Designing Interactions

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
• Convenor: Dr Rebekah Cupitt
• Assessment: a 1000-word essay (30%), a prototype and 4000-word project report (70%)

The successful design of websites, applications, services and technologies hinges on a thorough understanding of the future user and the contexts in which technology is used. A focus on user experience is a design approach that considers people, the technology and the end use scenario.

In this module you will develop your skills in analysing and documenting user requirements, managing and designing web applications, and planning a design project from ideation to implementation. Working with a client brief, you will carry out a design project that draws on original research, design and evaluation methods including user research methods, sketching, prototyping and design techniques, evaluation methods and client-facing communications.

Indicative syllabus

• Design perspectives: waterfall, agile, user-centred, usability, user experience
• User research methods: from data collection and analysis to requirements
• Practical session A: data collection methods and analysis
• Interaction: mental models, cognition and user interfaces
• Accessibility and inclusive design
• Centring the user: personas and participatory design
• Ideation: from requirements to design decisions
• Sketching, prototyping and wireframing (LAB)
• User evaluation methods and iteration
• Practical session B: designing a user evaluation
• Implementation and handoff

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• articulate the language and context of digital media and interaction design
• understand different approaches to user experience design and their viability and sustainability in appropriate contexts
• recognise the range of stakeholders in a design project and the importance of addressing their specific requirements
• understand the relevance of international web development standards relating to digital media design and how these relate to accessibility standards, user-experience goals and design aesthetics
• critically evaluate interactive media such as websites, applications and services from a user-centred point of view
• understand and critique design methods and their underlying theories, formulate a user-centred design project and consider the ethical implications of design with and without the user
• analyse, prioritise and categorise user research data and apply its key findings to an interactive design project
• critically evaluate user-centred design methods and data both in your own projects and other scholarly outputs.