Assignment #3: Project idea paper prototyping

Due Sun Sep 30 by 9PM

This is an individual assignment.

It's time to propose a project idea. Your goal is to to use storyboards and/or paper prototypes to describe your concept as fully as you can. You may need to combine some of the techniques that have been discussed in class and in the design readings.

Your assignment should include the following information for your proposed app:

• Class project category
  (one of Get Moving!, Sit to Stand, Hand Hygiene, Killer Exergame, Dietary Assessment, Stressed Out, Portion Control, Life Labeling, Sleep Quality, Sleep Deprivation, Bluetooth Beacons)
• App name (Max 30 characters, including spaces)
• App description that would appear on the Market (Max 4000 characters, including spaces)
• A slogan or promotional saying that would appear on the Market (Max 80 characters, including spaces)
• Application Type (pick either "Applications" or "Games")
• Category (specify one of the categories on the Market)
• Succinctly answer the following questions:
  • What problem/task(s) does the application help someone solve?
  • What current apps on the Market (or other app stores) would be your closest competitor?
    (you will need to search around and try out apps to figure this out!)
  • Why will your app be better than the competitors?
  • What is innovative about your app idea? What will be particularly surprising or elegant about the concept?
  • What about your app will keep people engaged using it for a long time? Why will it be addictive?

Next include scans of paper prototypes, sketches, or storyboards showing your concept in as much detail as you can. Your goal is to succinctly but thoroughly convey how it might work. You should also convey that you have thoughtfully considered the details about how (and why) someone would use it.

Do:

• Aim for innovation but also simplicity in design
• Use the unique functionality of mobile devices (and for graduate students, use sensing in a sophisticated way)
• Keep in mind the design principles we've discussed in class and that have been in the readings
• Think through the details of ALL of the screens someone would encounter
• Iterate a few times with friends to try and improve the idea using paper prototyping before you turn it in
• Remember that you are proposing to implement what you propose -- keep it ambitious but manageable
• Don't forget you can use sensors such as the Wockets and the Zephyr heart rate monitor

Do not:

• Use a computer to draw designs ... sketch screens by hand, without a ruler
• Propose to reimplement an app that is already on the Market (instead propose something new that has a "wow" factor)
• Oversimplify the behavior of your users or underestimate the difficulty of achieving behavior change
• Assume that your users will do things that are not fun for long periods of time
• Propose ideas that require a large amount of high-quality content to be generated in order to be interesting (unless you will be able to generate example content to be used to evaluate your project).

This assignment will be graded based on how well you follow the instructions above and how well your idea reflects understanding of the design reading, use of the design strategies, creativity, and innovativeness.

You are strongly encouraged to use paper prototyping to develop your ideas, as discussed in class and the readings. You will end up with a better concept. However, what you turn in for this assignment is not a paper prototype kit but rather a storyboard design that conveys how the application will work in as much detail as you can.

Email your assignment to Elica and ...@neu.edu as a PDF file named [YourFirstName][YourLastName].assign3.pdf by the deadline.