Q1.

1. Option B

Explanation: Double Diamond is the name of a design process model developed by the British
Design Council in 2005. Divided into four phases — Discover, Define, Develop and Deliver —
it is probably the best known and the most popular design process visualization.2. Preece,
Rogers and Sharp (Interaction Design) propose 6 usability goals:

• 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

2. Option D

Explanation: Usability Goals are listed below: -

Effectuality

Productivity

Safety

Usefulness

Adaptability/Learnability

3. Option B

Explanation: Conceptual design is an early phase of the design process, in which the broad
outlines of function and form of something are articulated. It includes the design of
interactions, experiences, processes, and strategies.

4.Option B
Explanation: Cognition is the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and
understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.

5.Option B

Explanation: Manipulation is an interaction style in which users act on displayed objects of

interest using physical, incremental, reversible actions whose effects are immediately visible
on the screen.

6.Option A

Explanation: A pilot study is a small trial run of the main study. The aim is to make sure that
the proposed method is viable before embarking on the real study. For example, the equipment
and instructions can be checked, the questions for an interview or in a questionnaire can be
tested for clarity, and an experimental procedure can be confirmed as viable.

7.Option D

Explanation: Methodological triangulation involves using more than one method to gather
data.

8. Option B

Explanation: A prototype is one manifestation of a design that allows stakeholder to interact

with it and to explore its suitability. They are useful when discussing or evaluating ideas with
stakeholders; they are a communication device among team members, and an effective way for
designers to explore design ideas.

9. Option D

Explanation: Shneiderman's Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design are listed below:

• Strive for Consistency.

• Enable Frequent Users to Use Shortcuts.
• Offer Informative Feedback.
• Design Dialog to Yield Closure.
• Offer Simple Error Handling.
• Permit Easy Reversal of Actions.
• Support Internal Locus of Control.
 • Reduce Short-Term Memory Load.

10. Option B

Explanation: Heuristic evaluation is a process where experts use rules of thumb to measure
the usability of user interfaces in independent walkthroughs and report issues. Evaluators use
established heuristics (e.g., Nielsen-Molich's) and reveal insights that can help design teams
enhance product usability from early in development.

Q2.

A. Describe four basic activities of Interaction Design.

The process of interaction design tries to ensure the usability of a product and a good user
experience. The interaction design process is a user-centric approach. This means that users'
perspective is considered throughout development. Having users' concerns guide the
development helps to ensure a good user experience.

There are 4 basic activities of the interaction design process:

1. Establishing Requirements

2. Designing Alternatives

3. Prototyping

4. Evaluation

The four basic activities of the interaction design process are illustrated in figure
mentioned below. It is important to note that the interaction design process is cyclic. The
process is looped over multiple times until satisfactory design (final product) is reached.
Establishing Requirements

The first step is to establish what is needed. In order to design something to support people, we
must know who our target users are and what kind of support an interactive product could
usefully provide. These needs form the basis of the product's requirements and underpin
subsequent design and development. This activity is fundamental to a user-centered approach,
and is very important in interaction design. What is the current scenario? What is the user trying
to accomplish? How does the user interact with the product? How does the user experience this
interaction? What is the environment in which the interaction takes place? Asking such
questions helps in understanding users' needs and establishing the requirements. To
successfully establish the requirements, it is essential to identify the product's target audience.
Additionally, modern products cater to diverse groups of users and each of their respective
needs also have to be consider. For example, in a modern well-designed elevator, the buttons
also have braille script embossed, thus making it easier to use for people who are visually
impaired.

Furthermore, even though this is a User-centric approach other stakeholders cannot be

neglected. Their goals ' objectives and needs also have to be taken into account. Requirement
can be of two types, functional and non-functional. Needs and requirements of users and
stakeholders are gathered and established through various techniques like questionnaires,
interviews, demonstrations, etc. Requirement gathering techniques have been discussed earlier.

Design Alternatives

Design alternatives are the development of interfaces or systems that do a better job of meeting
the needs of users and stakeholders. This is the core step of the interaction design process. Here
designers actually think of ways to meet the needs and requirements outlined in the previous
step. It is essential for the designer to consider both functional and non-functional
requirements: It is essential for the designer to consider many different ways to meet the needs
of Users. At every part of this process alternative options should be looked at. Even an
experienced designer is virtually never able to make the best/final design in the first draft itself.
Only when a large number of alternatives area considered does the best design emerge. This
requires a highly creative designer. This step can be further divided into two major parts. 1.
Conceptual design 2. Physical design.

