GUI Usability

Overview

There are dozens of books dedicated to usability, but few of these provide the ‘big picture’. The aim of this course is to help delegates design better products and software by showing how the various usability tools and techniques fit into real-world design and development processes.

Over the two-day course, delegates engage in a practical design activity that helps them discover the usability secrets behind product and software development. The activity (“Mailmerge+”) is to design a new GUI for Microsoft Word’s “Mail Merge” feature. The activity covers the full design lifecycle, including business requirements, customer needs, product and software design, prototyping and usability testing. This seminar is led by Dr. David Travis who has over 20 years experience in the field of user centred design.

"I found this excellent course most thought provoking and inspiring. I'm already thinking of ways to work UCD into our current processes and methodology."
– Sally Morales, BUPA.

Printable pdf course description for this seminar

This seminar is aimed at

• Software developers who want to learn techniques for designing better interfaces.
• Business analysts who want quick and effective tools for communicating requirements.
• Interface designers who want to learn methods for testing and evaluating their designs.
• Project managers who want a full lifecycle process for introducing usability into their project.
• Marketing managers who want to find out about the business and brand benefits of a usability focus.
• GUI designers who want to understand the principles of human-centred design.

You will learn how to

• Describe a user centred design framework that supports end-to-end usability involvement.
• Share information about customers and their tasks in an engaging and usable way.
• Develop cheap, throwaway prototypes to get quick and frequent feedback from your users.
• Specify usability metrics to make sure your product is neither under- nor over-engineered.
• Apply discount usability techniques, such as Nielsen's heuristic evaluation.
• Learn about different methods for usability testing and when to apply them.

What delegates say about this course

• "Every company that develops software would benefit from this course. It truly focuses the mind on the importance of usability". —Michele Thorns, Sage UK Ltd.
• "I feel confident about the new techniques I’ve learnt. We were given an excellent overview — now I can’t wait to get going, putting it into practice!"
• "I liked being able to try out the techniques and methods. I feel I learnt a lot more by taking part in these exercises than just reading through notes."
• "Lots of good examples of good/bad usability from real life."
• "This course gave me the confidence and training to assess the quality of my work."
• "Good balance of theory, participation and humour."

What do I get when I book this course?

• 2 day training course with a usability expert.
• Practical checklists, worksheets and extensive notes to take home.
• Free, follow-up refresher training.
• 24/7 support to help you apply your learning.
• A proper, air-conditioned learning environment.
• CPD-approved course attendance certificate.
• A 2-course lunch on both days and refreshments throughout the course.
• A money-back guarantee.

More details on what you get.

Duration

This course lasts two days.

About your trainer

This seminar is led by Dr. David Travis who has over 20 years experience in the field of user centred design.

Free refresher training

Our usability training continues after you leave the seminar. People that attend "GUI usability" are eligible for free refresher training. After the seminar, we'll send you a series of follow up articles highlighting different aspects of the training, specifically written to help you apply what you learnt. See an example lesson.

In-house training

We can bring this course to you and run it for a fixed all-inclusive fee no matter where you are. All you have to do is provide the delegates and the meeting room.