Design an interface for a new type of protein research instrument from the ground up with a user-centered design approach.

Operational simplicity is the mandate.

• Met with client representatives and read documentation to learn the proteomics and mass spectrometry subject domain

• Gathered technical and business requirements from project stakeholders

• Interviewed protein researchers in different geographic regions on site and observed their natural workflow

• Analyzed findings, and prepared persona representations of the customers to share research with the client team

• Reviewed existing software in field

• Analysed interview notes for burning needs

• Conducted multiple brainstorming sessions to generate bluesky and evolutionary concepts

• Employed the personas to guide the selection of concepts and to find compromises between bluesky and evolutionary ideas

• Hand sketched concept ideas into interface frameworks

• Presented the paper sketches to customers and clients for feedback

• Selected a direction for proceeding with design

• Prototyped and iterated the interface through increasing fidelity and detail

• Met on a regular basis with different customers to conduct quick design checkpoints and full usability tests

• Met with client subject matter experts to gather technical information about the product to help refine the interface and better align it with the instrument

• Presented the design concepts to client for feedback and discusssion

• Met with software developers from India and database experts to make product tradeoffs. Presented the design documents to client development teams

• Worked with software developers to communicate the design and make implementation tradeoffs

• Consulted with the documentation team as a subject matter expert on the interface

• Presented the personas used in the project as a case study seminar to the Society of Technical Communication and a class at the University of Waterloo

Prepare for and compete in a 10-minute, live, on stage design competition.

The goal is both to educate about the design process and entertain.

Marks are awarded for process, teamwork, user focus, and final design.

During the competition:
• The team read the problem definition.

• The Architects stated assumptions and constraints of the problem.

• The Surveyor and Foreman polled the audience for goals with which to write persona. Brand attributes were also identified.

During the competition:
• The Architects brainstormed individually for a brief period and then came together to share and build on ideas.

During the competition:
• The Surveyor and Foreman gave feedback on designs from the perspective of the brand attributes and persona.

• A concept direction was selected and the design was refined.

• The Foreman then adopted the role of the persona and did a design walkthrough facilitated by the Surveyor.

During the competition:
• The design was then finalized and presented to the judges by the Architects.

• Identified the behaviors of traditional and online shopping

• Identified the advantages and constraints of handheld computers and wireless infrastructures

• Used discount usability and design walkthroughs to evaluate the design with classmates.

• Conducted usability testing with participants using a PowerPoint simulation to identify issues

• Ran participants through scenarios and measured time to completion and number of errors

• Debriefed the participants with questionairres after the scenarios

• Refined the design based on feedback from testing

• Identified issues for improvement based on judging previous competition

• Reviewed competition material from similar competitions from other organizers

• Created a draft format for the challenge

• Met with other organizers to brainstorm, challenge problem, personas, and logistics

• Created a seed persona as a guideline so that other organizers could participate in writing personas

• Met with organizers to get input and feedback on the challenge structure, and personas

• Observed users using the extranet and interviewed them on their preferences and behaviour.

• Reviewed existing extranet usage logs to look for usage patterns.

• Asked users to rank a list of preferred features

• Held brainstorming sessions with intern student

• Prototyped concepts on whiteboards, paper, and Illustrator

• Created screen shots of the user interface

• Facilitated design checkpoints to evaluate the interface

• Refined the design based on insight from design checkpoints

• Met with interaction designers, facilitators, client service team and client representatives to understand the design and business objectives

• Reviewed the feature's design with the interaction designer to understand the core design usage and alternate scenarios

• Worked with interaction designers and client marketing managers to create detailed usage tasks and interview questions to extensively evaluate the new feature

• Worked with the client to create demographic profiles to send to third party participant recruiters

• Conducted screening interviews to select participants

• Asked participants introductory background questions to establish rapport and set context

• Facilitated participants through accomplishing specific tasks and prompted them to explain their decisions and expectations

• Conducted debriefing interviews with participants and debriefing sessions with clients

• Reviewed the design intention with the information architect and artist

• Toured the new museum facilities and met with the museum marketing team to understand goals

• Prepared for design checkpoint by creating possible interview questions and small user tasks

• Asked introductory questions to participants to establish rapport and set context

• Prompted the customer to verbalize their thoughts and expectations

• Encouraged the participant to explore the wireframe designs and asked the participant to explain the design back from what they saw

• Facilitated through small tasks on paper prototypes to look for mental models and expectations

• Used a word sorting technique to see how the logo and website aligned with the client's intended brand attributes

• Debriefed the clients with top findings

• Met with client service to understand industry practices for agriculture sales

• Met with project management and software development to understand solution constraints

• Sketched out concept solutions with paper prototypes

• Communicated design to software development for prototyping

• Adjusted the design based on a heuristic evaluation of prototype and implementation tradeoffs