HCI Design Portfolio
Design Portfolio – A document presenting user and product research together with design drafts, testing, and final designs for a product.
Over the full term of the trimester you will develop a Design Portfolio addressing a particular design scenario for an industry client.
The information you will gather for your design portfolio will give details about the people who will use your technology (your audience). You will use the information you gather to formulate the best design choices for your audience. Once you have developed your designs you will need to evaluate them using people who are from your audience. You will then use the audience feedback as a basis for recommended changes to your designs so that the technology will better serve the audience need.
The complete design portfolio is worth 50% of your mark overall, submitted in two stages in weeks 6 and 11. Your finished work will document your progress analysing the design scenario, the people who will need to interact with your design, and the development of the designs themselves.
In the future, this will help you demonstrate your HCI understanding and skills, not just to the teaching team, but also to potential employers.
- What is the design scenario?
For this assessment, you will be undertaking a design process for a real client who has a real design request for you to address. Your client is Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC).
Given the number of students taking the HCI course, we ask that you do not approach BAC directly with questions. You are welcome to use any online resource about BAC, and if you have specific questions, then please direct them to your lecturer or tutor.
1.1. Background
Brisbane Airport Corporation Pty Limited (BAC), the operator of Brisbane Airport (BNE), is a proud, private, un-listed Queensland company creating economic opportunities for the city of Brisbane and the state equating to more than $4 billion annually (https://www.bne.com.au/corporate/about/about-bac).
Operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, BNE has two major Terminals accommodating 35 airlines flying to 84 domestic and international destinations. It is a suburb in its own right, the largest capital city airport in Australia by land size (2,700 hectares) and the third-largest airport in Australia by passenger numbers with more than 23.4 million passengers travelling through the airport in FY18.
While maintaining our vision for BNE to be world best and the preferred choice for passengers, airlines, business and the community, BAC manages the airport with a strong focus on community, sustainability, education, knowledge and economic growth, adopting world-leading technologies, systems and practices. Through this approach, BAC has created a prosperous airport business community within a sustainable environment; developing BNE as a premier gateway airport and a major multimodal transport hub.
More than 425 businesses are located at BNE, servicing a diverse range of industries offering services such as freight and aircraft handling, warehousing, transport and communications, manufacturing, research, property and infrastructure development, education and training, recreation, tourism, accommodation, leisure and retail. Collectively these businesses employ nearly 24,000 people, a number expected to exceed 50,000 (the size of a regional town) by 2034.
With passenger numbers forecast to more than double by 2034, since FY12 BAC has invested $1.7 billion building critical infrastructure, with a further $1.8 billion worth of infrastructure to be delivered between FY18 – FY22.
Projects to be delivered include a new runway, new multi-level car park and walkway facilities, road terminal expansions, terminal redevelopments, road and cycling path upgrades and a number of new commercial buildings.
BNE is consistently recognised as a leading airport including being voted the ‘Best Airport in Australia/Pacific’ 2016, 2017 and 2019 at the Skytrax World Airport Awards, achieving 6th for ‘Best Airports in the World’ (servicing 20-30 million passengers) and is currently ranked 22nd in the ‘World’s Top 100 Airports’ list.
BNE was also named ‘Best Airport in Oceania Region’ in the 2017 Future Travel Experience Asia Awards, ‘Australasia’s Leading Airport’ in the 2016 World Travel Awards, and ‘Capital City Airport of the Year’ two years running (2014 and 2015) in the Australian Airports Association National Awards. In addition, BNE has maintained its favourable rating for quality of service for 14 consecutive years in the ACCC Airport Monitoring Report.
By 2041, Brisbane Airport is expected to contribute $8 billion to the Queensland economy each year and $8.7 billion to the Australian economy annually.
Brisbane Airport Corporation have not actively engaged with technology innovations, and they are seeking to explore the application of technology to support one of the above areas of business and to become a leader in the retail industry.
Brisbane Airport have asked you to develop the design for a technology product to support one of the areas above.
When designing a product for BAC, your focus will be on the use of technology for use by BAC, their suppliers, or their customers. Design your work to support this option.
1.2. Technology need
BAC envisage an innovative technology focusing on increased tenancy rates, better customer experience, and increased sales. They would like you to be creative in designing a solution that will achieve this goal. You are welcome to consider any solution as potentially within scope, and BAC have provided several potential scope options:
- An interactive mobile or tablet app
- Informational display options
- A voice assistant application
- An interactive wall / floor projection
- A Virtual Reality (VR / AR / MR) implementation
You are tasked with developing the designs needed for the development of one of the scope options.
1.3. Optional Additional Scope
It is possible to earn bonus marks for your work if you complete an optional, additional section for your design portfolio. This could consist of a full set of personas and scenarios, an extra set of testing and revisions, a discussion of the theoretical frameworks, or a functional prototype of your design (using a prototyping took as a functional mock-up, or a coded prototype). All functional work will be showcased to BAC representatives and can be included in your ePortfolio as a demonstration of your skill set.
