Computer Science Assignment - Architecture and Design

Design Principles from Don Norman’s “Design of Everyday Things” and

Preece, Rogers and Sharp’s “Beyond Interaction Design”

Design of Everyday Things • Donald Norman - cognitive scientist and engineer who

has pioneered many ideas surrounding user centred- design

• worked for Apple, Hewlett Packard, Northwestern University, UCSD

• critiques and examines many everyday items as examples of problematic designs

• design principles a framework for discussing and thinking about everyday interactions

• Norman, Donald A. (1988). The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books.

Design Principles

• Visibility- can is see it?

• Feedback - what is it doing now?

• Affordance - how do I use it?

• Mapping - where am 1 and where can I go?

• Constraint - why can’t I do that?

• Consistency - I think I have seen this before?

Visibility • Can see the state of a device and possible actions

• Car controls are positioned in a way that they can be easily found and used

Visibility • Problems arise when we cannot “see” how to do use

a device

• Sensor technology like auto faucets - not sure how to use - guess where to put hands

• Visible knobs, dials and buttons have been replaced by invisible and ambiguous “active zones”

Visibility • Hiding certain functions can be

advantageous in interface design

• Certain functions are kept invisible until needed; also contained within a group of similar types

• Google search makes it clear where to enter text

Visibility • Other examples of poor or good visibility in design?

Feedback • what is it doing now? what action has been

performed?

• needs to be immediate and synchronized with user action

Feedback

• Sound works as feedback - examples?

Feedback

• Other examples of feedback in everyday design?

Affordance • Perceived and actual properties of an object that give

clues to its operation

Affordance • Perceived and actual properties of an object that give

clues to its operation

Affordance • Perceived and actual properties of an object that give

clues to its operation

Affordance • Other examples of affordances in everyday interactions?

Mapping • Relationship to controls and their effect

Mapping • Relationship to controls and their effect

Mapping • Relationship to controls and their effect

Constraints • Restricting the kind of interactions that can take place

Constraints • Restricting the kind of

interactions that can take place

• Reduce the chance of error

• Can also work to focus user’s attention to needed task

Constraints

• Other examples of good and bad constraints?

Consistency • designing interfaces to have similar operations and use similar

elements for achieving similar task

• systems are usable and learnable when similar concepts are expresses in similar ways

• enables people to quickly transfer prior knowledge to new contexts and focus on relevant tasks

• Four types of consistency:

• aesthetic

• functional

• internal

• external

Consistency

Aesthetic

• style and appearance is repeated to enhance recognition, communicates membership and sets emotional tone

• Mercedes Benz vehicles are instantly recognizable because the company consistently feature its logo on all its vehicles

• associated with quality and prestige; respected and admired; fine craftsmanship and reliable

Consistency

Functional

• meaning and action are consistent to improve learnability and understanding

• consistent use of symbols to represent similar concepts, leverages prior knowledge and makes new things easier to use

• traffic always turns yellow before red

• cassette recorder control symbols used on a

Consistency

Internal

• consistency with other elements in the system

• cultivates a sense of orientation and trust

• indicates system is well thought out and planned

• eg. park and trail signage

Consistency External

• consistent with other elements in the environment

• extends the benefit of internal consistencies across multiple, independent systems

• more difficult to achieve because different systems rarely observe the same design standards