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UNit 3 & 4

User-centered design for business

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20 views6 pages

UNit 3 & 4

User-centered design for business

Uploaded by

Thant Thadar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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3.

Fundamentals of Interface Design

Related to User Interface (UI)

A User Interface or UI refers to the medium in which a person controls and


interacts with a software application or a hardware device.

User Interface (UI) for software User Interface (UI) for hardware
- The layouts, the interaction - Devices that a user use to
elements such as buttons, interact with the system (A
hyperlinks, graphical images mouse, a stylus, touchscreen,
within the webpage, the mobile joystick, etc)
page, or any pages displayed on
the digital device

 Interface Design is a skill on anticipating what users might need to do and


ensuring that the interface has elements that are easy to access, easy to
understand and to facilitate those actions, with the aim of maximizing the
usability and user experience.
GOAL: to produce an interface that is easy to use, efficient, and enjoyable.
Evaluation technique: Heuristic Evaluation

Heuristic Evaluation
A heuristic is a problem solving strategy that involves trial and error and a rule of
thumb!
The goal of Heuristic Evaluation is to determine the usability and effectiveness of
the interface. It is evaluating the interface against a set of guidelines or heuristics.
Heuristic evaluation is a method used to identify usability issues in a user interface.
Why Heuristic Evaluation?
- Easy to set up
- Usually done by 1 to 3 evaluators
- Can be done in an informal setting

“If there are 3 to 5 user interface evaluators, usually about 75% of the
interface issues can be uncovered” – Dr Jakob’s research

This technique has shown high succeed rate from past studies.

How is H.E. conducted?


In a formal heuristic evaluation, a group of interface experts review
an interface according to a small set of general principles.
Usually 3 to 5 evaluators will evaluate the interface based on a set of
usability principles. The problems found will be ranked according to a
severity rating scale from 0 to 4. A template to record the Heuristic
Evaluation looks like this :

Feedback, consistency and intuitiveness are some characterisitcs of good user


interface design!

Nielsen’s 10 Heuristics aka Usability


Principles
#1 Visibility of Systems Status (aka Keep users informed about the status)
- This heuristic underlines the importance of giving feedback to your users.
They should not be wondering what is happening with the system.
#2 Match between system and the real world (aka Show information in a way that
users can understand)
- The system and the design should speak the user’s language.
- Essentially, the use of words and semantics should be appropriate and easy
to understand for the age group of the target audience.
- Follow real-world conventions
- An example would be the visual display of grocery product information. Each
product is complemented with a picture, that will help the user to visualise
how the real apples of each brand/type will look like in physical terms. This
will greatly improve the user experience.

#3 User Control and Freedom (aka Put the user in charge)


- User should be in control of the interactions.
How? >>> Some emergency exits to be provided for the situation when users
encounter an error situation. (Undo, Redo buttons)
This fosters a sense of freedom and confidence and allows users to make
decisions for the course of action to take.

#4 Consistency and Standards (aka Be consistent and follow conventions)


- To maintain consistency and adhere to standards
- Ensure that your UI is predictable and learnable
E.g. Microsoft Office suite which promotes the consistency across their products
such as the PowerPoint, the Excel and the Word. The commands bar and the ribbons
layout are consistently laid out across.
 Importance of Consistency
o Predictability and Learnability
 Users quickly understand interfaces
 Reduces user error and increases satisfaction
o Avoiding Confusion in UI Elements
 Ensures users know what to expect
 Reduces time needed to learn the interface
 Types of Consistency
o Internal Consistency
 Consistency within a product
 Example: Using specific colors for actions to denote the same
functionality
o External Consistency
 Consistency across different products
 Example: Common UI features like shopping carts that appear
similar across e-commerce platforms
 Jakob's Law
o Importance of External Standards
 Users prefer familiar interfaces that don't require relearning
o Impact of Breaking Conventions
 Can cause confusion and user resistance
 When to Break Conventions
o Introducing New Patterns
 Innovative designs that improve user experience
o Balancing Cognitive Load and Innovation
 Ensuring the interface remains user-friendly despite new
elements
 Best Practices
o Maintaining Internal and External Consistency
 Regularly reviewing and updating design guidelines
o Enhancing Product Learnability
 User testing to identify consistency issues
 Documenting design standards for continuing development

#5 Error Prevention (aka Prevent errors)

- Include warning messages and confirmation dialog boxes that are


displayed before users commit to an action.

#6 Recognition rather than recall (aka Make information and content visible to let
users recognize it easily)

- Try to reduce the user’s memory load


(Features on the interface to reduce any need to memorise instructions or
data)
E.g. Contacts directory in our mobile phones – no longer a need to memorise
the 8 digital local mobile numbers

- Such conveniences improves the user experience as there is no need to


memorise the numbers

Recognition Vs Recall

“Is Lisbon the capital of Portugal?” Recognition


“What is the capital of Portugal?” Recall

The big difference between them is the number of cues provided by the context.
“Interfaces that promote recognition give users extra help in remembering the
information.”
#7

Touchpoints of an interface: Buttons, icons, keypads, Application interface, on/off


switches, mouse, volume slider, text, animation, image

Unit 4: Fundamentals of Information


Design (INFO)
“Information design is the skill of taking complex information and displaying it
in an engaging and easy to understand manner.”

Basic information or content can be organized in 5 ways. L.A.T.C.H

L.A.T.C.H

LOCATION
ALPHABETICAL
TIME
CATEGORY
HIERARCHICAL

Location  Information is organized by geographical location such as address,


countries and states.

Alphabetical  Information is sorted alphabetically.

Time  Information is displayed in chronological order or time sequence.


Category  Information is organized into meaningful groups such as product
categories, rooms categories, genres.

Hierarchical  Information is arranged by scale such as size or cost: and from low
value to high value or vice versa.

What is Information Architecture (I.A.)?


Information Architecture of the Web Interface

Information Architecture focuses on organizing, structuring, and labelling content in


an effective and sustainable way.

In web design, it is the process where the content or information of the website are
put together with the understanding of who the users are and how they will be
using the content.
The goal is to help users find information and to complete the tasks.

Major categories of information forms the global navigation.


“The goal of information architecture is to help users find information and complete
tasks”.

Context, content, users make up the 3 interdependent areas of information


structure.

“The 80/20 rules states that 80% of users uses 20% of an app”.

Designing for universal appeal refers to application that works well across a variety
of mobile platforms.

“Research shows that users spend only 5 minutes or less, per use of an app.”

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