1
Into the Wild!

Tuesday 26.3

Wednesday 27.3

Thursday 28.3

Friday 29.3

Monday 25.03

Morning




7.46 
Train from Zurich HB to Wil

9.15
Meeting at Cafe Living Museum.
Visit Ateliers - Living Museums, Psychiatrie St.Gallen Nord

(jb, nf)

9:30 - 12:00 
Ethnographic study
and
Get prepared for
Field Research
(nf) 

09.30 - 11.30
Clustering and Going back in the field.
Sense Making (AEIO)
(nf)



Field Research

Afternoon

15.15-17.00, room 5.G02.
Introduction about the module, Lecture on the topic, Note on Documentation
(jb, nf)

Back to Toni.
14.00 - 16.00

Exercise: topic and group building
(jb)  

Renting Equipment 
(nf)

Field Research

 


Field Research

13.00 - 14.00
Group presentations: Inspirations and Field Research
(jb, nf)

14.30-16.30
Narrowing Down
(nf) 


Week 2
Idea Transfers

Tuesday 2.4

Wednesday 3.4

Thursday 4.4

Friday 5.4

Morning

09.30-09.45
Expectations for the week and discussions
(jb, jbl) 

10.40-11.25
Exercise: Very rapid prototyping
(jb, jbl) 

11.25-12.00
Group Presentations:
mock-ups
(jb, jbl) 

Field Research or Desk-based Research
(Related work, 
state of the art)


Field Research








Desk-based Research or Field Research

Afternoon

Desk-based Research 
(Related work, 
state of the art)

14.00-17.00
Lecture on Cultural Probes and Exercise
(jbl)



Field Research

13.00-15.00
Group presentations: Related Work and Production Plan for the next 4 weeks 
(jb, nf, jbl)

Week 3
Play

Tuesday 9.4

Wednesday 10.4

Thursday 11.4

Friday 12.4

Morning

09.30 - 11.30
Exercise: Bodystorming

(jb, jbl)


Independent Study



12.00-13.00
Guest Lecture - open to all: Jean-Baptiste Labrune (3.K13)

Independent Study

Web Dev module
(4.K15)

Afternoon

13.00-16.00
Exercise: Protoyping Ideas
(jb, jbl)

13.30 - 15.00
Mentoring:
Protoyping (20mn/group)
(jb, jbl)

Independent Study

13.00-15.00
Group presentations:
Prototypes
(jb, jbl)

Week 4
Stories and Users

Tuesday 16.4

Wednesday 17.4

Thursday 18.4

Friday 19.4

Morning

09.30 - 12.30
Input: Storytelling and 
Exercise
(jb, jbl)



Independent Study

Independent Study



Holiday

Afternoon

14.00 - 16.00
Input: Storyboards
(nf)

14.30-16.00
Mentoring: Storytelling 
(20mn/group)

(jb, jbl)

12.30-14.00
Group presentations:
Storytelling
(jb, jbl)

Holiday

Week 5
Production 

Tuesday 23.4

Wednesday 24.4

Thursday 25.4

Friday 26.4


Production Week


Production Week

 

Production Week

Production Week


Week 6
Production

Tuesday 30.4

Wednesday 1.5

Thursday 2.5

Friday 3.5

Morning

09.30-11.30
Group presentations:
Back from the production week // at Living Museum
(jb, nf, jbl)

Independent Study

Independent Study

Web Dev module
(4.E08)

Afternoon

13.00-16.00
Mentoring: Editing
(nf)
Independent Study

13.15-15.30
Final Group
presentations
(jb, nf, jbl)



14.00 - 17.00 Documentation
Work // 
Feedback session
(jb, nf)

JB: Dr. Joëlle Bitton, NF: Nicole Foesterl, JBL: Jean-Baptiste Labrune