TIE-41406 Human-Centered Design Project, 5 cr
Additional information
Suitable for postgraduate studies.
Person responsible
Thomas Olsson
Lessons
| Implementation | Period | Person responsible | Requirements |
| TIE-41406 2016-01 | 2 - 3 |
Thomas Olsson |
Learning Outcomes
After this course the student is able to conduct a full human-centered research and design process in practice, especially according to the "Contextual Design" framework. One can apply the methods in different types of product development processes and their phases. One can explain the general benefits, challenges and practical significance of human-centered design. One has enough experience on the human-centered research and design methodology to be able to take responsibility of a small design project. The student can model and consolidate different types of user research data from various sources, and identify the most relevant user-related aspects that affect the design. One is able to give examples of good principles of group working and explain the benefits and principles of idea creation techniques, as well as to use this knowledge in practical design work.
Content
| Content | Core content | Complementary knowledge | Specialist knowledge |
| 1. | Contextual Design (CD) as a holistic R&D methodology for interactive technology: both in theory and practice. | Applying CD and Lean thinking to various types of projects. | |
| 2. | Contextual Inquiry: user research in authentic contexts. Techniques for gathering user research data with observation, interviewing and by gathering relevant artifacts that relate to the user activities. Understanding of how to gather relevant user data in different types of cases. Interpreting the data. Modeling the user, context and task according to the notations and principles in CD. Consolidating the models (Interaction model, sequence model, artifact model, physical model and cultural model). Building an affinity diagram. | Selecting the most suitable modeling notations and analysis methods based on the studied context and goals of the project. | |
| 3. | Specifying and designing a product/service based on the user research: how to make design decisions based on the understanding of the user. Methods like Affinity diagram walkthrough, visioning and storyboarding, Personas, UED-modeling. | Theory about idea creation techniques and working in groups, and how to apply this knowledge in design processes. | |
| 4. | Interaction design, interface design and prototyping: storyboarding, UI mock-ups, wireframes, landing pages. Advanced principles of UI design and graphical design. | Knowledge of other relevant design roles and approaches, such as graphical design, experience-driven design, information architecture. Understanding of what is expected of a UX designer in the industry, particularly in software industry. |
Instructions for students on how to achieve the learning outcomes
The grade is mainly based on the practical assignment. Attending ~50% of the weekly teaching sessions is compulsory. The more sessions one attends, the more it shows in the final grading.
Assessment scale:
Numerical evaluation scale (0-5)
Partial passing:
Study material
| Type | Name | Author | ISBN | URL | Additional information | Examination material |
| Book | Contextual Design. Defining Customer Systems | Beyer, Holtzblatt | Not compulsory but recommended | No | ||
| Book | Rapid Contextual Design: A How-to Guide to Key Techniques for User-Centered Design | Holtzblatt, Wendell, Wood | Not compulsory but recommended | No |
Prerequisites
| Course | Mandatory/Advisable | Description |
| TIE-40106 Psychology of Pervasive Computing | Mandatory | |
| TIE-41206 Human-Centered Product Development | Advisable |
Additional information about prerequisites
In addition, a compulsory prerequisite is the course "Methods of Usability Engineering" (provided by University of Tampere) or similar skills about conducting user research.
A Master's level or postgraduate student who has taken a Bachelor's degree elsewhere should have theoretical knowledge and preferably also practical skills of the following: user-centered design as a process, user research in general, usability testing, interviewing, user interface design, usability engineering.
Correspondence of content
| Course | Corresponds course | Description |
| TIE-41406 Human-Centered Design Project, 5 cr | TIE-41416 Methods in Human-Centered Design, 5 cr | |
| TIE-41406 Human-Centered Design Project, 5 cr | IHTE-3306 User-Centered Design Project, 4 cr | |
| TIE-41406 Human-Centered Design Project, 5 cr | IHTE-3300 User Centred Design Project, 4 cr |