Online Communication Design

This course examines the principles and practices of hypermedia design, with a strong focus on communication throughout the whole design process. Students will follow the full project lifecycle, from benchmark analysis and user requirements elicitation to information architecture, design, and prototyping.

The course presents a variety of UX research methods methods, including both formal techniques (interviews, focus groups) and creative, participatory approaches such as the URL (User Requirements with LEGO®) model. Emphasis will be placed on how effective communication can prevent project failures. 

Group projects and examples will focus, when possible, on applications in the fashion and tourism sectors.

Required Readings

1. Cantoni, L., Faré, M., Frick, E. (2011). URL: User Requirements with Lego. Ver. 1.0. May 2011. (You can download it from this course).
2. Hartson, R. &Pyla, P. (2012).The UX Book: Process and Guidelines for Ensuring a Quality User Experience. Morgan Kaufmann(parts covered in the classes)
3. Tardini, S., & Cantoni, L. (2015). Chapter 6 Hypermedia, internet and the web. In Cantoni, L., & Danowski, J. A. (Eds.). (2015). Communication and Technology, 5th volume of the Handbook of Communication Science,Berlin, De Gruyter. (You can download it from this course).

Readings to select from

1. Cantoni L., Botturi L., Faré M.,BolchiniD. (2009) Playful Holistic Support to HCI Requirements using LEGO Bricks. In M.Kurosu(ed.), Human Centered Design, HCII 2009, LNCS 5619, Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, 844-853
2. De Ascaniis S., Cantoni L., Sutinen E., Talling R. (2017) ALifeLikeExperience to Train User Requirements Elicitation Skills. SpringerInternational Publishing. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Design, User Experience, and Usability: Understanding Users andContexts. Vancouver (Canada). 12-14.07.2017, 219-237
3. Lizzi, G., Prosino, S., & Cantoni, L. (2013). Online Motor Magazines: an Opportunity for eTourism?. In Information and communication technologies in tourism 2013 (pp. 363-374). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
4. Nobile T.H., Kalbaska N. (2020). An Exploration of Personalization in Digital Communication. Insights in Fashion. In: Nah FH., Siau K. (eds) HCI in Business, Government and Organizations. HCII 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 12204. Springer, Cham
5. Schieder, T. K., Adukaite, A., & Cantoni, L. (2014). Mobile Apps Devoted to UNESCO World Heritage Sites: A Map. In Z. Xiang & I. Tussyadiah (Eds.) Proceeding of the International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2014. Dublin, Ireland, 21-24 January, (pp. 17-30).
6. Singh, N., Furrer, O., & Ostinelli, M. (2004). To localize or to standardize on the web: empirical evidence from Italy, India, Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland. Multinational Business 

• Develop a comprehensive understanding of the complete design process for websites, apps, and software, with a specific focus on communication challenges and opportunities.
• Apply theoretical concepts to practice and develop communication skills through a group-based design project.
• Develop familiarity with a range of UX research methods for eliciting and implementing user requirements, including creative and participatory techniques such as LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®, focus groups, interviews, personas, and usage scenarios.

In presence

Lessons, readings, tutoring, project presentations, testimonials, collaboration in group project, LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method, assignments & quizzes.

Class attendance is strongly recommended, particularly for the practical sessions, including tutoring, guest talks, and group project work. To successfully complete the course, students are expected to actively participate in the collaborative group project and submit all required assignments.

• collaborative group project to be presented the last day of the course (30%) 
• in-presence online exam with closed- and open-ended questions (70%)