Design Considerations
Requirements Gathering
Envisionment Methods
Evaluation
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Scenarios
What is a Scenario?
- Short stories about people and activities using technology in context
- A representation of the designer’s understanding of activities
so that it can be discussed and verified
- By other designers
- By the people undertaking the activities
Why Use it?
- Forces consideration of practicalities - helps reflection on the context
by describing ‘actual’ situations of use
- More or less detailed depending on the stage of the design, but it
is important to capture the variation that is possible in people, goals,
contexts, technologies and the details of activities, so a range of scenarios
are needed
- Encourages fluidity in design: concrete (specific & detailed) but
rough (therefore readily adaptable)
- Can be developed to describe many possible views/levels
- Can be used as a generalised design object for use in other situations
- Used to describe ‘work’ activities – can involve
users in their construction; doesn’t get bogged down in key presses
- Provides an easily understandable bridge between researchers, designers,
users and developers
Participants Needed
- This can be completed by the designer.
Conditions required
- Use everyday language
- Include details about people and interaction
- Relevant information about the user
- Details of interaction sequence and presentation
- Often give names to the participants in a scenario to make the interaction
seem more real
- A concrete example of the system being used, not a generalised account
of all the possible functions and alternative results
Task List
- Give the scenario a name, version number, author, etc, and the rationale
(reason why) for the scenario
- Write up a particular scenario with a particular person
in a particular context
- It can help to do a PACT analysis on which
to base the scenario
- Number the paragraphs and include endnotes to record issues with the
activity - these might be issues with current problems or future designs
Examples
- Scenario for Accessing Drug Information
using a PDA
- Scenario for Writing & Transmitting
A Prescription using a PDA
Limitations Of method
The scenario is only a simulation of a real person in a real context. In
reality, many occurances take place which are random or personal or political
which can be difficult to forsee when constructing a scenario.
Exercise
Frank Blake is using his new controller for his games console which you
have already brainstormed.
- Write a scenario to illustrate his potential experience.
- Hence or otherwise, identify 5 key features which you would recommend
to be developed.
Reading
- Five
Reasons for Scenario-Based Design
- info design scenarios
- lifestyle
snapshots