Criteria+for+Selecting+Benchmanrks

Criteria for Selecting Good Examples
The criteria for selecting benchmarks should avoid cliches, jargon and vague terms such as "intuitive," "beautiful" and "user friendly." The criteria may fall into two categories. Those in the first group make a direct contribution to the success of the case. For example: was the product easy to learn and use? The second kind of criteria concern the development process used by the developers, which indirectly affect the user. There are just two of these: was the system/message/service grounded in an understanding of its intended users and was the product a result of an effective design process? All the criteria used to select benchmarks are factors either contributing to or components of the success of the example.

(Alben, L. "Quality of Experience: Defining the Criteria for Effective Interaction Design", interactions, 3.3, May+June 1996, Vol. 1113, p11.)

Understanding of users Effective design process Needed Appropriate Aesthetic experience Mutable Manageable
 * How well was the design team grounded in understanding the needs, tasks and environments of the people for whom the product was designed?
 * How was that learning reflected in the product?
 * Is the product a result of a well-thought out and well-executed design process?
 * What were the major design issues that arose during the process and what was the rationale and method for resolving them?
 * What methodologies were employed, such as user involvement, iterative design cycles and interdisciplinary collaboration?
 * How were budgeting, scheduling and other practical issues, such as interpersonal communications, managed to support the goals of the design process?
 * What need does the product satisfy?
 * Does it make a significant social, economic or environmental contribution?
 * Learnable and Usable Is the product easy to learn and use?
 * Does the product communicate a sense of its purpose, how to begin and how to proceed?Is this learning easy to retain over time?
 * Are the productÕs features self-evident and self-revealing?
 * How well does the product support and allow for the different ways people will approach and use it, considering their various levels of experience, skills and strategies for problem-solving?
 * Does the design of the product solve the right problem at the right level?
 * Does the product serve users in efficient and practical ways?
 * How did considering social, cultural, economic and technical aspects of the problem contribute to an appropriate solution?
 * Is using the product an aesthetically pleasing and sensually satisfying one?
 * Is the product cohesively designed, exhibiting continuity and excellence across graphic, interaction, information and industrial design?
 * Is there a consistency of spirit and style?
 * Does the design perform well within technological constraints? Does it accomplish an integration of software and hardware?
 * Have the designers considered whether mutability is appropriate or not?
 * How well can the product be adapted to suit the particular needs and preferences of individuals and groups?
 * Does the design allow the product to change and evolve for new, perhaps unforeseen, uses?
 * Does the design of the product move beyond understanding "use" merely as functionality and support the entire context of use?
 * For example, does the product account for and help users manage needs such as installation, training, maintenance, costs and supplies?
 * Have these needs and others been considered in an individual as well as an organizational sense?
 * Does the design of the product take into account issues such as negotiating competition for use and the concept of "ownership," including rights and responsibilities?