Thank you all for an amazing summer. You learned a lot and created some amazing things!

I want to showcase all the amazing apps that came out of the class this year, in no particular order. Additional information, including code, can be found on the course hackster pages.

your world, your buddy, your bargain


go to the restroom without going out of your way


worry-free travelling with children


do what the locals do


we've got your BAC


educate and ride


Discover nature's wild side


master your circadian rhythm


watch me catch 'em all!


making the world a safer place


your personal inventory assistant


discover amazing architecture around you


don't let your money fly away


start your adventure


For your reference, the final grade distribution of this course:


Below I've archived all the original content of this site. CS160 is an introduction to Human Computer Interaction (HCI). You will learn to prototype, evaluate, and design a user interface. You will be expected to work within a group of four or five students in this project-based course. Your project topic will be proposed by your group and your project design and implementation will follow a human-centered process. The final result will be an interactive prototype of a novel user experience carefully tailored to the needs of your intended users.

In contrast to most of the other CS classes at Berkeley, CS160 does not primarily focus on particular algorithmic techniques or computer technologies. Instead, the focus of the course is on developing a broad set of skills needed for user-centered design. These skills include ideation, needs assessment, communication, rapid prototyping, algorithmic implementation and evaluation.

This semester we will be piloting a new format of the CS160 course. This will involve shuffling lecture to 2 days/week and using the other 2 days/week as an in-class design studio. During this studio time, course staff will be available to help with and give feedback on any assignments that are out, and you will have time to work with your groups on your final projects. The studio time will be used for several required course activities, for example a group brainstorm and design critiques. This term's themes will be all things vacation, travel, adventure, and international culture. As students come from across the country and across the globe to converge on Berkeley for its diverse summer offerings, we'll celebrate those journeys by designing some fun exploration apps!

What kind of app would be useful if you were in a museum in a foreign country where you didn't speak the language? How about if you went to visit your old-timey grandma in Idaho and needed to learn to help her churn butter? If you just went to shop at Ranch 99 and couldn't figure out which vegetables to pick up for the awesome Asian recipe you were trying to cook? If you found yourself on a beach in Cancun and needed to figure out how to order fish tacos? How do these designs change if you aren't designing for yourself, but for a child, your great-uncle, or a visitor to the country? We are fortunate to have access to a set of Android watches that we'll be using to create our interactions this semester. Each group will need to have at least one Android device that can pair with the watches (we'll ensure this through our group assignments), and each group will be able to check out one watch near the beginning of the term. The specific model we'll be using is the Moto 360, which will offer a fun design challenge: the screen is round!