To promote the consideration of alternatives brainstorming technique is often used.

This is a very effective technique but only works when there is more than one designer. In this
approach design team gathers and everyone voices their ideas and opinions. All ideas are
discussed and considered. Thus, many different ideas get explored. Plus, individual ideas are
strengthened from the feedback of other designers.

Prototyping

Once designs are narrowed down, it is important to test the suitability of the design. This is the
purpose of a prototype. A prototype helps users and stakeholders to judge the design's
functionality and usability. Since the goals to create interactive products, the, most-sensible
way of evaluating such products is by using interactive versions of the design. Prototypes are
such interactive versions of the design: Real-life user interactions, made possible through
prototypes, play an invaluable role in testing the suitability and validity of a design. In the-
interaction design process it is essential to create prototypes. The type and complexity of a
prototype designed depends on many factors. It can be highly detailed, expensive and have a
lot of the functionality of the final product or it can even be a simple paper-based representation
of the idea.

Evaluation

Using prototypes designs/ideas are evaluated to see whether they meet the needs requirements
established in the first stage of the interaction design process. Where there is scope for
improvement is also determined. Evaluation is a set of techniques used to determine whether
the needs of the user and stakeholders are being met. Insights and feedback gathered inform
the next design iteration. Usually, after a prototype is evaluated, it is redesigned, prototyped,
evaluated, redesigned, prototyped, evaluated so on. It is important to note that the interaction
design process is cyclic and it is very common for a product to go through multiple such
iterations till final design is reached, Additionally, during evaluation new requirements may
also surface.

B. Compare Controlled Setting. Natural Setting, and Any Setting Evaluation.

Difference between controlled Setting, Natural Setting, and Any Setting Evaluation is listed
below.
Controlled Settings Involving Users: Controlled settings involving users: In order to test
conditions hypothetically and measure or observe certain results, users' activities are
controlled. The main methods that are used are experiments and usability testing. Examples
are living labs and laboratories.

Important characteristics of controlled setting involving users are listed below: -

• Evaluators can control the environment in which evaluation is taking place.

• No disturbance from the outside is allowed until the evaluators want it.

• Users are made to do tasks in front of evaluator. For example, any software related tasks on
the computer.

• Usability testing is done to figure out whether the product is usable by the intended users and
this is done by recording the actions of the typical users, satisfaction interviews and feedback
is taken for better help.

• This has helped developers to understand usability of the product better than the report format
as this is live testing and real time observations help acknowledging the errors taking place and
the usability of the product.

• Another example is an experiment on the best way to enter text in the tablet interface
compared to typing using a virtual keyboard, typing using a physical keyboard, sliding across
the keys to select letters in the virtual keyboard

• In this experiment, users will be given a tablet interface, similar instructions and tasks to
perform limiting any outside interference. Data like tying speed or errors i.e. selecting the
wrong letter, etc will be collected and analysed to check which one is the best way.

Natural Settings Involving Users: The conditions are tested in the real world where there is
little to no control on the users' activities. The main method used is field studies. Examples are
communities that are online and products that are used in public places.

Important characteristics of natural setting involving users are listed below: -

• In natural settings, new technologies or requirements for new designs or upgradation of

existing technology is analysed and evaluated.

• Here, the users are at their own comfort to do the tasks they wish to do or the way they want
to do.
• For example, a designer needs a mobile navigation application to be evaluated. Here firstly,
we need self-volunteering users who are ready to carry out these experiments. The designer
can give them instructions on how to use it but other than that everything

depends on the user.

• The user needs to use this application while they are driving to and forth. If they forget, the
designer cannot remind them, in case something interesting happens, the designer is not there
to see it and possibly the user might miss this detail. The only thing the designer will get after
the experiment is a written report or form from the user of how they executed the task and what
their observations were. Here it is important that the user maintains transparency with the
designer and reveals the whole truth.

Any Settings Not Involving Users: In order to recognize the most obvious usability Problems
consultants and researchers need to predict and model aspects of the interface. The range of
methods includes inspections, heuristics, walkthroughs, models, and analytics.

Important characteristics of Any Settings Not Involving Users are listed below: -

• Here, evaluations are done without users of any background as well as settings are decided
upon by the evaluators.

