Assignment 04: System Description

Assignment Description Due on Value
01 user analysis 06 Feb 10%
02 task analysis 25 Feb 10%
03 your rationale for the design decisions made 06 Mar 20%
04 prototype and system description 10 Apr 20%
05a usability inspection of a design developed by one of your classmates 17 Apr 10%
05b response to a usability inspection of your design 22 Apr 05%
06 planning a usability test of your own design 06 May 15%
participation in class and online daily 10%

In this assignment, you will make your design decisions concrete. They will be documented in two forms:

  1. a "map" of the system architecture, and
  2. a prototype of all or a portion of the system

The map may be a simplified state transition diagram, a user environment map (from Beyer & Holtzblatt), or some other graphical illustration of the system architecture. The prototype will instantiate all or portions of your design. It is not intended that it be the final version of the system; instead, it is a first prototype that can be used to evaluate some of your early design decisions.

The prototype will be demonstrated in class on
Monday, 25 Mar 2013
Wednesday, 27 Mar 2013
Monday, 01 Apr 2013
Wednesday, 03 Apr 2013

The map will be turned in with the final documentation on Wednesday, 10 Apr 2013; if you would like feedback on it prior to that time, I will try to review it.

If you are considering a web site, you might want to consider looking at this circa 1999 model of what a system description might look like. Yours does not have to include everything you see here, but you might want to think about whether or not your system description fully describes the system you have designed.

If you are considering a standalone system, this different, and more recent, system description might provide you with an example of what a fully developed standalone system task might look like.

Mobile apps are becoming more important. If you are considering an app, this recent example of a system description might provide you with a better example of what a fully developed mobile app task might look like.

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