CS547 Human-Computer Interaction Seminar
(Seminar on People, Computers, and Design)
Fridays 11:30am-12:30pm PT
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Gates B3
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Open to the public
Shannon Halgren||Tony Fernandes||Deanna Thomas
Amazing Animation
April 21, 1995
Last year Claris Corporation produced their first software
product for children. Amazing Animation allows children to create
movies, video games and interactive school projects using pre-drawn
stamps and backgrounds as well as sounds. The development of
the interface for Amazing Animation was a challenging, unique,
and a rewarding experience for the Interface Design Group at
Claris. Given the constraints of a very tight timeframe and working
with a user population we were unfamiliar with, our group was
able to make numerous improvements which had a tremendous impact
on the product's usability. This having been our first time designing
for and testing children, we learned volumes about this unique
user population. Design assumptions and testing methodologies
used in adult products must all be reworked for kids. Our talk
will describe the progression of Amazing Animation's interface
and will point out the lessons learned about testing and designing
for kids along the way.
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<P>Shannon L. Halgren<BR>
Shannon is a Usability Engineer in the Interface Design Group
at Claris Corporation. Her job is to manage usability testing
at Claris. She earned her Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Human-Computer
Interaction Psychology at Rice University in Houston, TX. Shannon
designed and helped conduct the usability tests associated with
this project and participated in many of the interface design
decisions.</P>
<P>Tony Fernandes<BR>
Tony is manager of the Interface Design Group at Claris. The
group is responsible for the UI design of Claris' Windows and
Mac products. He participated in the field testing of this product
as well as in the development of design solutions to the problems
encountered.</P>
<P>Deanna Thomas<BR>
Deanna is a Visual Designer in the Interface Design group at
Claris Corporation. Her job is to create visual information be
way of icons, navigation in dialogs and product identities for
Claris. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio at the
San Francisco Art Institute and her Master of Fine Arts at University
of North Texas. A six year veteran of the Apple community, her
involvements with visual interface also include (of late) PowerTalk
& AppleSearch. Deanna provided the visual interpretation of our
design brainstorming sessions and gave Amazing Animation much
of its look and feel.</P>
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