• The evaluators predict the behaviour of the users, actions that users might do, tasks for which
the product will be used by the users and usability issues. Examples can be analytics, models
and heuristic evaluation.

• In heuristic evaluation, it applies knowledge of typical users guided by rules of thumb and
walkthroughs that involve stepping through a scenario or answering a set of questions for a
detailed prototype.

• Heuristic evaluation is used for computerized toys, web-based products etc

• Logging of data is known as analytics It can be done remotely or at the client's site. It is
majorly used for evaluating websites and its design. For example, a company wants to check
the popularity of the products that are displayed in the website. This can be done by tracking
the traffic on the site, log files of interaction data, sales done for the company online can also
be analysed. by usage of different tools that are automated, like data visualization and statistical
analysis, popular pages and products can be found. This helps in placing on the top aiming, it
easier for users to find them thus increasing the probability of buying their product.
• But at times it might not give the accurate result needed as human behaviour differs

depending on various external scenarios which cannot be captured.

C. What do you mean by low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototyping? Explain with

examples.

A prototype is an interactive representation of the design that allows users and stakeholders to
judge its suitability/ Since the goal is to create interactive products, so isn't interacting with
them the most sensible way of evaluating such products? Prototypes are such interactive
versions of the design.

The type and complexity of a prototype created is dependent on the purpose it is meant
to serve. Type is also influenced by the stage of development. During earlier iterations and for
simple idea demonstrations we often see low-fidelity prototypes being used, for later iterations,
detailed testing and/or for marketing we often see high-fidelity prototypes being used.

Low-Fidelity Prototyping

Low fidelity prototype often does not closely resemble the final product in either look or
functionality, it is often a very bare-bones representation pf the design. They are often made
up of relatively inexpensive materials like paper and cardboard. Often, they do not perform the
functionality, they only represent it. The benefit is that low fidelity prototypes can be made
very quickly and very easily. It is also usually very cheap to produce. That also makes them
very simple, cheap and fast to modify. This makes them particularly useful during the
exploration of alternative design ideas. These fast, flexible and inexpensive prototypes
encourage exploration of different designs and ideas.

Some types of low-fidelity prototypes are discussed below:

1. Storyboarding

It can be a series of text/series/scenes depicting the use and interaction of a product: Often a
certain scenario will be depicted in storyboarding. It gives the stakeholders a chance to see and
understand the flow of events and the interactions with products that can take place in a certain
scenario.

2. Prototyping with index cards

Here index cards are used. Index cards are 3x5 inch pieces of cardboard. This is often used
while developing websites or phone apps. Each index card will represent a screen, the flow of
the app or website can be simulated. It is simple and gives a good understanding to users and
stakeholders about the functioning and flow of the product.

3. Wireframes

It is often used for websites and mobile apps. It gives the structural design overview of their
system. Wireframes help easily demonstrate the functionality and flow of the app or website.
In many ways it is similar to prototyping with index cards. However, unlike prototyping with
index cards, wireframes are designed in software and thus more interactive. It is also important
to note that flow shown in wireframe is meant to resemble the flow of the product but the look
and feel shown is only for demonstrative purposes and not meant to resemble the look and feel
of the actual product.

High-Fidelity Prototyping

Fidelity is defined as "the degree of exactness with which something is copied or reproduced".
Thus, as the name suggests, a high-fidelity prototype more closely resembles the final product.
It also provides much more functionality of the product than a low- fidelity prototype.
Therefore, more realistic -interactions occur between user and product. Interactions more
closely resemble that of the final product/ Furthermore, since often many of the functionalities
of the final product are present in these prototypes, they can be used to test out some of the
technical issues. The drawback of high-fidelity prototypes is that they are often more expensive
and time-consuming to build.

High-fidelity prototypes are also often used in the marketing of the idea/product. Start-ups are
often seen pitching their ideas to investors using high fidelity prototypes. Both software and
hardware high fidelity prototypes are often made by the tinkering and modification of existing
products. This method is widely used due to it being a cost-efficient and quick way of building
the prototype Banzi (2009) comments that: "Getting cheap toys or old discarded equipment
and hacking them to make them do something new is one of the best ways to get great results."
However, with the reduction of cost of 3D scanning and printing, it is now more common to
see accurate, to-scale 3D printed prototypes of designs/ideas. They are very useful because
they can very closely simulate some of the product's missing functionality. Tools like Adobe
XD are used for this type of prototyping.
3.

