Team Betamax Adam College Doug Ellwanger Jeremy Freeman Jonathan Tse Dec 7, 2006
Motivation Frustration with Olin portals Scattered content High technical knowledge Dissimilar requirements
Project Goals Unified Olin information source Intuitive, friendly interface Customizable content
Learning Goals Interface design process Teamwork Web programming
Main Scenarios Adding new content RSS feeds, bookmarks Weather, sports Customize layout Find contact information
Personas Cross-section of Olin students Assumptions technically confident adept at using the internet not always buzzword-savvy
Gordon Junior ECE Ypsilanti, MI 20 years old Mildly conservative
Haley First-year Undeclared (E:Bio) Redwood city, CA 18 years old Apathetic
Isabel Senior E:Systems Danbury, CT 22 years old Liberal
Low-fi Prototype
Low-fi Evaluation Primarily evaluating ease of use and feature visibility Results “Configure Me” non-optimal Classes not visible enough Search option includes Olin? Personal opinions on Calendar
Prototype Changes Search bar conformity Different label for configuration Configuration drop down /calendar highlighting
Version One
Heuristic Evaluations “Better than Blackboard” Bugs Most problems were consistency related
Major Heuristic Evaluation Problems and Actions Taken Too “cute” or “overly verbose” Simplified & standardized dialogue “Configure Me” moves items on screen Tabbed Configure interface Search results are confusing Tabbed Search interface Irreversible Actions Added undo feature
Incorporating Feedback Added academic calendar and Olin links Increased information on and personal calendars Added more Google results Fixed bugs
Prototype Demo
Future Progress Increasing drop size area Edit bookmarks and other boxes (back-end) Customized color scheme Saving user preferences
Lessons Importance of visualizing change Communicating buzzword/jargon-free ideas We’re members of our own user group Defining end of the user interview process Being extremely aware of mental model of users
Questions ?