Course Description
Course Description
In this course, we will focus on the users' experience of mobile apps; we will design, prototype, and evaluate mobile apps from users' perspectives.
We will discuss key aspects of the mobile design process including: understanding and analyzing user needs, transforming user needs into mobile design solutions, designing the user interfaces and experience of mobile apps, using trendy prototyping tools to create functional mock-ups, and conducting user research to evaluate the prototypes and implement the apps.
This is a hands-on project-based design course. Therefore, much of the class time is dedicated to in-class design, prototyping activities or coding. And students have lab time to develop their skills.
Students learn how to use Figma for prototyping. And they used Flutter for the project implementation. Students also applied Agile Scrum UX framework during the development process.
Design Process
Students follow User-Centered Design (UCD) and Design Thinking principles through their projects development. Design Thinking and UCD share a focus on understanding user needs, involving users, prototyping, and continuous improvement through iteration.
Image Credit: https://measuringu.com/ucd-and-design-thinking/
Projects Overview
The theme for the group project is: social justice. Students were encouraged to think of a number of important issues related to the theme and find compelling areas that are personally meaningful to them. Some of the students reflections on developing technology with those ideas in mind are presented.
For the Spring 2024 cohort, the course content was refined according to the Cultural Competence in Computing (3C) Fellows development program. Some topics covered in this class were accessibility, inclusive design, and design justice. For example, students read two chapters from the book Design Justice By Sasha Costanza-Chock and wrote a critique. Also, students were encouraged to apply accessibility principles in their technology design such as choose appropriate color contrasts and accessible fonts.
