The module is run by using lecture sessions to teach about problems and method based approaches in the web area. At the end of each lecture students will have learned about approaches that are used in the industry at present. Coupled to this at the end of each session the student¿s will be given problems from the real world that require design investigation and several potential design solutions creating. The tutorial sessions will then be used to explore the design problems in groups in order to see how methods can be used and applied to find potential solutions for these.

24 hours of lectures and 24 hours of tutorial/practicals.

The module intends to provide an overall perspective of web methods and their application to specific design scenarios. It will principally address topics of:

Common web methods, frameworks, steps, and tools currently used
Trends in web design
Emerging research topics in web design
Effective design for differences in age/gender/nationality
Personalisation and Globalisation Issues
Key negatives in design that detract user satisfaction/experience
Approaches to keep users returning through application of design strategy
Approaches for the creation of effective teaching applications
Successful design approaches used in marketing
Applying models of User Centred Design
Evaluation of web sites
Usability Methods and their practical application
Usability Testing approaches
Effective and efficient Prototype design approaches
Design strategies for diverse applications, e.g. desktop, mobile, or other devices.

Prior study of Web Concepts CESCOM10098-4 or equivalent

A range of devices e.g. mobile phones, games consoles, and touch-screens.
Current Software for media resource editing and application creation.

The Designer's Web Handbook: What You Need to Know to Create for the Web, McNeil, P. (2012), How Books Publishers, ISBN: 13:978-1-4403-1441-4
101 Design Methods: A Structured Approach for Driving Innovation in Your Organization, Kumar, V (2012), John Wiley and Sons, Inc, ISBN13:978-1-118-392-18-8
Design Methods 1: 200 ways to apply design thinking (Volume 1), Curdale, R. (2012), Design Community College Inc., ISBN-13: 978-0988236202
Designing with the Mind in Mind: Simple Guide to Understanding User Interface Design Rules, Johnson, J. (2010), Morgan Kaufmann, ISBN-13: 978-0123750303
Designing for Interaction: Creating Innovative Applications and Devices (2nd Edition) (Voices That Matter), Saffer, D. (2009), New Riders, ISBN-13: 978-0321643391

A Group Portfolio / Assignment weighted at 100%.

The assignment consists of a practical group portfolio with an individual written critical review component at the end of the module to document each students own learning.

The assignment will involve students undertaking as a group a portfolio of design problems and exercises which will enable them to learn practically by generating several design based solutions to solve set interface design problems. The design scenarios they address will cover a wide array of areas and will address as wide a user audience as possible. The portfolio created will be incremental and assessed at set points throughout the module (it will be supported by 3,000 words of design rationale). Feedback from one task will be used 'formatively' to feed into subsequent tasks. Design thinking / rationale and potential solution generation will figure in assessment criteria as much as the end solution on its own. For each aspect of the portfolio potential solutions should be represented through such techniques as: storyboards, written notation, brainstorming sketches, focus group activity, design rationale, critique feedback, as well as fuller detailed prototype representations (Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3, and 4). At the end of the module students will individually write a critical review (of 1500 words) of how their design thinking has developed over the course of the module (Learning Outcome 5).