"If you can only take two classes this year, take this one twice.
I did!"

Julie Clift, Usability Specialist for Varian Medical Systems, Inc.

"I recommend the Cooper training to anyone involved in the process, whether engineer, product manager or design professional."

Johanna Hafey, Product Manager, SAP

Curriculum

Cooper's Interaction Design Practicum prepares you to design and refine software products that your customers want and need. The course will teach you the principles behind Goal-Directed interaction design, and give you a tool kit of specific interaction designs to use in your products. The course also teaches the process of using Personas and goals, and work practices to get you from a good idea to the finished product.
Participants will design a hypothetical product, creating Personas, generating rough concepts, and then developing an interface in detail.

Day 1: Introduction: Design Principles and Patterns

The Interaction Design Practicum begins by orienting you to the class, giving you the foundation you need to develop Goal-Directed design solutions. We will look at the principles behind Goal-Directed design as well as common interaction design solutions that you will use later in the class.
This day will also include a keynote talk by Alan Cooper, author of the The Inmates Are Running the Asylum and About Face, and founder of Cooper.

What you will learn:

• The foundation of Goal-Directed design
• Specific design solutions that can be used for a variety of design problems
• Design principles that inform sound design judgment

Day 2: Research

We delve into Goal-Directed design by looking at research techniques and conducting customer interviews. You will conduct your own research to inform your design of the example product. Course instructors will provide feedback about your interviewing and research techniques. You learn what to watch out for during this stage, and how to successfully manage the beginning of design projects to make sure they proceed smoothly.

What you will learn:

• How to choose the appropriate research methods and when to conduct research
• How to manage the research process
• Interviewing techniques and analysis for business software and consumer products

Day 3: Model

Our learning about the design process continues as we look at how models and Personas are created, and what they contribute to the design of your product. You will create models and Personas for use in developing the example product, drawing on your research and customer interviews.

What you will learn:

• How to create models for Goal-Directed software design
• How to create Personas for a product
• How to use Personas to begin design

Day 4: Envision

On this day we begin creating concepts and sketches of the product design. You will go through each step in the process of Goal-Directed design using your Personas and scenarios, developing rough sketches of the product. We will also discuss how to communicate design ideas, both at this stage, and later in the process when they are more detailed.

What you will learn:

• The Goal-Directed design process: from initial brainstorming to rough concepts
• How to work effectively with team members
• How to communicate design ideas and details effectively, and to the appropriate audience
• The difference between detailed specifications and higher-level communication

Day 5: Refine and Support

The course comes to a close with a look at how to refine your design ideas, adding detail and communicating with developers to create a finished product. The schedule includes time to discuss the specifics of your organization and issues that you face there. Finally, Alan Cooper will lead a Q&A session, and at a Cooper Graduation, you will meet other Cooper designers, and have a chance to ask them questions.

What you will learn:

• Using scenarios to develop more detailed designs
• Managing the refinement process and "getting to done"
• Applying what you've learned to your organization
• Meet Cooper designers, ask questions

For more details, call Maurice Okawaki at 650.213.5127 or send him email at