A. Write a note on 10 heuristics by Nielsen.

Jakob Nielsen's 10 general principles for interaction design are called "heuristics" because they
are broad rules of thumb and not specific usability guidelines. 10 heuristics by Nielsen is
explained as follows:

1: Visibility of system status

The design should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate
feedback within a reasonable amount of time. When users know the current system status, they
learn the outcome of their prior interactions and determine next steps. Predictable interactions
create trust in the product as well as the brand.

2: Match between system and the real world

The design should speak the users' language. Use words, phrases, and concepts familiar to the
user, rather than internal jargon. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear
in a natural and logical order.

The way you should design depends very much on your specific users. Terms, concepts,
icons, and images that seem perfectly clear to you and your colleagues may be unfamiliar or
confusing to your users.

3: User control and freedom

Users often perform actions by mistake. They need a clearly marked "emergency exit" to leave
the unwanted action without having to go through an extended process. When it's easy for
people to back out of a process or undo an action, it fosters a sense of freedom and confidence.
Exits allow users to remain in control of the system and avoid getting stuck and feeling
frustrated.

4: Consistency and standards

Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same
thing. Follow platform and industry conventions.

5: Error prevention
Good error messages are important, but the best designs carefully prevent problems from
occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions, or check for them and
present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action.

6: Recognition rather than recall

Minimize the user's memory load by making elements, actions, and options visible. The user
should not have to remember information from one part of the interface to another. Information
required to use the design (e.g. field labels or menu items) should be visible or easily
retrievable when needed.

7: Flexibility and efficiency of use

Shortcuts hidden from novice users may speed up the interaction for the expert user such that
the design can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent
actions.

8: Aesthetic and minimalist design

Interfaces should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit
of information in an interface competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes
their relative visibility.

9: Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no error codes), precisely indicate the
problem, and constructively suggest a solution.

10: Help and documentation

It’s best if the system doesn’t need any additional explanation. However, it may be necessary
to provide documentation to help users understand how to complete their tasks.

B. List various usability inspection methods and summarize cognitive walkthrough

techniques.

Usability inspection is the name for a set of methods where an evaluator inspects a user
interface. This is in contrast to usability testing where the usability of the interface is evaluated
by testing it on real users. Usability inspections can generally be used early in the development
process by evaluating prototypes or specifications for the system that can't be tested on users.
Usability inspection methods include:

• Cognitive walkthrough
• Pluralistic walkthrough
• Heuristic evaluation

Cognitive Walkthroughs
As described by (Nielsen and Mack) in 1994. In Cognitive walkthrough user's problem solving
capabilities are simulated at each step of the user and system interaction this is done to verify
if the goals and memory of the user can lead the user to the next correction action. This kind
of walkthrough focuses on evaluation based on ease of user learning by exploration.
Following are the steps involved in cognitive walkthrough:

1. Identifying the characteristics of the user, and building a prototype interface defining the
sequence of actions the user needs to perform to do a task.
2. The design along with a expert evaluator perform analysis on the prototype
3. The evaluators walking through each step focussing on the questions: - A. Will the user
understand where to do it? B. Will the user understand what to do? C. Will the user understand
the effect of the action?
4. Recording of the information such as assumptions, issues, design changes and finally a
summary is made.
5. Revision of the design to fix the problems.

As compared to Heuristic evaluation this method gives more focus to specific problems
users may experience, however this method requires more time. As this method takes lot of
time and designers may try to defend their design upon being criticised by the experts, tension
in the team may be created to overcome these issues, a variation of cognitive walkthroughs
was developed by Rick Spencer which involved less questions.
Pluralistic Walkthroughs
Nielsen and Mack, in 1994 described Pluralistic Walkthroughs as a type of walkthrough
which involves experts, users and developers, this team work collectively and step through
each task scenario. In this kind of walkthrough each evaluator is asked to play the role of a
user, who are provided with scenarios of use which consist of prototype screen. The evaluators
note the steps they would take to complete the task without discussing with other evaluators,
All the scenarios of the application are evaluated in similar manner and at the end all these
responses are analysed. These kinds of walkthroughs provide in depth evaluation focussing on
user's tasks, involving multiple evaluators can provide multiple Perspectives to the overall
evaluation, this provides various opinions and feedback about the system which can be used
to improve the system.

