Using Rapid Contextual Design at Reykjavik University

In this paper, I describe how the methods of Rapid Contextual Design [2] were used in an elective course given on User Centered Design in Computer Science at Reykjavik University. The students used contextual interviews, affinity diagrams, data walk, visioning, paper prototypes and paper prototype interviews in a software project where the aim was to co-operate with real users when analyzing, designing and evaluating their systems. The students were instructed to use paper and pencil while using all these methods. The students’ main conclusion in the end was that working with the users using these methods and “old fashioned” tools encouraged creative thinking and gave surprisingly good results especially with regard to the time used.