Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction.png

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is the study of the interaction between humans and computers and the design of computing technologies. It overlaps user-centered design, user interface design, and user experience design.

In this course, you will take a deep dive into HCI, so you can create designs that provide a fantastic user experience. More specifically, you learn the rules and principles behind the good and bad design as well as how to use design models to build interactive interfaces. In the latter half of the course, you’ll learn how to evaluate different models and how HCI is used in the real world.

Whether you are new to HCI or a professional, by the end of the course you will have a clear understanding of what it means to be a user and how to implement user-centered design for the best possible results.

Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction

## Introduction

The Usability Engineering Lifecycle (UEL) model has three phases: *requirement analysis*, *design/testing/development*, and *installation*. Each phase has a different set of activities that must be covered to get the best out of the design process. Let's take a brief look at each of the phases.

## Phase 1: Requirements analysis
Requirement analysis is the study of users and their needs, required tasks, and defining usability guidelines for the system. This phase involves four tasks:
 * *__User profiling__*: This involves identifying user characteristics, requirements, and the problems they are facing with current software. For example, if a person has tremors, mouse sensitivity should be lowered. 
* *__Contextual task analysis__*: This involves identifying the current user tasks, work environments, and workflow patterns. This analysis helps to understand user behavior towards current applications and how the user will respond to your design. For example, if a system is to be used in a highly interruptive environment where users are likely to get distracted, then the system should be able to provide constant feedback to let the user know what has been done, what they are doing, and what the next task is?
* *__Usability goal setting__*: This involves setting specific, qualitative, and measurable goals for the requirements we concluded on during user profiling. For example, a novice user should not take more than 40 seconds to sign up for the system account.
* *__Platform capabilities and constraints__*: This involves addressing system or interface capabilities and constraints while specifying usability goals. The usability goals should be consistent with the platform possibilities, i.e. a goal that a user should perform a specific task in a specific amount of time will never be met if the platform takes more than the specified time to process.
* *__General design guidelines__*: This involves specifying general design guidelines for the interface design. For example, if the interface has a form, then use guidelines to make that form useable as well as beautiful. 



# Introduction

The Usability Engineering Lifecycle (UEL) model has three phases: *requirement analysis*, *design/testing/development*, and *installation*. Each phase has a different set of activities that must be covered to get the best out of the design process. Let's take a brief look at each of the phases.

# Phase 1: Requirements analysis
Requirement analysis is the study of users and their needs, required tasks, and defining usability guidelines for the system. This phase involves four tasks:
 * *__User profiling__*: This involves identifying user characteristics, requirements, and the problems they are facing with current software. For example, if a person has tremors, mouse sensitivity should be lowered. 
* *__Contextual task analysis__*: This involves identifying the current user tasks, work environments, and workflow patterns. This analysis helps to understand user behavior towards current applications and how the user will respond to your design. For example, if a system is to be used in a highly interruptive environment where users are likely to get distracted, then the system should be able to provide constant feedback to let the user know what has been done, what they are doing, and what the next task is?
* *__Usability goal setting__*: This involves setting specific, qualitative, and measurable goals for the requirements we concluded on during user profiling. For example, a novice user should not take more than 40 seconds to sign up for the system account.
* *__Platform capabilities and constraints__*: This involves addressing system or interface capabilities and constraints while specifying usability goals. The usability goals should be consistent with the platform possibilities, i.e. a goal that a user should perform a specific task in a specific amount of time will never be met if the platform takes more than the specified time to process.
* *__General design guidelines__*: This involves specifying general design guidelines for the interface design. For example, if the interface has a form, then use guidelines to make that form useable as well as beautiful. 



Learn about the process of the usability engineering lifecycle model.

Before We Begin

Human and Computer Capabilities

Interaction

Design Rules and Fundamentals

Design Process

Phase 1: Requirements Analysis

Phase 2: Design/Prototyping/Development

Evaluation Techniques

Conclusion

Usability Engineering Lifecycle Model

Introduction

Phase 1: Requirements analysis