Experiences 1

Fundamental Principles of
Interaction
Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

• Great designers produce pleasurable interaction/experience
• Experience is critical. It determines how fondly people remember their

interactions.
Can you share one good experience/interaction

and one bad experience/interaction with a
machine/device/object/application?

What is the first thing that you do when
you interact with a
device/machine/application for first time?

Discoverability and Understanding
Discoverability results from appropriate application of five attributes
to the product
• Affordance
• Signifiers
• Mappings
• Feedback
• Constraints
Affordance (Comes from the word Afford)
Refers to the relationship between properties of the object and the
capabilities of the agent that determine just how the object could possibly
be used.
• A chair affords support and therefore affords sitting
• Chair could or could not afford its lifting

(Depends on the User and Chair)

Glass afford transparency
Glass cannot afford passage of any physical object
Door Knobs afford turning, pulling and pushing,

Identify affordances
Pen stand Pen Umbrella Mug
Steel Plate
Colored glass
The presence of an affordance is jointly determined by the qualities of the object
and the abilities of the agent that is interacting.

Affordances can be problematic when:
• A perceived affordance is misleading
• Example, a door is pullable, but its vertical handle hints that to open, it should
be pushed.
• People have no clue what to do

• Example, a poorly designed touch screen!
• People can’t detect any anti-affordance

• Some accidentally walks into glass and gets badly hurt!

Signifiers
You are trying to signify where the touch should

take place.
Affordances determine what actions are possible.
Signifiers communicate where the action should take place.

Signifiers must be perceivable,
else they fail to function.
A signifier can be words, a

graphical illustration, or just a
device whose perceived
affordances are unambigous
Signifiers are perceptible cues that designers include in
(e.g.) interfaces so that users can easily discover what to do.
We include signifiers to specify how people discover the possibilities

of affordances and communicate where the action should take place.

Signifier

How to use signifiers best
• Clearly indicate where and how people should interact with your
website, app or physical product.
• Match each perceived affordance to the actual affordance and

beware of false affordances
• Remember all the senses

• Seeing
• Hearing
• Touch
• Movement
• Body awareness

Mapping
Mapping is an important concept in the
design and layout of controls and
displays.
When the mapping uses spatial

correspondence between the layout of
the controls and the devices being
controlled, it is easy to determine how
to use them!

How turning of military tanks are controlled?

The relationship between a control and its results is easiest to learn
wherever there is an understandable mapping between the controls,
the actions, and the intended result
Practice natural mapping

Feedback
• Communicating results of an action is a well known concept in control and
information theory.
• Even simple task requires numerous feedback mechanisms of our nervous

system
• Gripping a glass
• Riding cycle
• ….
• Devices around us give numerous feedbacks during their use.

Characteristics of Feedback
• Must be Immediate
• When your computer/mobile becomes too slow/lags!
• Poor electrical appliances (tubelight, etc..)
• Must be informative (Poor feedback can be worse than no feedback)

• Beeps and flashlights tell us that something has happened but what has
happened is little known. Further what actions has to be done to come across
it.

Machines/devices/apps that give too much feedback are
like backseat drivers.
This leads to distraction and result in dangerous situation.

• Feedback is essential, but not when it gets in the way of other things,
including a calm and relaxing environment.
• Feedbacks must be prioritized.

• Unimportant information should be present in an unobstrusive fashion.
• Important signals are presented in a way that capture attention.
• Feedbacks are essential but it has to be done correctly and appropriately!
Operation Theatre Emergency

Dr. Abhinav ward
Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal Control room of Nuclear Power Plant
How people do things?

Seven stages of Action
From the Goal
Plan the action
Specify an action sequence
Perform an action sequence
Perceive the state of the world
Interpret the perception
Compare the outcome with the goal

How do you think?
• What is the phone number of your best friend?
• What is the capital of:

• Uttar Pradesh?
• The United States?
• Agartala?
• Estonia?

In the house you lived in two/three houses ago,
as you entered the front door, was the
doorknob/handle on the left or right?

Three Levels of Processing
Reflective Conscious
Subconscious
VISCERAL
Reflective
VISCERAL
Knowledge in the head
and
Knowledge in the world

Knowledge in the World
When you use cash do you bother to note minor features in it?

How fast can you type?
Two kinds of knowledge
• Knowledge of (Declarative Knowledge)
• Knowledge how (Procedural Knowledge)

Declarative Knowledge
Includes knowledge of facts and rules
• Stop at red traffic lights
• China has twice as many people as India
Procedural Knowledge
Knowledge that enables a person to be skilled
• Musician
• Tennis player
• Typist

Procedural Knowledge
• Difficult or impossible to write down and difficult to teach.
• Best taught by demonstration and best learned through practice.
• Largely subconscious, residing at the behavioural level of processing.

