Task

You will need to design an interface to a system.

You will need to justify every item that you choose to put into this design. The concept it relates to must be clearly identified and explained. You may wish to draw reference from appropriate literature.

Among the many concepts you may consider are:

o colour and sections

o layout of the screen

o "help function" or assistance pages

o order in which the information is presented

o use of icons

o use of input device (eg. keyboard or specific keys)

o overall layout

o standards employed

All diagrams, screen layouts, etc., should be drawn using the Pencil application and imported into the design document. Design drawings are NOT to be submitted separately.

Case Scenario & Instructions:

A local shop keeper wants to automate some functions of his shop. The shop deals with selling gift items to the local community. The customers currently pay at the counter that is operated by a teller operator. The shop keeper expects you to design web site. The web site should allow the customers to view gift item categories and the selected gift items. The gift shop site also offers discounts for regular customers, discounts for bulk purchases, inventory management and much more. You have been commissioned to design this web site and search facility for the new online presence of the gift shop. Initially the system will be run on a kiosk type computer that is placed at the entrance of the gift shop. That is, they wish to pilot this aspect first and have it in the controlled environment of their current, physical store. If that works effectively, then they will expand that service to a full web-based service and also add other functionality that is currently outside the scope of this pilot system, such as online sales.

You can make up a selection of your choice with a variety of gift items. The customer is expected to make his/her choices and find where in the gift shop the item can be found, or if not available, how long it will take to order it in. The system is linked directly to the customer database, so that if the customer enters their ID, whatever discounts they are entitled to will automatically be taken into account in the price displayed. Although payments is outside the scope of the pilot, correct pricing information does need to be displayed, but payments have to be made at the counter in the store.

Your design focus is on providing the application screen design and layout function for the purchaser. You do not have to worry about the accounting system for the gift shop. There will be no human assistance available at the kiosk when it is fully deployed.

Your task is to design an application to run on an automated self-service kiosk that allows customers to search for and order gift items as quickly as possible. You may assume that the kiosk will consist primarily of a screen that users will interact with. The screen may or may not be a touch screen, depending on your design. You may assume that the gift shop has capacity for up to 250 customers on three floors of the same building and therefore several kiosks will be operated simultaneously.

You may make any other assumptions not stated here but you must state them in Section B of your assignment. You will need to provide drawings of the interface design for your chosen system. Drawings can be rough sketches, but must clearly show all components of your design. Do not use any existing gift shop name, trademarks or pictures. In addition to the drawings which provide one interface to the system you may recommend other input and output devices. For example will you use voice input/output, a touch screen etc.? Think carefully about the system, the tasks, what they do and how your customers might interact. Who are the clients/users? What do you feel should be the usability goals? How can you develop an interface that meets these usability goals for these customers? Are there any constraints to the development of the interface.

The following aspects are out of scope for this assignment:

o Payment considerations;

o Electrical and technical specifications of the kiosk;

This assignment covers the second four learning outcomes of this subject:

• Designing the interface of information systems both stand alone and web based.
• Designing online support.
• Evaluation - the relevance and different types of evaluation.
• Experience in usability testing.

Section A:

Write an executive summary of your system in no more than 150 words on a separate page.

Section B:

Describe your application and its operation. If you have made assumptions, indicate them here. Justify every item that you have introduced in your design in a logical and well-presented manner. An example is that you may put the drawing at the top of the page and state your explanation below. Justify any of the above concepts that you have introduced here as well.