The Perfect Button
Answer the course's central question through one finished button you are prepared to defend.
Due: 21 May 2027 · Weight: 45%
Week 1 asked what makes a button feel worth pressing. Every week since has answered one piece of that question, for one property of one button at a time. This assessment asks for the whole answer, argued for a single finished button.
The brief#
Design one button you are prepared to defend.
Your defence must address:
- wording
- form
- pressability
- feedback
- timing
- consequence
- friction
- behaviour under repeated use
- behaviour for a hand or use condition different from your own
- honesty — whether the button accurately represents what pressing it will do
A buttonless alternative may be built and used as a comparison during development, exactly as Week 12, The Perfect Button, rehearsed — but the submitted artifact must be a button. The semester does not end with the conclusion that buttons should disappear.
What you submit#
The working button. Evidence from testing it. A concise written defence of the design decisions, with explicit reference to named weeks: Week 4 for the promise it makes, Week 5 for its timing, Week 7 for how you know it doesn’t silently fail, Week 9 for how it holds up in a hand unlike your own, Week 10 for what friction guards its consequence, and Week 11 for why it isn’t lying to whoever presses it.
Marking#
Holistic: judged as a whole defence of the button against the ten properties above, not as a checklist. A submission that argues all ten honestly, including where the button falls short, is stronger than one that claims success on all ten without evidence.
The spec
The brief poses the problem and leaves room for a response. The spec is the fixed part: what a marker checks. Some lines can be checked mechanically; the rest call for judgement.
- submitted by the deadline, comprising the working button, evidence from testing it, and a written defence
- the submitted artifact is a button — a buttonless alternative may appear only as a comparison made during development
- the defence names specific weeks from across the semester, not generic principles
- addresses all ten properties named in the brief, including honesty about what the button doesn't do well
How it is marked
Judged as a whole defence of one button against the ten properties named in the brief, not as a checklist. A submission that argues all ten honestly, including admitting where the button falls short, is stronger than one that claims success on all ten without evidence.