Heuristic Evaluation

Nielsen and his colleagues in 1990 developed a usability inspection method which is called
Heuristic Evaluation, this was then modified by many researchers such as (Mankoff , 'inelle et
al etc). In this evaluation method experts are guided by well-defined usability principles which
are also called heuristics, which closely align with the high-level design principles. Important
aspect in this evaluation technique is to determine how many experts to involve, even if one
evaluation may able to cover large number of problems, he/she may not be le to catch all
problems and may focus on one aspect more than other, on the other hand employing more
experts can be costly, and hence with proper trade-off it is to be concluded t more the number
of experts applied more accurate the evaluation can be.

C. Describe in detail Cognitive Frameworks

A number of conceptual frameworks have been developed to explain and predict user
behaviour based on theories of cognition. In this section, we outline three that focus primarily
on mental processes and three others that explain how humans interact and use technologies in
the context in which they occur. These are mental models, gulfs of execution and evaluation,
information processing, distributed cognition, external cognition, and embodied interaction.

Mental Models

A successful system is one based on a conceptual model that enables users to readily learn a
system and use it effectively. What happens when people are learning and using a system is
that they develop knowledge of how to use the system and, to a lesser extent, how the system
works. These two kinds of knowledge are often referred to as a user's mental model. Mental
models are used by people when needing to reason about a technology, in particular, to try to
fathom what to do when something unexpected happens with it or when encountering
unfamiliar products for the first time. The more someone learns about a product and how it
functions, the more their mental model develops. For example, broadband engineers have a
deep mental model of how Wi-Fi networks work that allows them to work out how to set them
up and fix them. In contrast, an average citizen is likely to have a reasonably good mental
model of how to use the Wi-Fi network in their home but a shallow mental model of how it
works.

The Gulf of Execution

The gulf of execution is the degree to which the interaction possibilities of an artifact, a
computer system or likewise correspond to the intentions of the person and what that
person perceives is possible to do with the artifact/application/etc. In other words, the gulf of
execution is the difference between the intentions of the users and what the system allows them
to do or how well the system supports those actions (Norman 1988). For example, if a person
only wants to record a movie currently being shown with her VCR, she imagines that it requires
hitting a 'record' button. But if the necessary action sequence involves specifying the time of
recording and selection of a channel there is a gulf of execution: A gap between the
psychological language (or mental model) of the user's goals and the very physical action-
object language of the controls of the VCR via which it is operated.

The Gulf of Evaluation

The gulf of evaluation is the degree to which the system/artifact provide representations that
can be directly perceived and interpreted in terms of the expectations and intentions of the user
(Norman 1988). Or put differently, the gulf of evaluation is the difficulty of assessing the state
of the system and how well the artifact supports the discovery and interpretation of that state
(Norman 1991). "The gulf is small when the system provides information about its state in a
form that is easy to get, is easy to interpret, and matches the way the person thinks of the
system"

Information Processing

The information processing model provides a basis from which to make predictions about
human performance. Hypotheses can be made about how long someone will take to perceive
and respond to a stimulus (also known as reaction time) and what bottlenecks occur if a person
is overloaded with too much information. The best-known approach is the human processor
model, which models the cognitive processes of a user interacting with a computer. Based on
the information processing model, cognition is conceptualized as a series of processing stages,
where perceptual, cognitive, and motor processors are organized in relation to one another. The
model predicts which cognitive processes are involved when a user interacts with a computer,
enabling calculations to be made of how long a user will take to carry out various tasks. This
can be very useful when comparing different interfaces. For example, it has been used to
compare how well different word processors support a range of editing tasks.

External Cognition

People interact with or create information by using a variety of external representations,

including books, multimedia, newspapers, web pages, maps, diagrams, notes, drawings, and so
on. Furthermore, an impressive range of tools has been developed throughout history to aid
cognition, including pens, calculators, spreadsheets, and software workflows. The combination
of external representations and physical tools has greatly extended and supported people’s
ability to carry out cognitive activities. Indeed, they are such an integral part of our cognitive
activities that it is difficult to imagine how we would go about much of our everyday life
without them.

