BIT2223/BIM2223/BIE2243 • INTERACTION

DESIGN/HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION/HUMAN

COMPUTER INTERFACE DESIGN

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATE
1. Answer ALL questions.

SECTION A: ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS (60 Marks)

Question 1 (20 marks)

a) In your own words, define interaction design. (4 marks)

● Interaction design (IxD) is a connection between a product and the user. The
role of interaction design is to give users information concisely and efficiently
to help them accomplish their goals. Interaction designers combine their
technical and creative skills to consider who their users are, where they're
using their product, what they're using it for and how long they're interacting
with it.
b) Describe THREE (3) core characteristics of interaction design. (6 marks)

● It must be Easy to Use= This is the bare minimum for any product. If your
product lacks usability, it is obvious that no one will desire it. It is the ease with
which someone uses your product to achieve their desired goal. Just like UX
design, interaction design needs to consider the inherent usability of the
interfaces to make the underlying system to comprehend and use.
 ● The Interface must be Easily Learned = You need to design intuition and
familiarity into every interface as users don’t really remember all functions
after using a product. In order to boil down complexity, you need to create
consistency and predictability. A simple example is that when a designer uses
a lightbox for some images and has others opening in a new tab. This breaks
both consistency and predictability and would only confuse users, if not
annoying them. You need to maintain consistency throughout the design to
create predictability, which in turn improves learnability.
● Keep an Eye on Signifiers & Affordances = It is important to focus on
signifiers as well. Your website menu should look like a menu, otherwise it will
leave your users confused. Follow the norm. Without it, users will find it
difficult to perceive the affordance.Signifiers basically work as metaphors,
telling people why they should interact with a particular item by
communicating the purpose. Affordances, on the other hand, define the
relation between the user and their environment. What is the underlying
functionality of your product? This is what affordance explains. Designers
need to utilize signifiers and affordances consistently throughout the design.

c) There are SIX (6) goals of usability. Name ALL of them. (6 marks)

● Effective: effective to use.

● Efficient: efficient to use.

● Utility: have good utility.

● Learnable: easy to learn.

● Memorable: easy to remember how to use.

● Safe: safe to use.

d) Constraint is one of the components in usability principles, which consist of

THREE (3) main types including, physical constraints, logical constraints and

cultural constraints. Differentiate between physical constraints and logical

constraints. (4 marks)

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Question 2 (20 marks)

a) Name FOUR (4) main activities of conceptual model based on interaction

types. (4 marks)

● giving instructions

● conversing

● manipulating and navigating

● exploring and browsing

b) Discuss the relationship between interaction mode and interaction style.

(4 marks)

● What the user is doing when interacting with a system (e.g:instructing, talking,
browsing and etc.) The kind of interface used to support the mode
(e.g:speech, command, menu-based, data-entry, gesture, augmented reality,
etc.)
c) List any THREE (3) of common interface styles. (3 marks)

d) Differentiate between pull-down menus and pop-up menus. (4 marks)

● When the pop-up menu is displayed, the pop-up button’s cell displays the list on top of the
popup button. The currently selected choice appears in the same location as the popup
button with the other items arranged above or below the current selection according to the
order of the cell’s menu. When the popup list is dismissed, the title of the popup button
changes to match the title of the currently selected item.

e) Explain the meaning of widgets and provide THREE (3) examples of widgets.

(5 marks)

● Widgets display information and invite the user to act in various ways. Typical

widgets include buttons, dialog boxes, pop-ups, drop-down menus, icons,

scroll bars, resizable window borders, progress indicators, selection boxes,

windows, cut-off menus, menu bars, switches, and forms.

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Question 3 (20 marks)

a) The second phase in System Development Lifecycle (SDLC) is to conduct an

analysis, which is in depth study of the existing system to determine what the

new system should do. There are also other additional issues that need to take

into account during the analysis phase. Describe any TWO (2) of them.

(4 marks)

● The second phase is where businesses will work on the source of their problem
or the need for a change. In the event of a problem, possible solutions are
submitted and analyzed to identify the best fit for the ultimate goal(s) of the
project. This is where teams consider the functional requirements of the project or
solution. It is also where system analysis takes place—or analyzing the needs of
the end users to ensure the new system can meet their expectations. Systems
analysis is vital in determining what a business"s needs are, as well as how they
can be met, who will be responsible for individual pieces of the project, and what
sort of timeline should be expected.
b) State the difference between module testing and integration testing. (4 marks)

● Unit Testing is defined as a type of software testing where individual

components of a software are tested.Unit Testing of software product is
carried out during the development of an application. An individual
component may be either an individual function or a procedure. Unit
Testing is typically performed by the developer. It is a testing method
using which every independent modules are tested to determine if there
are any issue by the developer himself.
● Integration testing is the process of testing the interface between two
software units or modules. Its focus is on determining the correctness of
the interface. The purpose of the integration testing is to expose faults
in the interaction between integrated units. Once all the modules have
been unit tested, integration testing is performed.
c) Define the SDLC models and list ALL models that are available. (8 marks)

● Requirement analysis

● Planning

● Software design such as architectural design

● Software development

● Testing

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 ● Deployment

d) Identify ONE (1) example of design rationale that you have learned and list the

elements involved. (4 marks)

● Typical examples of designs include architectural blueprints, engineering

drawings, business processes, circuit diagrams, and sewing patterns. People
who produce designs are called designers. The term "designer" generally
refers to someone who works professionally in one of the various design
areas.

END OF QUESTIONS

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