- What is the design portfolio?
The design portfolio is a document that details your work and findings, as you address the design scenario for your chosen scope option and design a solution for the client.
A word version of the template for the design portfolio has been provided for you in the attached file above.
The template that we have provided is a combination of the kinds of information and design work that you would include in an industry document, together with additional material that we need to see as instructors to understand why you have made your choices in your design.
There are ten sections to your design portfolio that correspond to the first ten modules, and we expect that you will be working on the brief progressively each week.
2.1. Design portfolio sections
Section One is a simple introduction to your work, describing the purpose of your design portfolio, and the scope you will cover. It also outlines the general background to your project that will influence your development and your design decisions. This is where you describe the problem that you will solve, and the benefit that your product would give to your client.
Section Two describes your audience – the people who will use your product. This is where you detail the human characteristics that will influence your design decisions, and the approach you will take to finding out who your users are and what they need.
Section Three describes your usability objectives, and presents your work applying one of the usability design tools that we have covered in the course.
Section Four presents your visual design choices, and your initial design elements.
Section Five is your initial prototype for the product. You are required to mock up at least three prototype examples – for instance, three separate screens, or three different product states.
Section Six is a discussion of how you would apply user centred design to your product if you were able.
Section Seven presents your test plan, the results of testing your initial prototype elements, and your recommendations for future design work based on the results of your testing.
Section Eight is a discussion of accessibility considerations for your design.
Section Nine is a discussion of how your designs would work in different domains.
Section Ten is a discussion of how you might use emerging technology to transform your design ideas.
- Design portfolio submissions
You should be working on your brief each week after the workshop, to progressively build the brief across the trimester. Your work will be assessed at two points.
3.1. Stage One
Your first major submission for this assessment is the Stage One submission in week 6, where you will submit your work to date and receive feedback.
week 6, you should have completed the user research for your design portfolio (sections 1-4), and started work on your designs (section 5). Your Stage One assessment point will cover sections 1-4, and we will also be looking to see that you have made headway on section 5.
Sections 1 – 4 detail your user research and your initial design decisions, developed based on your research and analysis. You will need to choose the design tools that you feel are most suitable for the problem you have defined, and the analysis you have completed about the people who will use your product. You will then discuss your visual design choices.
In section 5 you will start to develop your visual design, working towards the presentation of your prototype design.
For Stage One, you can use low fidelity prototypes (including paper based or whiteboard prototypes), and present these as photographs in your design portfolio.
3.2. Stage Two
In Stage One, you presented your research about your audience and your initial design decisions and early design work for a technology solution. Stage Two presents your completed designs, the results of your design evaluations, and your final design recommendations.
In section 5 you will finish development of your visual design, discussing your visual design choices and presenting your prototype design. For stage two this needs to be digitally rendered design work.
You will develop a testing plan using the approach outlined in the Evaluation and Testing module for your design prototypes. Present this plan describing your process in section 7. Include any supporting documents (for example, your consent form). We have included a template for a simple consent form above.
You will need to conduct your testing with people who are representative of the target audience that you described earlier in the design portfolio. This needs to be actual testing, and you will need to include pictures from your testing sessions together with scans or photographs of your evaluation consent forms as evidence. It may not be possible to talk to people who are in your defined audience, in which case you should try to work with the following list of participants (in this order of priority):
- People (or at least one person) who would fit in your defined audience description
- People from the general population (perhaps parents or older friends)
- Friends or students who are not in the HCI course
- Students or other teams from the HCI course
Present the results of your testing and your results analysis in section 7.2.
Give a clear description of your findings and recommendations based on your results in section 7.3.
The second stage of your design portfolio also includes four discussion sections. Section 6 is a discussion of how you would involve your users in the design process if you were able to access them.
Section 8 discusses the accessibility implications for your proposed design work.
Section 9 asks you to look at how your designs might work in different domains – in different settings or using different technology.
Section 10 gives you the opportunity to think about what you could do with your proposed design if you had access to new and emerging technology – the sky is the limit for this section!
Students completing a functional prototype should submit this with Stage two of the design portfolio. Refer to your work within your brief, and send your instructor and convenor a link to your working product.
- When and how do I submit my design portfolio?
Your design portfolio will be completed and submitted as part of your ePortfolio.
- How will you assess my design portfolio?
Each stage of your design portfolio is worth 25%
You will be marked based on your progress and on your design work.
You will receive feedback from your assessor.
Marking criteria for your design portfolio has been provided in the attached files above.
For Stage One, You will be marked based on your user research, and your ability to develop designs based on your research and analysis of your audience for this project.
You will receive feedback on Stage One after your submission, and you will need to revise your work based on this feedback for the Stage Two submission.
Detailed marking criteria for your design portfolio has been provided in the attached files above.