Distributed cognition

The distributed cognition approach describes what happens in a cognitive system. Typically,
this involves explaining the interactions among people, the artifacts they use, and the
environment they are working in. An example of a cognitive system is an airline cockpit, where
a top-level goal is to fly the plane. This involves: the pilot, co-pilot and air traffic controller
interacting with one another the pilot and co-pilot interacting with the instruments in the
cockpit the pilot and co-pilot interacting with the environment in which the plane is flying (e.g.,
sky, runway). A primary objective of the distributed cognition approach is to describe these
interactions in terms of how information is propagated through different media. By this is
meant how information is represented and re-represented as it moves across individuals and
through the array of artifacts that are used (e.g., maps, instrument readings, scribbles, spoken
word) during activities. These transformations of information are referred to as changes in
representational state

A distributed cognition analysis typically involves examining: the distributed problem

solving that takes place (including the way people work together to solve a problem) the role
of verbal and non-verbal behaviour (including what is said, what is implied by glances, winks,
etc., and what is not said) the various coordinating mechanisms that are used (e.g., rules,
procedures) the various communicative pathways that take place as a collaborative activity
progresses how knowledge is shared and accessed

Embodied Interaction

Embodied interaction is a subfield of interaction design and human-technology interaction,

dealing with wearables, haptics, and tangible interactions. The idea is to move technology from
the screen into the real physical world. We naturally communicate physically, using our bodies
to interact with each other and the world. Therefore, it’s only natural for research in human-
technology interaction to move towards that and it’s highly probable that we will see fast
developments in this area.

Q4. A.

i. Explain wireframe with suitable example.

A wireframe is a two-dimensional illustration of a page’s interface that specifically focuses on

space allocation and prioritization of content, functionalities available, and intended
behaviours. Wireframes also help establish relationships between a website’s various
templates.

Wireframes It is often used for websites and mobile apps. It gives the structural design
overview of their system. Wireframes help easily demonstrate the functionality and flow of the
app or website. In many ways it is similar to prototyping with index cards' However unlike
prototyping with index cards, wireframes are designed in software and thus more interactive.
It is also important to note that flow shown in wireframe is meant to resemble the flow of the
product but the look and feel shown is only for demonstrative purposes and not meant to
resemble the look and feel of the actual product. Thus wireframing serve multiple purposes by
supporting to:

• Connect the site’s information architecture to its visual design by showing paths
between pages

• Clarify consistent ways for displaying particular types of information on the user
interface
 • Determine intended functionality in the interface

• Prioritize content through the determination of how much space to allocate to a given
item and where that item is located

Creating Wireframes
It’s important to keep in mind that wireframes are guides to where the major navigation and
content elements of your site are going to appear on the page. Since the goal of the illustrations
is not to depict visual design, keep it simple.

• Do not use colors. If you would typically use color to distinguish items, instead rely
on various gray tones to communicate the differences.
• Do not use images. Images distract from the task at hand. To indicate where you
intend to place an image and its size, you can instead use a rectangular box sized to
dimension with an “x” through it.
• Use only one generic font. Typography should not be a part of the wireframing
discussion. Within the wireframes, however, you may still resize the font to
indicate various headers and changes in the hierarchy of the text information on the
page.
Since wireframes are two-dimensional, it’s important to remember that they don’t do well with
showing interactive features of the interface like drop-downs, hover states, accordions that
implement show-hide functionality, or auto-rotating carousels.

Although wireframes differ from site to site, the following elements often are included as
standard elements on wireframes:

• Logo
• Search field
• Breadcrumb
• Headers, including page title as the H1 and subheads H2-Hx
• Navigation systems, including global navigation and local navigation
• Body content
• Share buttons
• Contact information
• Footer
Example of wireframe prototyping is depicted below.

ii. What is Decide framework? Explain.

There exist a lot of guidelines for designing an interactive user interface which aid the designer
in designing without restricting their creativity. But after the designing is done a few questions
may remain unanswered. For routing and setting a proper path to the assessment a structure
was developed. This structured model is called the DECIDE Framework. The name of the
framework is an acronym of stepping stones which behaves as an auditing tool for budding
evaluators.

1. Determine the objectives of the evaluation

2. Explore the possible queries that need to be dealt with

3. Choose the assessment criteria and methods

4. Identify and address realistic shortcomings

5. Decide a way to deal with the shortcomings

6. Evaluation, interpretation, and presenting the data

1. Determine the objectives of the evaluation

When a Product is to be made, the end user, multiple stakeholders have a set of demands and
Objectives which need to be considered while making a design. There needs to be an
assessment of the futuristic objectives which the design is supposed to fulfil. An assessment is
to be done to identify the people who want this objective to be fulfilled and their reason for the
same.

