Design Heuristics for Developers - Practicum

Session One: Tuesday, August 28th from 6:00 - 7:30 pm
Session Two: Tuesday, September 4th from 6:00 - 7:30 pm
Session Three: Tuesday, September 11th from 6:00 - 7:30 pm 

Annette Liska, Director of Design, Gomoll R+D

Great writers don't let their work go out the door without a proof reader to catch typos. Yet today, with rapidly iterated applications and sites, the work of great developers gets pushed to the public without design reviews.   

The class is intended for programmers and developers. It introduces the first level of design principles - or heuristics - that UI designers keep turned on when looking at technology. These heuristics help development teams ease into better designs by understanding how our eyes work, knowing what eyes seek in overloaded visual environments, and applying long tested practices and human-factors that distinguish a beautiful tool from a mediocre one. 

This class is not just a lecture; it applies designs in practice. Participants are asked to submit 1 or 2 screens of his / her work in advance; the class will collectively apply heuristics to the examples to see how design can change and improve. The instructor will provide samples of before / after designs.

Session 1:

Introduction

•  The building blocks of research + design, and the role of psychology and physiology

Visual Intelligence

• How the eye works
• Eye strain vs eye delight

Considerations of an elegant UI

• Form and function
• UX / Interactive design principles
• Visual Design heuristics
• Initial concepts and the importance of PLAY
• Before / After examples

Session 1 take aways:

• Become familiar with how the eye functions in the context of technology UIs
• Introduce early approaches to designs that lay the foundation for a great finished design
• Understand the value of small, subtle design choices and design gestalt

Session 2:

Talking about Design

• Getting past design buzz words and titles
• Defense of design decisions
• User-centric & Designer-centric
• You & your audience, and applying ‘hallway’ vs ‘formal’ usability research
• Getting interested in cognitive science 

Practicum

• Before / after analysis of student screen submissions
• Ask students what changed in each design
• Discuss heuristics that validate the design decisions, or disprove others

Session 2 take aways:

• Learn the language used to talk about design, and how it differs from engineering language
• Through the before / after sessions, have a firm sense for proof-reading a visual design, and a few interactive components too
• Assignment: code some design changes for review next class

Session 3:

Review coded design changes

• Evaluate design decisions
• Discuss what was problematic or hard to solve

Work with or without Designers

• Become well versed in 5-10 design heuristics (depends on your project type)
• Setting expectations for the team
• Agility and choosing what works / what gets tossed
• Can you actually build what a designer comes up with?
• Be the beacon that always asks, can we validate what the audience really needs?

Bridging the Developer / Designer gap

• Juggling business vs functional requirements in the real world
• Code general design solutions first (some colors, fonts, etc) to engage designers
• Code alternative design options (show that you PLAY)
• Choose a battle for one influential win; waging many battles ALWAYS shows up visually

Session 3 take aways:

• Be able to confidently participate in design dialog with decision makers
• Have a hierarchy for what design decisions are most important, and what can be let go or safely saved for later
• Get the respect you want from a designer; learn what makes designers feel respected