A3 is about the designing and prototyping of an interactive system that addresses the problems you have identified. Teams of 4-5 people will be formed based on your preferences. Frequent collaboration with your teammates will be essential for success!
💫 Promising projects will be offered the opportunity for further research and development under the instructor’s supervision for academic research paper submissions.
Framing a research problem
Ideating and refining concepts
Iterative prototyping
Tools
Other options for UI mockup tools: Adobe XD, InVision, Axure, Sketch
Useful Readings
Will Fanguy on Wireframing vs. Prototyping
Nick Babich on The Magic of Paper Prototyping
Nicole Saidy on How to streamline your UI/UX workflow with Figma
This will be a team assignment with teams of 4-5 students per team. Teams will be formed based on preferences specified by each student using this form.
Your team's goal is to design and prototype an interactive system to address problems that impede creativity and productivity.
Stage 0: Team Formation.
Use this google form to indicate your preference of your team/topic by Sunday, October 27th, and teams will be formed and announced by Tuesday, October 29th.
Each team should then:
Select a team name. This can change later in the quarter
Create a Slack channel for your team and add all members (you can choose to add the instructors or not)
Decide on a weekly meeting time outside of lecture time and set up a recurring meeting schedule
Set up a team folder under the A3 Teams folder.
Make a team contract. Make a copy of the Team Contract Template and store a copy in your shared Google Team Drive. Fill it in together as a team.
Add your team information to the Team Dashboard.
Get started on A3.
** You need to:
Submit Topic/Team Selection Form by Sunday, October 27th
Submit a PDF proof of your response on Canvas
Complete team information following the instructions above
Submit the completed team contract on Canvas individually by Sunday, November 3rd
Stage 1: Problem Selection and Framing.
Start by selecting a design problem that the team agrees to work on together. During the class on Tuesday, November 5th, each team will present the problem, its importance, the underlying cause of the problem, and your insights into solving the problem using 3-5 slides. Each team will have 2 minutes to present.
** You need to:
Work as a team to frame a design problem within your selected research area
Prepare 3-5 slides to pitch your design problem. Your pitch should be within 2minutes
Keep records of your materials in your team Google Drive folder (refer to the Stage 6 instructions for details on the final materials required for submission)
Stage 2: Ideation, Sketches, and Competitive Analysis.
Using sketches to explore different concepts of the user interface and the interaction techniques. You can draw sketches that help you explore many different ideas. These sketches should illustrate the interface and interaction techniques (e.g., what buttons a user would need to click or what gestures they need to perform, and what changes in the interface would that interaction lead to).
At this stage, each team member should generate at least 5 different ideas, and share them among groups. The sketches should be clean and easy to understand, but they don't need to be fancy.
The team should collectively select the best 3 ideas, and conduct a competitive analysis to demonstrate the advantages and limitations of your design in comparison with existing solutions.
The 3 selected ideas and the competitive analysis will be presented during class on Thursday, November 14th. Each team will have 5 mins to present.
Make sure you keep a record of the sketches as we will go through them when grading your A3.
** You need to:
Come up with at least 5 ideas for solving your proposed design problem, and share them among the team
Select 3 best ideas and conduct a competitive analysis of their pros and cons
Prepare a 5-minute presentation demonstrating the competitive analysis of your 3 selected ideas by Thursday, November 14th
Keep records of your materials in your team Google Drive folder (refer to the Stage 6 instructions for details on the final materials required for submission)
Stage 3: Iterative Sketches and Wireframe.
With the feedback you will receive from Stage 2, you should iterate on the design of the interface and interaction techniques. The team will work together to refine existing designs or generate new designs. The team is expected to show significant improvement, compared to Stage 2.
The team will also create wireframe for the interface, which is the blueprint of the interface and interaction. Here is one example. You don't have to include colors, images, or content (you can, if it's necessary for you to include). Focus on the interaction steps and transitions among them. Your wireframe should visualize the overall interactive experience with your system.
Improved sketches and wireframes will be shared in class on Thursday, November 21st. Each team will have 5 mins to present.
Make sure you keep a record of the sketches as we will go through them when grading your A3.