The objectives can be tweaked a little if they are vague. The clearer queries could look
something like this : Ensure the end user goals are properly identified by the assessor. Check
final design consistency. Find out the scope of affectance that the updates in technology can
cause. Check the scope of further upgrades or revamps possible on obsolete designs

2. Explore the possible queries that need to be dealt with

In the previous step the assessor determines the objectives of the assessment. Now that the
objectives are identified there needs to be a technique to assure the evaluator at the end of the
assessment that the objectives that were set are achieved or not. . To aid the assessor in
identifying this a set of queries can be answered which are related to the objectives foreseen.

3. Choose the assessment criteria and methods

Now that the objective's completion is also verified it is critical to boil down to an assessment
criterion and decide what will be the method of assessment. While the evaluation is being done
numerous shortcomings can be encountered but it should be ensured that a solution is derived
and the analysis is done.

4. Identify and address realistic shortcomings

Now that the course of the evaluation is fixed it is important to look for the possible loopholes
or rather voids that can hamper the smooth evaluation For any assessment to be conducted it
is necessary to know about where the test halt and how to get it back on track. This is exactly
what this step aims at, locating e Pragmatic speed bumps on our road of evaluation. The speed
bumps can be the audience, equipment check, timeline and costing, domain of assessors
specialization.

5. Decide a way to deal with the shortcomings

Whenever for any cause we take data from users be it a survey, evaluation, or maybe Just a
form for some activity, a lot more should be taken into consideration than just taking data and
evaluating it. It might not always be the case that the user is comfortable with our procedures.
As when we take surveys etc we do obtain users data but at the same time we are responsible
for proper use of it in terms of privacy, confidentiality, safety, and integrity.

5. Evaluation, interpretation, and presenting the data

After the data has been collected by data gathering techniques like surveys, observations,
questionnaires, researches, studying documentation or interviews, it needs to be analyzed,
understood and presented in a simple format. Figuring out the method of analysis so that the
findings can be understood and presented in the desired format.

i. Define usability and identify the most relevant usability goals for Ecommerce
website. Also Justify.

Usability encapsulates the user experience. Essentially, it means the ease with which a visitor
to your site can interact with it. If a site has strong usability, it provides an experience that is
more comfortable and straightforward for its users to navigate.
Usability goals are the final outcomes that are to be met by any system. The objectives
are set, discussed and enforced by the numerous stakeholders and the designer. When the
system has to be developed it is always a necessity to first discuss and understand why the
system is needed and where it is going to help the user or aid them. After the goals are identified
the later detailed structural and functional framework can be made in the later stages. When a
system is made it is also needed to decide on a stage such that the system knows it has to exit
the functioning after that stage. The two types of usability goals are : System Centric Usability
Goals and User Centric Usability Goals.

System Centric Usability Goals: Effectuality, Productivity, Safety, Usefulness, Adaptability

User Centric Usability Goals The goals which are targeted at increased positive responses from
the end user are the user centric goals. These goals are: Gratifying, User
satisfaction/Psychologically filling, Profitable, Eye appealing, Inspiring, Accommodating,
Pleasurable.
Most relevant usability goals for Ecommerce website are listed below: -
1. Make navigation simple
User-friendly navigation is a core element in driving conversions. Fundamentally, your site
should make it as easy as possible for a visitor to find what they are looking for.

2. The checkout process needs to be streamlined.

A lengthy checkout process can lead to cart abandonment. To avoid this, your website should
aim to make the purchase process as efficient as possible. Cut down on the amount of
information your site requires from a consumer. For example, you could provide a checkbox
to autofill shipping information when it matches the billing address.
3.Look at your search engine
Site search usability can be a useful tool to promote both your internal and external search
functionality and product findability.

4.The page’s load time needs to be optimized.

With so many online retail options available to consumers, they shouldn’t need to wait for
websites that are slow to load. Instead, they can move their business to one of a plethora of
other options available. Thus, reducing load time should be a priority for ecommerce platforms
that seek to remain competitive.

5. Optimize for mobile use.

Digital shoppers increasingly expect an enhanced mobile shopping experience and retailers
that fail to prioritize a mobile-friendly UI should expect to fall behind their competitors.

