i4:User Experience Research

Catalog description

Pre-requisite: Junior standing or above, or approval of Instructor. This class is a project-based survey of qualitative user research. Students will learn about and apply human subject research methodologies in order to extract insights from users about creating better, more human-centered technologies, which may include apps, user interfaces, devices, architectural spaces, and/or services. Assignments will require that students combine research data and theory in order to analyze designs with regard to their ergonomics, intuitiveness, visceral "feel", attractiveness, and broader user narrative. Students will conduct small-scale qualitative studies, including usability studies, field observation, and interviews, and practice turning the results into concrete deliverables, such as personas, storyboards, paper/digital prototypes, and oral/written reports.