Education Section > Usability & Website Design

LIS3267 - Information Science for Information Professionals

Spring 2007

Instructor: Christopher Landbeck

This course ignited my interest in usability and user-centered design. We had several activities in this course, but there were two assignments in specific that focused on usability. The first one was a website critique where, individually, I had to review a particular website focusing on four major design guidelines: proximity, repetition, alignment, and contrast. I also had to review the site based on certain usability guidelines. This was my first website critique and I feel I learned a lot about how to evaluate a website and its design.

Secondly, in a group, we were required to design a prototype website that was a redesign of the College of Information’s website. In this group I was also the leader, with this being the first group I had the opportunity to lead. I learned a lot about team work and leading during this assignment. This is where I first learned that I actually had the ability to lead, far more than I ever thought I did. In this assignment we were required to redesign the site using usability and design guidelines. After developing the site, we were required to complete usability test on the prototype. I developed the prototype website using CSS and HTML.

I was also responsible for writing the introduction and a few of the tasks involved in the usability test. Writing the tasks proved to be challenging as you had to write the tasks so that they were not too leading, but also not too vague. I also compiled the results of the usability test into a document. This project was one of the most influential projects in my academic career. It is where I first learned about usability. It was the first usability test that I conducted and I learned a lot about developing tasks for a usability test and how to properly conduct a usability test. I learned a variety of skills from these assignments. From the process of designing a prototype to user testing, and with the team work and leadership skills I picked up, I feel this course was very influential to my development.

Skills Acquired

• Usability Guidelines
• Usability Testing
• Design Guidelines

Samples

• Website Critique - This is an evaluation of a website in which I had to review the site based on four major design guidelines: proximity, alignment, repetition, and contrast as well as looking at the usability of the site. This was my first real evaluation of a website.

  Download the Web Critique (PDF) - (28.4 KB)
  
  

• Prototype Website - This sample is the prototype website that I designed for my group. This is the website that we conducted the usability test on. This was the first site that I really designed that focused on design and usability guidelines. Also, there is the actual usability test document and the results from the test. Both the test and the results were completed as a group. However, the document showcases the skills the entire group learned during this project.
  
  View the Prototype Website

  Download the Usability Test & Results (PDF) - (34.9 KB)