• Signifiers, physical constraints, natural mappings are all perceivable
cues that act as knowledge in the world.
• This type of knowledge occur so closely that we take it for granted!

• Location of letters on keyboard
• Lights and labels on controls
• Written notes

Knowledge in head
Remember Ali baba and Forty thieves

How do you remember your passwords?

Most common passwords
“ 123456”
“ 12345678”
“abc123”
“password”

The more complex the password
requirements, the less secure the system is!
WHY?

Short Term Memory and Long Term Memory
These two major classes of memory are quite different with

different implications for design.

Short-term or Working Memory
• Short term or working memory retains the most recent experiences
or material that is currently being thought about.
• It is memory of the just present.
• Information is retained automatically and retrieved without effort!

But the information that can be retained this way is severely limited!

Multiply 27 times 293 in your head!
Multiply 27 times 293 on paper!

• Material being maintained in short term memory is quite fragile
• It gets distracted by some other activity and the stuff in short term
memory disappears.

How do you key in your OTP?
How many numbers are there in an OTP?
What happens when someone interferes

when you are entering OTP?
The limits on our short term memory systems caused by interfering tasks can be mitigated by
several techniques.
One is through the use of multiple sensory modalities.
Visual information does not much interfere with auditory, actions do not interfere much with
either auditory or written material.
To maximise efficiency of working memory it is best to present different information over

different modalities:
sight,
sound,
Touch, Example: Driving
hearing,
spatial locations,
gestures
Long Term Memory
• It takes time for information to get into Long Term Memory and time
and effort to get it out again.
• Sleep strengthens the long term memory!
• It strengthens with rehearsals and repetitive retrieval

Long Term
Memory
Memory for
Memory for
meaningful
arbitrary things
things

Memory for arbitrary things
Simple remembering of things that have no underlying meaning or
structure.
Example:
• Letters of alphabet and their ordering.
• Names of people
• Arbitrary key sequences on keyboard
• Procedures of much of our modern technology
• Periodic table elements
• Gear position in the gear stick of car
Rote learning creates problem. Why?
1. What is being learned is arbitrary, the learning is difficult!
2. When a problem arises, the memorized sequence of actions gives no hints

of what has gone wrong? No suggestion of what might be done to fix the
problem.
Have you EVER COOKED and new recipe?

It is how we have to learn to use some of the new
gadgets of our technology
Memory for meaningful things
• Most things in the world have sensible structure which tremendously
simplifies the memory task.
• When things make sense, they correspond the knowledge that we

already have, so the new material can be understood, interpreted
and integrated with the previously acquired material!

Turn Signal Switch
Early Design State-of the art Design
Right Turn
Left Turn
Confusing Logical
Approximate models: Memory in the real
world
Science deals in truth, practice deals in

approximations.
Practitioners don’t need truth: they need results relatively quickly

that,
although inaccurate are good enough.
Temperature of this auditorium is 69 degree Fahrenhite.
What temperature is it in degree Celcius?

Multiply 27 times 293
Multiply 30 times 300

How Pilots remember what air traffic control
tells them?

How do Pilots remember all that?
1. They write down the critical information.
2. They enter it into their equipment as it is told to them, so minimal

memory is required.
3. They remember some of it as meaningful phrases.

KNOWLEDGE IN HEAD
Short Term Memory Long Term memory

Retains the most recent experiences Is able to retain past experiences
Information is retained automatically and It is fairly slow in recording the information

retrieved without effort!
The information that can be retained this Large amount of information can be stored
way is severely limited
Material being maintained in short term Information strengthens with rehearsals

memory is quite fragile and repetitive retrieval
It gets distracted by some other activity, Distraction does not effect of long term
stuff in short term memory disappears. memory.

Long Term
Memory
Memory for
Memory for
meaningful
arbitrary things
things

Memory for Arbitrary things Memory for meaningful things
Attained by rote learning Can be attained with previously
acquired knowledge
Learning is difficult Almost no learning is required
Example: Learning alphabets, Example: naturally mapped
cooking, typing etc. switches,

How do you remember your daily chores?

Reminding: Prospective memory
Consider following situations

• You promise your friend to visit DB mall on Saturday at 3.30 pm after
participating in Tooryanaad! How are you going to remember it at proper
time?
• When you go shopping to Kotra or New market, do you remember all the
items you were supposed to buy?
• How do you manage your belongings during a long journey?

Two different aspects of a reminder
• Signal (Knowing what can be done)

{Something is to be remembered}
Ideal reminder has to
have both of them
• Message (Knowing how to do it)
{What it is?}
The signal can be a sufficient memory cue if it occurs at correct time and place!

