Selecting a Usability Project Topic

The assignment is about human-computer interaction, focusing on the design of navigation around content, structuring and presentation of content. Students can choose a website, desktop application, or context-aware mobile device as long as it requires information exchange rather than physical work. The topic should not be a learning exercise or multimedia, nor evaluate a TV remote control or washing machine. Strong students are encouraged to find an angle on simple topics.

Selecting a Topic
Q: Can I do a website/ a desktop application/context-aware mobile device/
embedded system?
Yes. This module is about human-computer interaction, however, not product design, so the
interaction should, on balance, require the exchange of information , rather than physical work.
Evaluation of mobile usage is discouraged, as recording interaction from a mobile device poses too
many technical challenges (as I write) .
Q: Can I do a learning exercise/multimedia ?
No. This module is primarily about human-computer interaction – the design of navigation around
content, the structuring and presentation of content. The content itself should be a secondary
concern. Interactive learning systems are OK, and web pages with adverts on them are, seeking and
interacting with information is ok ... ensure the balance is towards ease of use, not primarily
pedagogy, or marketing.
Q: I can’t decide what to do
Just start: It is often difficult, if not impossible, to tell what kind of usability problems you might
encounter, how difficult to domain is to learn about etc. without investigating. You can’t judge a
book by its cover, so investigate one or two possibilities before making a decision. Project scoping
is a skill to learn like analysing or evaluating. Try some usability inspection technique – heuristic
evaluation, cognitive walkthrough, styleguide compliance assessment
Start with an interesting question:
For example:
 www. Streetcar.co.uk somehow persuades people to give up their personal cars (to which
they are allegedly irrationally wedded) to use a car club instead. How is that possible?
 http://www.beatlab.com kept my 11yr old occupied for hours. How is this site so
immediately engaging?
Look at reviews of cool software
www.wired.com/reviews/category/software-and-apps
Get inspiration from your friends

Last years topics included a social media site based around sharing collections of postcards, a site
providing average salary information for jobs in the city, ....
Q:What topics should I avoid?
Your final year project (you can’t submit work twice), or software covered during SAD 2 - Blackboard,
TransportforLondon (tfl), www.kingston.ac.uk. Avoid topics that a member of the public without a
degree in IT tackle, such as a TV remote control, a snack dispenser, a log in screen or a washing
machine. If the usability problems are familiar at the start, you will have nothing to explain, nothing
to analyse, and then just copy the obvious improvement. Try not to define too narrow a scope - you
need a diverse range of kinds of usability problem to explain, analyse, and redesign, not just 3.
That said, strong students will find ‘an angle’ on apparently simple topics, so if you think you have
such an angle and are up to it, I won’t stop you.
Q: Can I compare competitors to see which is the most usable?
Yes. The comparison often reveals issues that evaluation of a single site does not. The (re)design
can EITHER make the worst alternative even better than its competitor (not just copying it, but using
the insights to go beyond current limits), OR use the insights gained to set a new design goal for the
better alternative.
Q: Do I have to evaluate a bad site, and then improve it?
No, you can evaluate an application you believe is very easy to use/compelling, learn some lessons
of good design, and then apply those lessons elsewhere. For example, you might learn some rules
for the design of touch screens by evaluating your iphone, and then apply those rules to an iPad.