** You need to:
Significantly improve the design of your prototype based on feedback. Create wireframes showcasing the overall interaction flow
Prepare a 5-minute presentation demonstrating the improved sketches and wireframes by Thursday, November 21st
Keep records of your materials in your team Google Drive folder (refer to the Stage 6 instructions for details on the final materials required for submission)
Stage 4: Clickable Prototype.
With the feedback you will receive from Stage 3, you will create a prototype that would allow someone to try out the key functions of your team's proposed interaction techniques. You can use prototyping tools such as Figma. Your prototype should demonstrate a polished version of the whole user experience. This fully realized prototype should have a polished look and feel that effectively demonstrates the entire user experience (from the moment a user initiates the activity to when they complete the activity). Your team should continue to test, iterate, refine, and polish your prototype up until the Final Presentation. Your prototype will be shared in class on Thursday, December 5th. Each team will have 5 mins to present.
** You need to:
Complete a polished, interactable prototype with prototyping tools (e.g., Figma)
Prepare a 5-minute presentation demonstrating the polished prototype by Thursday, December 5th
Keep records of your materials in your team Google Drive folder (refer to the Stage 6 instructions for details on the final materials required for submission)
Stage 5: Final Presentation.
Please use Google Slides to create a slide deck to describe the research problem and your design. Your presentation should contain the following information:
A title page with your team name, date, team members, and emails.
Description of the problem and its significance.
Your analysis of the problem, your key insights, and the functionality that you come up with to address those problems.
Initial sketches of the interface and interaction.
Improved sketches and wireframes.
Demonstration of the hi-fi prototype, and how it can be used to support user tasks.
Summary, implication, conclusion, and things you wish to improve further.
Teams should plan on delivering their final presentation during the class’ designated final period(Monday, December 9th, 3-6 pm, location DIB 122). Talks should be no longer than 10 minutes with another 3 minutes for discussion.
** You need to:
Enjoy your final presentation!
Then, finish Stage 6 after your presentation.
Stage 6: Submit Materials and Evaluations.
Congratulations on completing your design project 🎊! As a final step, we want to keep a record of all your materials throughout A3. Please compile all A3 material as one single PDF and submit it to Canvas:
On the First Page: Include your group name, date, PIDs, emails of all group members, and a link to your team's A3 folder
** Ensure the folder is accessible to the instructors
Contents of the PDF: Include all materials from Stages 1-5:
Stage 1: Problem selection and framing
Stage 2: All sketches created by individual students, the selected sketches, and the competitive analysis
Stage 3: All sketches with improvement highlighted + wireframes
Stage 4: Link(s) to a clickable and interactive high-fi prototype
Stage 5: Final presentation slide deck
We will examine all the stages, and provide a combined grade as described below.
Please name all the files in your folder with the corresponding stages (e.g., "Stage 2: Ideation, Sketches, Competitive Analysis"). Ensure all materials are included.
Finally, submit your peer evaluation form for A3. Teams will not be assigned a grade until all members submit their peer evaluations.
** You need to:
Organize your Google Drive folder by naming all files according to their respective stages
Submit a PDF compiling all A3 materials (following the criteria outlined above) to Canvas by Tuesday, December 10th
Submit A3 Peer Evaluation Form by Tuesday, December 10th
Stage 0:
topic selection: Sunday, October 27th
team setup: Sunday, November 3rd
Stage 1: Tuesday, November 5th
Stage 2: Thursday, November 14th
Stage 3: Thursday, November 21st
Stage 4: Thursday, December 5th
Stage 5 (final presentation): Monday, December 9th
Stage 6: Tuesday, December 10th
A3 constitutes 35% of your total course grade. Here's the breakdown of A3 grading:
[20%] Problem Selection and Framing
Does the team clearly describe the problem?
Does the team provide a strong motivation for the selected problem?
Does the team provide an insightful analysis of the selected problem?
[20%] Ideation
Does the team present a set of novel and thoughtful ideas?
Does the team compare thoroughly with existing solutions?
[20%] Sketches
Does the team utilize sketches to explore different ideas?
Does the team utilize sketches to clearly communicate the design of interfaces and interactions?
Does the team demonstrate significant improvements of the design across different stages?
[20%] High-fi prototype
Does the team deliver interactive high-fi prototypes
Does the prototype demonstrate the entire user experience of working on a creative task?
[20%] Final Presentation
Does the team deliver a coherent and well-prepared presentation?
Does the presentation cover all the required content?