• Signifiers, physical constraints, natural mappings are all perceivable
cues that act as knowledge in the world.
• This type of knowledge occur so closely that we take it for granted!

• Location of letters on keyboard
• Lights and labels on controls
• Written notes

Knowledge in the world, external knowledge, is a valuable tool for
remembering, but only if it is available at the right place, at the right time,
in the appropriate situation. Otherwise, we must use knowledge in the
head, in the mind.
Out of sight, out of mind!

• Knowledge in the world acts as its own reminder. It can help us
recover structures that we otherwise would forget.
• Knowledge in the world is accessible. It is self-reminding. It is always

there, waiting to be seen, waiting to be used. That is why we
structure our offices and our places of work so carefully.
• Since, knowledge in mind is short lived, we can’t count on something

being present in mind at any particular time, unless it is triggered by
some external event.

Knowledge in the world Knowledge in the head
Information is readily and easily Material in working memory is readily
available whenever perceivable. available. Otherwise considerable
search and effort may be required.
Interpretation substitutes for learning. Requires learning, which can be

How easy it is to interpret knowledge considerable. Learning is made easier
in the world depends upon the skill of if there is meaning or structure to the
the designer. material.
Slowed by the need to find and Can be efficient, especially if so well-

interpret learned that it is automated.
Ease of use at first encounter is high. Ease of use at first encounter is low.
Technology does not make us smarter. People do not make technology
smart. It is the combination of the two, the person plus the artifact, that is
smart.

Natural Mapping

• Natural mappings are those where the relationship between the
controls and the object to be controlled is obvious.
• Depending on the circumstances, natural mapping will employ spatial
cues.
• Best mapping: Controls are mounted directly on the item to be controlled
• Second best mapping: Controls are as close as possible to the object to be

controlled
• Third best mapping: Controls are arranged in the same spatial configuration
as the objects to be controlled.

Constraints

How do we determine how to operate
something that we have never seen before?

What if we design a battery or the electrical
Contacts so that orientation doesn’t matter?

Types of Constraints
• Physical Constraints
• Cultural Constraints
• Semantic Constraints
• Logical constraints

Constraints that force the desired behavior
• Forcing functions are a form of physical constraint: situations in which
the actions are constrained so that failure at one stage prevents the
next step from happening.
• Starting a car has a forcing function associated with it—the driver
must have some physical object that signifies permission to use the
car.
• Forcing functions are the extreme case of strong constraints that can
prevent inappropriate behavior.

Specialized methods of providing constraints
• Interlocks
• Lock-ins
• Lockouts

Interlocks
An interlock forces operations to take place in proper sequence.
• Microwave ovens and devices with interior exposure to high voltage
use interlocks as forcing functions to prevent people from opening
the door of the oven or disassembling the devices without first
turning off the electric power

Lock-ins
• A lock-in keeps an operation active, preventing someone from
prematurely stopping it.
• Standard lock-ins exist on many computer applications, where any
attempt to exit the application without saving work is prevented by a
message prompt asking whether that is what is really wanted.
• Some companies try to lock in customers by making all their products
work harmoniously with one another but be incompatible with the
products of their competition.

Lock-outs
Whereas a lock-in keeps someone in a space or prevents an action until
the desired operations have been done, a lockout prevents someone
from entering a space that is dangerous, or prevents an event from
occurring.

Destination control elevators

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Fundamental Principles of

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

• Experience is critical. It determines how fondly people remember their

Can you share one good experience/interaction

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

• A chair affords support and therefore affords sitting

• Chair could or could not afford its lifting

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

Glass cannot afford passage of any physical object

Door Knobs afford turning, pulling and pushing,

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

Pen stand Pen Umbrella Mug

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

• People have no clue what to do

• People can’t detect any anti-affordance

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

You are trying to signify where the touch should

Affordances determine what actions are possible.

Signifiers communicate where the action should take place.

A signifier can be words, a

We include signifiers to specify how people discover the possibilities

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

• Match each perceived affordance to the actual affordance and

• Remember all the senses

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

When the mapping uses spatial

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

Practice natural mapping

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

• Even simple task requires numerous feedback mechanisms of our nervous

• Devices around us give numerous feedbacks during their use.

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

• Must be informative (Poor feedback can be worse than no feedback)

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

This leads to distraction and result in dangerous situation.

• Feedbacks must be prioritized.

• Feedbacks are essential but it has to be done correctly and appropriately!

Operation Theatre Emergency

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

Plan the action

Specify an action sequence

Perform an action sequence

Perceive the state of the world

Interpret the perception

Compare the outcome with the goal

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

• What is the capital of:

• The United States?

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal

• Knowledge of (Declarative Knowledge)

• Knowledge how (Procedural Knowledge)

Dr. Abhinav Varshney, Asst. Prof., MANIT Bhopal