Conceptual Design
- Follows requirements analysis
- Precedes physical design (e.g. screen shots showing color, fonts, white space, etc.)
The text discusses some problems of skipping conceptual design
during the interaction design process (see section 2.2).
Properties of Conceptual Design
- Groups functions, operations and features
- Determines task flow or sequence of operations
- Determines user input
- Determines what output is provided to the user
- Establish use metaphors and styles of interaction
- Usually does not specify visual layout
Variants of this design phase are often called information
architecture, abstract design and activity design. Once the
conceptual design is completed, the back-end implementation can
proceed independently (at least in principle!).
No user interface coding is allowed!
Conceptual design models
Activity-based models (sect. 2.3.1)
- Instructing. Examples include command-based
and batch systems.
- Conversing. Interactive systems that carry
on a dialog with the users. The systems queries depend on the
user. Examples include telephone dialog systems and wizards (in
MS Office products).
- Manipulating and navigating. To carry out
actions, most graphical user interfaces provide objects that the
user can manipulate. Immediate feedback is often
provided. Usually the user can move the objects around on the
screen. Examples include most word processors, PC desktops and
virtual environments. Note that "navigating" refers to the
space of interaction and not browsing as used with the Web.
- Exploring and browsing. Examples include a
user exploring an information space such as a Web site.
Object-based models
These models more systematically develop objects and then
define their properties and what actions can be performed on
them. It's not always clear how these models differ from
direct-manipulation models. Examples include spreadsheets and
modern document-formatting programs.
Interface metaphors
Many application base the interaction on physical-life
scenarios. Computer desktops typically exploit properties of
real desktops (e.g. files, documents, trash can). Ideally, if
the user is knowledgeable of the physical-life domain, the
user's knowledge can transfer and be applied to the interactive
system.
Additional conceptual design strategies
The goal is to fully explore the space of design possibilities.
- Technological determinism
- Derived from user and problem analysis
- Cooperative design (aka participatory design)
- Storyboarding
- Designer's models
- Brainstorming
Considerations for conceptual design
- Mental models
- Consistency
- Completeness
Presenting the conceptual design
- Conceptual design scenarios -- stories for how users address
their problems using an interactive system, includes stories
that present sequence of operations. (see pp. 260-261 for examples)
- List of design features -- may also list pros and cons
- Object-oriented -- with object responsibilities (properties
and methods), may use inheritance
- Abstract sketches of screens (note that some approaches wait
until the next design phase)
Discussion:
- Why should conceptual design precede physical design?
- What are additional examples of the conceptual models
- What are some advantages to instruction-based models?
- What are the costs to employing direct-manipulation models?
- What are examples of interface metaphors that fail to help
the user?
Last modified: Thu Sep 23 13:33:12 Central Daylight Time 2004