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                   Home screen                      The list of social contacts (friends)
 
The list of commercial contacts (deals)

When Joe logs into the
LocaShare app, he sees
the home screen, which
only has two buttons.
By clicking on the "My
friends" button, he sees
the list of his friends
(social contacts),
and by clicking on the
"My deals" button he 
sees the list of his
deals (commercial
contacts).
Also, clicking on the
"LocaShare" button on
the upper left corner 
leads Joe to the home
screen.

Pros: 
1. The user interface is 
externally consistent 
with other social applications. 
2. The user interface is 
internally consistent since 
the ways to list friends and 
deals are similar. 
3. The UI conveys itself to the 
Joe by using the texts Immediate 
feedback is also provided 
when Joe clicks on the buttons.
4.The UI speaks in the user's
language. (Instead of using
social/commercial contacts, it uses
my friends and my deals.)
 

Pros: 
1. By providing the 
search bar, Joe can  
find his friends easily, 
and this prevents Joe 
from scrolling down 
on the long list in order 
to find a specific 
person or deal.

If Joe wants to view deals  
but mistakenly clicks on 
the "My friends" button. 
He can easily resolve 
this problem by going 
back to the main screen.

Pros: 
1. The friends and 
deals buttons are huge,  
and this makes them 
salient to users. 
2. The icons for friends/ 
deals are presented by 
pictures.It provides good
information scent.

Cons: 
1. Search bar might be too 
small to be noticed.(We 
should test this in paper  
prototyping.)

               Home screen                            Find for friends by typing in the
                                                                                 search bar          


   Permission setting page of Joe
                  for Bob

To add a new social contact,
Joe starts from his home
screen and clicks on "My
friends" button. He finds Bob
by typing his name in the
search bar (which is located
at the upper right corner.) Bob's
picture pops out and Joe clicks on
the "Add friend" button to add him.
 
Joe then sets the permissions
for Bob. For example, in this
scenario,
1. Adjust the time by manipulating
    the clock-like interface.
2. Choose the places that are
     available for Bob by clicking 
     on the map. 
  (a)  Click on a new place to 
        create a new one. At the 
        same time, Joe can edit
        the place's radius by
        manipulating a transparent
        circle around the location
        bubble. Joe can also edit
        the name of the location 
        such as STATA or Boston by
        typing in the location bubble. 
             
   (b) Clicking on an existing 
         place can either delete it
         or edit it.
    
3. Hide/show aggregated information
    by clicking on the chart and the 
    Hide/Show button. Click on the
    tab menu to choose different
    kinds of aggregated information
    (weekly or monthly).

Pros: 
1. Adding friends is done in a 
similar way as other social apps.
2. The clock time/map widget makes 
very easy to select the time. 
It is also 
consistent with other 
time widgetclock apps
and google maps. 
3. The map provides direct
manipulation which allows
user to choose the locations.  
4. When Joe chooses a location 
on the map. It provides  
immediate feedback by creating
a bubble around the location.

Pros: 
1. Minimize the amount of
drop-down menu for permission
setting by using pictures and
maps.
 
Cons: 
1. It might be cumbersome 
for users to set the  
permissions of each 
social contact one by one.    
*Aggregation * Aggregation should be 
used. (ex. group permission 
settings.) Efficiency problem 
can also be mitigated by 
providing default 
permission settings.
2. It would be too much
work for Joe to type the
name of a location or the
address, auto-complete
could be used here. 
   

Sources of potential
error in this interface
are that the user
enters the wrong
address, name of
location, or perhaps
enters a invalid time.

The auto-complete 
function should help
prevent incorrect
address. In addition,
the engine behind the
interface should 
provide hints to users
about the name/radius
of the location users
click on.

The clock widget,
map, and charts
are salient 
to Joe.