6. Make it accessible for all users.

Websites that fail to consider accessibility in the design of their online stores are not providing
a shopping experience with maximum usability. Businesses seeking to improve traffic and
visitor retention must provide an ecommerce UX that caters to all its users, including those
who are differently-abled, have sight or hearing impairments.
7. Design your pages better.

A customer’s pathway to your products should be clear, straightforward, and effortless. At the
same time, information should be differentiated between the homepage and product or category
pages.

ii. Write a note on different interview styles.

Different interview styles used for data gathering activities are mentioned below:-

Unstructured Interviews

• Open-ended or unstructured interviews are at one end of a spectrum of how much control the
interviewer has over the interview process.

• They are exploratory and are similar to conversations around a particular topic; they often go
into considerable depth.

• Questions posed by the interviewer are open, meaning that there is no particular expectation
about the format or content of answers.

• For example, the first question asked of all participants might be: “What are the pros and
cons of having a wearable?” Here, the interviewee is free to answer as fully or as briefly as
they want, and both the interviewer and interviewee can steer the interview.

• For example, often the interviewer will say: “Can you tell me a bit more about . . .” This is
referred to as probing.

• Despite being unstructured and open, the interviewer needs a plan of the main topics to be
covered so that they can make sure that all of the topics are discussed. Going into an interview
without an agenda should not be confused with being open to hearing new ideas.

• One of the skills needed to conduct an unstructured interview is getting the balance right
between obtaining answers to relevant questions and being prepared to follow unanticipated
lines of inquiry.

• A benefit of unstructured interviews is that they generate rich data that is often interrelated
and complex, that is, data that provides a deep understanding of the topic. In addition,
interviewees may mention issues that the interviewer has not considered.
Structured Interviews

• In structured interviews, the interviewer asks predetermined questions similar to those in a

questionnaire, and the same questions are used with each participant so that the study is
standardized.

• The questions need to be short and clearly worded, and they are typically closed questions,
which mean that they require an answer from a predetermined set of alternatives.

• Closed questions work well if the range of possible answers is known or if participants don’t
have much time. Structured interviews are useful only when the goals are clearly understood
and specific questions can be identified.

• Questions in a structured interview are worded the same for each participant and are asked in
the same order.

Semi-structured Interviews

• Semi-structured interviews combine features of structured and unstructured interviews and

use both closed and open questions.

• The interviewer has a basic script for guidance so that the same topics are covered with each
interviewee.

• The interviewer starts with pre-planned questions and then probes the interviewee to say more
until no new relevant information is forthcoming. Here’s an example:

• It is important not to pre-empt an answer by phrasing a question to suggest that a particular

answer is expected. For example, “You seemed to like this use of color . . .” assumes that this
is the case and will probably encourage the interviewee to answer that this is true so as not to
offend the interviewer. Children are particularly prone to behave in this way.

• The body language of the interviewer, for example whether they are smiling, scowling,
looking disapproving, and so forth, can have a strong influence on whether the interviewee will
agree with a question, and the interviewee needs to have time to speak and not be rushed.

• Probes are a useful device for getting more information, especially neutral probes such as
“Do you want to tell me anything else?” and prompts that remind interviewees if they forget
terms or names help to move the interview along.
• Semi-structured interviews are intended to be broadly replicable, so probing and prompting
aim to move the interview along without introducing bias. As the saying goes, “One size
doesn’t fit all.”

Focus Groups

• Interviews are often conducted with one interviewer and one interviewee, but it is also
common to interview people in groups.

• One form of group interview that is sometimes used in interaction design activities is the
focus group.

• Normally, three to ten people are involved, and the discussion is led by a trained facilitator.
Participants are selected to provide a representative sample of the target population.

For example, in the evaluation of a university website, a group of administrators, faculty, and
students may form three separate focus groups because they use the web for different purposes.

• In requirements activities, a focus group may be held in order to identify conflicts in

expectations or terminology from different stakeholders.

• The benefit of a focus group is that it allows diverse or sensitive issues to be raised that might
otherwise be missed, for example in the requirements activity to understand multiple points
within a collaborative process or to hear different user stories.

• The method is more appropriate for investigating shared issues rather than individual
experiences. Focus groups enable people to put forward their own perspectives.

• A preset agenda is developed to guide the discussion, but there is sufficient flexibility for the
facilitator to follow unanticipated issues as they are raised.

• The facilitator guides and prompts discussion, encourages quiet people to participate, and
stops verbose ones from dominating the discussion.