Assignment 2: Proposal

This is first component of a larger project sequence. In your project, you will design, implement, and evaluate a novel interactive human-computer experience. For this assignment, identify an interactive experience that your team will design, consider why you want to work on it, and how you will engage in development and evaluation. Balance your ambitious ideas with the practicalities of limited time and resources. Finding an appropriate scope is a challenging, but an important step in design.

Teams #

The instructor will form teams of 4-5 members with diverse skills and backgrounds based on survey responses.

Brainstorm Interactive Experiences #

Brainstorm potential interactive experiences. Focus on ones that are novel. It could be something that you personally wish was available. It might be related to your interaction breakdown from the previous assignment. It should either address a particular problem or provide an interesting and engaging experience. Games and interactive art are acceptable experiences, but be careful about scope and your expertise. For example, don’t propose a 3D game if your team does not have several members with experience building such games. Keep it simple. Focus on the interaction and how to most efficiently create a representative experience.

First, work individually to brainstorm ideas, then come together as a team. Let each person share at least one idea without critique, then decide as a group on which ideas to explore further. As you begin to focus in on a specific set of ideas, get more critical. Consider resources, feasibility, and time constraints. Select a project idea with a set of reasonable and achievable goals.

Proposal #

The proposal is an argument that advocates for your concept, approach, and team. It must be very tight and clear, like an elevator pitch. You must be able to clearly articulate the proposed interactive experience, your intended users, your design goals, your expected steps towards achieving those goals, and how the skillsets of various members will help facilitate development.

Deliverable: Presentation Slides and Recording #

Please prepare a slide presentation of your proposal. On the first slide, include the title for your project, the name for your team, and the names of all members on your team. Make sure that the slides use visuals to illustrate aspects of your proposal.

You will record a video of your proposal presentation. The video should be no more than 7 minutes in length and no smaller than 720p in resolution. All members must participate in the presentation, but you are not required to present equal amounts of the material.

During the following Tuesday and Thursday classes, I will meet with teams to ask questions about their proposal and provide feedback. All team members are required to attend unless with an excused absense. I encourage one or more team members to take notes during the feedback session. You may also record this session.

You will submit a link to your slides and recorded presentation via Moodle by Monday, September 15 at 11:59 PM. Please make sure that anyone with the link can view your slides and video (I suggest testing via an incognito tab). If your slides and video are not viewable, your team will receive 0 points for the presentation component.

Interactive Experience #

The presentation should clearly and concisely communicate the desired interactive experience that your team will create. What is the ideal user experience? What are your design objectives? How is the experience novel? Why is this experience interesting or valuable? Does it address an existing problem or challenge, and how do you know this?

Goals #

The presentation should articulate your design goals. What do you hope to achieve? What are the desired outcomes? How will you access achieving your goals in the time frame of the project?

Target Users #

The presentation should identify who are your target users or intended audience. These should be a population that you can easily interact with to gather needs and requirements and to evaluate your designs. I suggest (but not require) using your fellow students as they provide a large and easily accessible population. You may choose to focus on a particular set of students, such as undergraduates, graduates, or those in a specific major or other group. Avoid narrowing your target population too much.

Resources #

The presentation should outline the necessary resources needed to complete this project. Resources include software, hardware, toolkits, APIs, and other technological requirements. Skillsets and experience of team members are also resources.

Plan #

The presentation should layout a preliminary plan for completing the project. Think carefully about the time remaining and the course schedule. What are the components that need to be created and how long will it take to create each one? Who will work on which components? You are not committing to rigorously following this plan, but need to show some forethought into the effort required to achieve your goals.

Grading Rubric #

You will be graded based on the following criteria (100 total points):

  • Interactive Experience [40 points]: Interactive experience is novel and clearly thought out. It either addresses a challenge or problem or proposes an engaging experience. Proposes good interaction design.
  • Method [40 points]: Proposal describes an appropriate set of target users, steps, and potential resources. Goals are achievable. Plan is reasonable.
  • Presentation [20 points]: Focused, clear, and concise. Stick to time limit. Use of visuals to help illustrate ideas.