Assessment one: Interface Evaluation
Select a web site, computer application or phone app of your choice, and write a report of up to 2000 words evaluating its user interface. Discuss what you consider to be the good and bad aspects of the interface, justifying your reasons, and consider the cognitive, social and emotional issues covered in the lectures so far.
You report must stand alone and be readable without access to the evaluated web site or application, so include diagrams and screen dumps as necessary, and explain problems with functionality clearly.
Your report will be assessed on the following:
1. Presentation: layout, writing style,structure.
2. Identification and assessment of both good and bad aspects of the interface and justifications of your view that they are good or bad. It is important that you justify your assertions, with evidence either by explaining how particular aspects of the interface enhance or reduce usability or user experience (for example, it requires redundant mouse clicks, is difficult to read, is not suitable for colour blind people etc.), and/or by references to research that shows evidence that these aspects are good or bad (for example, studies that people find particular screen layouts intuitive etc.).
3. Assessment of interface metaphors and interactiontypes.
4. Assessment of cognitive, social and emotional issues as discussed in the textbook and lectures.
In particular, we are looking for evidence that you have:
1. read and understood the content in the prescribed textbook (chapters 1 to5);
2. read and understood relevant material beyond the prescribed textbook, and been able to connect it to your review of the selected interface and the material covered in the lecturesand
3. considered the interface from a number of different angles (usability, userexperience, cognitive, social, emotionalaspects).
Please consider these requirements in selecting the interface that you evaluate. If you choose a very simple interface that is limited in the scope it offers, you may find it difficult to demonstrate your knowledge of the points covered above.
Textbook - Interaction Design: Beyond Human Computer Author: Rogers, Sharpe and Preece ISBN: 9781119020752 Edition: 4th Edition, Publisher: Wiley.