HMI (Human-Machine Interface)

Good system design or software design is a very important factor in the system’s acceptance by users. In the lecture and in the system design process, the focus is on the future end user. In the lecture’s practical session, students apply the course content on data collection, prototype design, and evaluation directly in practice and interact directly with end users.

The course covers the fundamentals of design, perceptual psychology, and human physiology, which are intended to help students design new systems. Students learn that software development is not merely a string of functions, but that design is equally important. Students learn various methods of data collection (e.g., ethnographic methods, interviews, workshops, focus groups, artifact analysis) to analyze a domain. The goal is not only to identify requirements but also to understand the system’s usage context. Later, various prototyping methods and tools (e.g., paper prototyping, low- and high-fidelity prototypes) are introduced so that students can quickly design their own system prototypes. These prototypes help gather feedback quickly before beginning the long-term development of a system. To evaluate the usability and usefulness of the system, various evaluation methods (e.g., heuristics, questionnaires, cognitive walkthroughs, observations) are also taught. Knowledge of these evaluation methods helps improve the systems.

A lab session is held in parallel with the lecture, in which students first learn how to recognize good and bad design. As part of the lab, a group project is conducted in which students speak with users to gather data and then develop their own prototypes based on these findings. These prototypes are then evaluated with end users to improve them. The lecture content is thus directly applied in the lab session.

1. Introduction
2. Fundamentals of Human Perception
3. Fundamentals of Cognitive and Perceptual Psychology
4. Research Methods in Human-Computer Interaction
5. Prototyping and Participatory / Human-Centered Design
6. WIMP: Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointers, Controls
7. Small-scale interactions / mobile interaction
8. Evaluation Methods
9. Direct Manipulation / Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality
10. Multimedia / Multimodal Interaction

This course is usually offered during the summer semester. For more information, please check Stud.IP.

Credit Points: 6
The exact format of the final exam has not yet been determined and will depend on the number of students enrolled.
The specific format will be announced during the lecture.

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Successful completion of courses on programming or software development can be helpful when creating prototypes. However, this knowledge is not required, as all the skills needed for the exercise will be taught in the course.