The Prototyping Approach To Developing It Systems

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Section 1:

Let us start by understanding why exactly we need prototypes and their contribution in developing an IT system. Technology today is a very integral part of our life. With technology controlling a major part of our daily life we need machines that are simple in design and useful at the same time. Machines with bad designs can make us go crazy, with multi functions, thousands of buttons, complex diagrams, poor labelling and reams of instructions. That is when Human Computer Interaction or HCI comes into picture. HCI is responsible for understanding what exactly people want. It tests the product before it goes out to the public and basically creates machine or technology that will make our life easy. HCI can make design simple and attractive. Products can be made in such a way that they require very little explanation, so that we don’t have to think too hard.

HCI plays a very critical role in the design of software and hardware development. If implemented properly it can cater to both human and economic interests. A good HCI design can prevent errors that occur due to human limitations. It can also increase the productivity of a certain machine or technology and make them work more efficiently. Today HCI is playing an instrumental role in enhancing human creativity. Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) design approaches are being applied to user interface designs to develop user-friendly, efficient, and intuitive user experiences for humans. 

User plays a very important role in developing HCI. Users should be integrated in the system design in the beginning itself, so as to have an impact on the design. User input can help HCI make technology that actually matters to us. It can tell us a lot about who are the users, what the users need to do, what they want from the technology. A product should be designed keeping the type of its user in mind. HCI’s major goal was to develop user centric system development, which involved focus on technology to achieve better usability.

Section 2:

HCI design should begin with one goal: people come first. The design itself should be human centred. The usability of a certain product is determined based on three parameters- simplicity, usefulness and accessibility. Google search engine is a perfect example of such a product for end users. The design is simple to understand, useful and easily accessible to people worldwide. While designing an HCI system an important thing to keep in mind is the cultural and national differences that the product will encounter. What is useful for people from a particular region may not work for a different set of people. Technological reliance is different the world over, and there are understandable concerns about the global digital divide. However the design should be made in such a way so as to take in to account the widest possible range of end user requirement. Cognitive styles that describes the thinking and remembering style of different individuals also plays an important role in determining how successful an HCI model is. Considering the psychology of various types of end users, like a businessman’s approach towards a product will be different from a teenager's approach towards the same product. Another big factor to consider is that technology is changing very quickly, making way for new possibilities to which the previous research may not apply. With the advent of new technology affecting our lives dynamically every day in an ever changing fashion that current technology becomes almost obsolete in a few years time. User preferences keep changing time to time as new technology is introduced. We are living in an increasingly technology-reliant world. Each generation acquires a new set of technologies in addition to the older ones they have become dependent on. How we define our relationship with computers is changing very radically. Our dependence on them has also transformed over time. At the same time, we are becoming hyper connected and our actions, conversations and interactions are being increasingly etched into our digital landscapes. There is more scope of creativity than ever in terms of developing HCI systems.

An HCI model mainly consists of four stages:

HCI develops in four main phase:

It starts with understanding the target user and establishing their requirements. This phase requires human characterization, an in depth study of how human communicate, their physical and psychological needs. It will give a clear picture about the kind of people that are focus of this project. At an early stage pay attention to people’s abilities and their situation.

The second stage is design or creative stage that reflects the goals of the design. This phase will deepen the understanding of the value, people and their domain. This phase needs to consider the culture and environment in which the technology will be situated. Designers of technology need to take into account what their target users already know and what they will expect.

This is the building phase. Whatever the technique or the technology used in this stage, the goal is to build something, in whatever fashion, that allows researchers to produce evidence about the experience they are trying to enable.

The final phase involves evaluation of what has been built. The set of criteria against which a design is to be evaluated will be closely bound to the type of values being pursued. At this stage any of the various considerations might make the researcher revisit the design board. Due to this reason the entire process is iterative in nature. Rapid application development which is a method of software development involves iterative development and software prototyping. Another challenge in HCI evaluation is the need to assess some of the longer term and far reaching impacts of the design in question, and again this might point towards values right now seems distant from the original designed for.

Section 3:

The existing physical technologies for HCI basically can be categorized by the relative human sense that the device is designed for. These devices are basically relying on three human senses: vision, audition, and touch. Techniques such as Facial expression analysis, Gesture recognition, and Gaze detection are visual based. Speech recognition, musical interaction, and human noise detection are audio based HCI. Motion tracking sensor, touch screen, taste and smell sensor are sensor based HCI.

There are four Human-Computer Interaction approaches that can be effectively integrated to develop better interfaces between humans and society’s complex systems. They are Anthropomorphic Approach, the Cognitive Approach, and the Empirical Approach, and the Predictive Modelling Approach.

Anthropomorphic Approach: Anthropomorphic refers to attributing human qualities to nonhuman entities. As such, this approach involves using human-human communication as the model for human-computer interaction. A common example of this type of model is an interface designed to communicate with the user in a human to human manner. An error message stating "Sorry, the page cannot be found" shows as if the system is empathizing with the user. Another example is the automated telephone service. If the system is not able to understand what the user is saying, it will politely reply back saying "I am sorry, I don’t understand that".

Cognitive Approach: This next approach borrows from theories and principles in cognitive psychology and focuses on the user’s underlying cognitive processes. Metaphors and analogies can be used to enhance the intuitiveness of the interface in terms of learning and memory.  For instance, a user can move a file or folder into the "recycle bin" to delete it. Using metaphors in design, that user can relate to will help the user to learn a new system quickly. This approach however is not always flawless, for instance if a dedicated MAC user is switching to Windows for the first time, the Recycle bin feature can be misleading. As Recycle bin does not actually recycle files as the name suggest, but in fact it permanently deletes files just like the trashcan does on a Macintosh computer.

Predictive Modelling Approach: This approach is based on GOMS method. GOMS stands for Goals, Operators, Methods, and Selection Rules. It can objectively evaluate various interface design options by calculating the processing and associated cycle time parameters involved in performing a given task. For example the time a user takes to visually fixate on a web page, move eye to different part of web page, and decide what needs to be done can be measured in milliseconds. The time user takes for each operation can be summed up. Number of method can be compared, and gives us a fair picture of the most efficient method.

Empirical Approach: The empirical approach begins with specifying a prior hypothesis under investigation. This includes identifying the targeted population, what design features will be manipulated, and the expected outcomes.  Often, users will appreciate specific elements of each design concept, which may lead to the development of a composite conceptual design to test. In carrying out this hypothetical study, data would be collected on users performing the targeted task with the different designs, and then analyze and interpret the results. When done well, the empirical approach can provide objective validation for designers’ recommendations on a system’s interface design.

As HCI has developed so rapidly, there has been a turn towards a greater emphasis on user experience. The result of these developments is that HCI has become an integral part of the design process. The journey of human computer interaction has come a long way, and will continue to make our lives more technology friendly.