3 Lo-Fi Design Strategies for Creating Highly Usable Object-Oriented User Interfaces

Convention Centre
Room 10

Even if a software development project creates extensive and complete object-oriented analysis and design models, it will still be perceived as a failure if the user interface is poorly constructed. In other words, just because you have captured the underlying objects of a problem domain does not mean the system will be successful You must still design a user interface that is effective, appealing, intuitive, and easy to learn. In short, you must create a highly usable object-oriented user interface.

Participants of this tutorial will learn how to design highly usable object-oriented user interfaces using the latest in lo-fi prototyping techniques by creating such designs in small groups. Once complete, participants will learn how to validate the effectiveness of their user interfaces. In summary, upon completion of this tutorial participants will be able to:

define usability and its relation to object technology;
define the role of lo-fi and hi-fi prototyping;
design and test lo-fi prototypes according to timeless principles of usability;
implement lo-fi prototypes in a manner that is consistent with the underlying domain model.

Participants will receive a draft copy of the forthcoming book on this topic, as well as a pre-made "GUI Design Kit."

Attendee Background: Participants should have a basic knowledge of object-oriented analysis and design, use cases, and scenarios. Participants should be involved in the design and implementation of a project utilizing a graphical user interface. Knowledge of a specific object-oriented programming language is not required.

Luke Hohmann is Vice President of Engineering at SmartPatents, Inc. Author of "Journey of the Software Professional: A Sociology of Software Development" (Prentice Hall), he especially enjoys his mission of consulting, writing, and speaking about the sociology of software development. Mr. Hohmann is currently working on two books, "GUIs with Glue: Creating Usability Through Lo-Fi Design" and "Mastering Software Patterns in C++." Mr. Hohmann has a B.S.E. in Computer Engineering and an M.S.E. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan.

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Last edited 22 September 1998 13:29:24