Decades of innovation in designing usable (and unusable) interfaces have resulted in a plethora of guidelines, usability engineering methods, and other design tools. However, novice developers often have difficulty selecting and utilizing theorybased design tools in a coherent design process. This work presents the first extensive usage evaluation of an integrated design environment and knowledge management system for student developers, LINK-UP. The key to this effort is the central design record (CDR), a design representation meant to prevent breakdowns occurring between design and evaluation phases—both within the development team and during design knowledge reuse processes. The CDR is intended to make designs coherent and understandable, thus supporting a principled, guided development process critical for student developers. Three case studies from the classroom illustrating novice designers ’ use of LINK-UP are presented. A design knowledge IDE incorporating a CDR can help novice developers craft interfaces in a methodical fashion, while applying, verifying, and producing reusable design knowledge. Keywords: Usability engineering, design tools, knowledge management, central design record, LINK-UP 1.

Shahtab Wahid is a computer scientist with an interest in HCI design knowledge reuse;