Systematic Design of User Interfaces

PhD course

Place
IT University of Copenhagen
Rued Langgaards Vej 7
DK-2100 Copenhagen S

Dates
2009: 10-11; 17-11; 24-11; 01-12; 08-12; 15-12
2010: 12-01; 19-01; 26-01; 02-02.

Time
9.00 - 11.45; exercises 13:00 - 14:30; plus homework
(participation: 10*3 hours; Preparation and homework: 10*10 hours)

Organizers and Lectures
Søren Lauesen

Prerequisites
General IT knowledge

Course description
This course focuses on user interfaces for professional use. (We don't look at advertisements, entertainment, etc.) How do you design such a user interface? Ask a programmer and he may say: The user interface? Oh, it is so boring. We add it when the important parts of the program have been made.
Ask a specialist in human–computer interaction and he might say: The user interface? Oh, you have to study the users and their tasks. To do this you must know a lot about psychology, ergonomics and sociology. Designing it? Well, you have to come up with a prototype of the user interface and review it with the users. Programming? Oh, that is what the programmers do when the user interface has been designed.
Is there a communication gap here? Yes, for sure. This course bridges the gap. You get answers to questions such as how many screens should be used and what should they contain? How does it relate to requirements, databases and programming? You cannot learn this by trying only once, so on the course you design several user interfaces.

After the course, you will be able to:

Define and measure usability of a system

Explain how cognitive factors such as gestalts and mental models influence the user's perception of the system

Describe the user's tasks and present challenges

Define a data model for real-life applications

Based on this, design a user interface systematically for non-trivial systems and ensure adequate usability

Explain how to fit the design process into a larger development project and how the process relates to object-oriented development and design

Credits
7½ ECTS

Exam
Mini-projects with oral exam - pass/fail

Course homepage
http://www.itu.dk/people/slauesen/PhdUID.html

How to sign up
Sign up by writing an e-mail to slauesen@itu.dk (Søren Lauesen)