9 Design Thinking and UX

Design thinking and UX (user experience design) are two related fields whose shared aim is to make technology more useful for humans. 

If you have ever visited a poorly designed website (to enroll in health insurance, for example, or to purchase an airline ticket), you understand the importance of design thinking and UX. As technology grows both more complex and more essential to daily life, the need for designs that work for real humans (us!) becomes even more critical. Design thinking and UX are two fields of research and practice that aim to improve the way websites and apps are designed. We can only scratch the surface of these fields in one week, but learning about these fields will help you develop a prototype for your own website. And it may spark your interest and encourage you to learn more about user-centered design in the future!

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IDEO
​Design Thinking

Interaction Design Foundation
User Experience Design

IDEO is a design firm that popularized the concepts and tools of design thinking. This website is a free resource intended to introduce readers to the principles and practices of design thinking. 

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Assignment 8
Site Plan/Prototype for Project 2

Assignment 8 template (Google Docs)

Assignment 8 will help you to get organized and start building your Google Site for Project 2. A site plan/prototype is to a website what an outline or “zero draft” is to an essay. It is a working document that helps you to organize your ideas and a framework that you can use to get initial feedback on your design concept.
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You have two options for completing this assignment. Option 1 is a text-based site plan; Option 2 is a live mockup or prototype in Google Sites. 

The videos on this page will help you get started building a site in Google Sites. 

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Interaction Design Foundation is an independent nonprofit organization devoted to sharing resources and online learning on user experience design. This link takes you to their site which includes a huge collection of information and resources on UX. 

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Video: Organizing a Web-based Case Study

Video: Organizing a Web-based Case Study (5:32)

Watch this video for some tips on organizing and getting started writing a case study to be delivered as a web text. 

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Video: Building a Prototype in Google Sites

If you are new to using Google Sites, this tutorial is for you! The video walks through the process to set up a project in Google Sites, add pages, add images, adjust themes and styles, and insert and edit text.

(Length 20 mins.)

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