2.4: Activity-Centred Design: Interaction Design Approaches

Question 1

What is activity-centred design? **

Answer 1

is concerned with identifying the tasks users perform with a product.

Question 2

In order to provide users with the tools, functions, features and any other design element necessary to complete their tasks, designers place strong emphasis on ________________________________________________. **

Answer 2

• studying the way users actually approach the problems posed in a particular domain.

Question 3

Activity-based design is based on the assumption that the _________________________________ determine the overall user experience. **

Answer 3

• activities users are to perform with a product

Question 4

activity-centred design encourages the designer to generate products according to _______________ and ______________________________________________, rather than attempting to accommodate the user.

Answer 4

• the users’ tasks

- how they will go about satisfying their aims and objectives

Question 5

Activity-centred design assumes ______________ if the product is designed according to the intended activities and tasks. **

Answer 5

• the user will learn to adapt

Question 6

The process of deconstructing a task into its component, tasks, actions, and operations to understand how a user tackles a problem is grounded in ____________________________.

Answer 6

• Activity Theory

Question 7

The process of deconstructing a task into its ______________, ____________, _______________, and ________________ to understand how a user tackles a problem is grounded in Activity theory.

Answer 7

• component
• tasks
• actions
• operations

Question 8

What is activity theory?

Answer 8

descriptive meta-theory that attempts to explain human behaviour in terms of an individual’s environment and the social reality they operate within.

Question 9

What should you do to better understand exactly how the user approaches each stage involved in task execution?

Answer 9

Reduce the activities a user engages in with a product to the component tasks and investigating the actions and methods they would choose

Question 10

Users ____________ use a product to ; instead they are constantly shifting from one task to another.

Answer 10

• rarely

- carry out one action in isolation

Question 11

A product may provide the user with a quick and efficient way to achieve a number of their goals, but this approach does not guarantee a ________________, _________________ or __________________.

Answer 11

• pleasurable
• effective
• consistent experience

Question 12

The activity-centered design tends to assume users are _______________ or _________________, with the aim of simplifying the design.

Answer 12

• unskilled

- lack experience

Question 13

Activity-centred design is a popular approach to interaction design; rivalling the dominance of _______________.

Answer 13

user-centred design

Question 14

Activity-centered design is based on the assumption that design should focus on the ___________ and try to make them __________.

Answer 14

• user’s tasks

- as simple as possible

Question 15

The clear benefits to an activity-centered design approach are _______________ and easing _________________________, but for a truly global view of the user experience, a solely activity-centred design approach is not recommended.

Answer 15

• simplifying tasks

- the passage from one to the other