Announcements

• December 11, 2017: Videos can now be accessed via Podcasts through the iTunes app on macOS or Windows.
• October 16, 2017: Videos are available here.
• October 16, 2017: The {file name="Declaration of compliance.pdf" desc="Declaration of Compliance"} is due on Monday, Oct. 23.
• October 16, 2017: If you are a Media Informatics student taking the course in Bonn, you can find the registration guide here: {file name="Registration Guide (Bonn).pdf" desc="Registration Guide for Bonn"}.
• October 4, 2017: If you are student from Aachen, please register for the Course (not for the Exercise) on Campus.
• September 29, 2017: The first studio of WS 2017/18 in Aachen will take place on Wednesday, October 11 between 10:00–11:45h in AH III in Informatik Zentrum.
• September 29, 2017: The first studio and lab of WS 2017/18 in Bonn will take place on Tuesday, October 24 between 13:00–16:30h in B-IT Main Lecture Hall.
• July 26, 2017: Want to get a head start on this course? Start reading Don Norman's book "The Design of Everyday Things," a required read. You can order it on Amazon: Paperback (13.99€), Kindle Edition (7.99€). The contents of this book are relevant for your midterm exam.

Final Presentation Schedule

Course Schedule

Aachen

Bonn

About this Course

This class introduces students to the field of human-computer interaction (HCI) and user interface design. Specifically, the course covers the following topics:

• Fundamental characteristics of human cognition, such as reaction time, rules of perception, and memory performance
• Models of interaction between people and their environment, such as affordances, mappings, constraints, slips, and mistakes
• Milestones in the history of human-computer interaction
• Principles of iterative design
• User interface prototyping techniques
• User studies and evaluation methods
• Golden rules of user interface design
• User interface design notations

After this class, students will know how user interfaces have been developed over the past decades, and what constants of human performance need to be considered when designing them. This class forms the basis for the classes “ Designing Interactive Systems II ” (which looks at more technical aspects of user interface development) and “ Current Topics in HCI and Media Computing ”, as well as the “ Post-Desktop User Interfaces ” seminar and other courses from our research group. Students will be able to apply iterative design, prototyping, and evaluation methods to design usable, appropriate user interfaces in a user-centered fashion. All assignments are group assignments to foster collaboration skills, and project-based to strengthen project planning, conflict management and presentation skills. Learning to think in designers' terms is a crucial competence for computer scientists working on user interfaces, a job that requires collaboration in interdisciplinary teams.

Course Allocation

Fields of study:

• Informatik (B.Sc.), (M.Sc.)
• Media Informatics (M.Sc.)/Multimedia-Benutzung und -Wirkung/in Aachen (mandatory course)
• Software Systems Engineering (M.Sc.)/Areas of Specialization/Media Computing and Interactive Systems
• Technical Communication (B.Sc.) (mandatory course)

Number SWS: V3 + Ü2
ECTS Credits: 6
The lecture recordings are in English. All assignment submissions and exams must be written in English.

Lecturers

• Prof. Dr. Jan Borchers (Lecturer)
• Paulina Reijsmeijer, M.Sc. (Teaching Assistant)
• Krishna Subramanian, M.Sc. (Teaching Assistant)

Timings

Aachen

TBA: To Be Announced

Bonn

TBA: To Be Announced

Grading

Your grade will be calculated as follows:

Reading Material

• (Required) Donald Norman, The Design Of Everyday Things, ISBN 0465050654
• Alan Dix, Janet Finlay, Gregory D. Abowd, Russell Beale, Human-Computer Interaction , ISBN 0130461091
• Ben Shneiderman, Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, ISBN 0321197860
• Carolyn Snyder, Paper Prototyping, ISBN 978-1558608702, also see the accompanying site.

We highly recommend that you buy Norman's book, since you have to read it for class during the first few weeks. From the Dix et. al., and Schneiderman books, you just have to read some chapters. You can find these books in the library.

FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions

Project Blogs (for Staff Access Only)

Aachen

Bonn

Past Offerings:

• Course information WS 1617
• Course information WS 1516
• Course information WS 1415
• Course information WS 1314
• Course information WS 1213
• Course information WS 1112
• Course information WS 1011
• Course information WS 0910
• Course information WS 0809
• Course information WS 0708
• Course information WS 0607
• Course information WS 0506
• Course information WS 0405
• Course information WS 0304