Why is it inappropriate to start designing at the physical level?
If a designer begins by considering the physical aspects of an envisaged product, and maybe the technology to be used, then usability and user experience goals can easily be overlooked.
[Unit 1, review question 1]
What activities are central to working out the problem space for a product?
The central activities are
- clarifying your usability and user experience goals
- explicating your assumptions and claims.
[Unit 1, review question 2]
By an assumption is meant taking something for granted, e.g. people will want to watch movies on their cell phones. By a claim is meant stating something to be true when it is still open to question, e.g. a multimodal style of interaction for controlling a car navigation system—one that involves speaking while driving—is perfectly safe. Writing down your assumptions and claims and then trying to defend and support them can highlight those that are vague or wanting. In so doing, poorly constructed design ideas can be reformulated.
[Set book 2.2]
Write down four questions that you can ask of a situation that will help you to start exploring the problem space.
- Are there problems with an existing product or user experience? If so, what are they?
- Why do you think there are problems?
- How do you think your proposed design ideas might overcome these?
- If you have not identified any problems and instead are designing for a new user experience how do you think your proposed design ideas support, change or extend current ways of doing things?
[Unit 1, review question 3]
The definition of a conceptual model given in this section refers to four components of the intended product that should be described in the product’s conceptual model. What are these four components?
The four components in Johnson and Henderson’s definition are:
- the major design metaphors and analogies that are used to convey to the user how to understand what a product is for and how to use it for an activity
- the concepts that users are exposed to through the product, including the task-domain data-objects users create and manipulate, their attributes and the operations that can be performed on them
- the relationships between those concepts, e.g. whether one object contains another, the relative importance of actions to others, and whether an object is part of another
- the mappings between the concepts and the user experience the product is designed to support or invoke.
[Unit 1, review question 4]
Name three benefits for the design team of conceptualising design in general terms early on in the design process.
- to orient themselves towards asking specific kinds of questions about how the conceptual model will be understood by the targeted users
- not to become narrowly focused early on
- to establish a set of common terms they all understand and agree upon, reducing the chance of misunderstandings and confusion arising later on.
[Unit 1, review question 5]
What is the main benefit of using an interface metaphor?
Interface metaphors allow people to talk about what they are doing in terms they are familiar with.
[Unit 1, review question 6]
Summarise the arguments against using interface metaphors.
Designers sometimes take the metaphor too literally and try to design an interface that matches the characteristics of the metaphorical item. Instantiating the metaphor literally in an interface often leads to contradictions with the original item, and this can cause confusion rather than illumination.
Metaphors can be too constraining, both of the designer by not providing useful functionality, and of the user by blinding them to the existence of useful functionality.
Metaphors can lead to conflicts with design principles or to the literal translation of designs that were originally bad and have not been improved.
Finally, it is argued by some that the use of metaphors limits the designer’s imagination.
[Unit 1, review question 7]
What are the main disadvantages of emulating strategies from the physical world in the digital world?
When strategies from the physical world are translated into the digital world too literally they may over-constrain the user, or fail to make the most of digital possibilities.
[Unit 1, review question 8]
How is the idea of emulating physical world strategies in the digital world related to the use of interface metaphors?
Metaphors are used in order to help users understand new concepts by building on familiar knowledge. This usually entails taking experience from the real world and translating it somehow into the digital world. Emulating strategies from the physical world is one way of developing metaphors.
[Unit 1, review question 9]
Why is it difficult to delegate tasks to digital agents or to leave it to the environment to determine how to respond to a situation?
The problem with delegating tasks to agents or leaving it to the environment to determine how to respond is that it is very difficult to predict what is happening and what users want done or the information they require, and so on.
[Unit 1, review question 10]
What does it mean for interaction to be tightly or loosely coupled? Give an example of each.
Coupling refers to the link between an action in the physical world and the response from an interactive product. Tight coupling is where the action causes an effect that is immediate and obvious, such as raising your arm causes the light to go on. Loose coupling is where the effect of an action is not immediate and not obvious, such as walking past a sensor which causes a message to be sent to someone’s phone.
[Unit 1, review question 11]
For each of theories, models and frameworks, distinguish how they might be used in interaction design.
Theories tend to be comprehensive, explaining interaction.
Models tend to simplify some aspect of interaction, providing a basis for design.
Frameworks tend to be prescriptive, providing concepts, questions and principles to consider when designing interaction.
[Unit 1, review question 12]
Name and describe the three main elements in Don Norman’s framework for the relationship between the designer’s conceptual model and a user’s understanding of it.
The three elements are:
- the designer’s model – the model the designer has of how the system should work
- the system image – how the system actually works (portrayed to the user through the interface, manuals, help facilities, etc.)
- the user’s model – how the user understands how the system works.
[Unit 1, review question 13]
State one key design challenge for each of the interface types:
- mobile
- moultimodal
- shareable
- tangible
- augmented and mixed reality
- wearable
- robotic
A key design challenge for each of the interface types is:
- mobile: designing for a small screen space and limited control space
- multimodal: recognising different aspects of the user’s behaviour
- shareable: taking account of the effect that size, orientation and shape of the display have on collaboration
- tangible: what kind of coupling to use between action and effect (coupling was introduced in Box 2.4 in the Set Book)
- augmented and mixed reality: few design guidelines exist
- wearable: making the product comfortable to wear
- robotic: whether robotic interfaces should be designed to be as human like as possible.
[Unit 1, review question 14]
What are the key differences between theories, models and frameworks in relation to conceptual designs?
Theories tend to be comprehensive, explaining human–computer interactions;
Models tend to simplify some aspect of human– computer interaction, providing a basis for designing and evaluating systems;
Frameworks tend to be prescriptive, providing designers with concepts, questions, and principles to consider when designing for a user experience.
Set book 2.4
Thinking of the two different kinds of input devices: keyboards or keypads, and pointing devices, briefly describe one example of each, and suggest an example application for which it would be appropriate.
One example of a keyboard is a chord keypad. With this device, several keys are pressed at once in order to enter a single character. This kind of input device has been used for deep sea divers who have restricted mobility (see pages 479–81 of the Set Book).
An example of a pointing device is a trackball, which is an inverted mouse. Trackballs are often used with computer game consoles.
[Unit 2, review question 1]
Consider interfaces based on iris and fingerprint recognition, handwriting recognition, speech and gesture. Which of these is discrete and which is continuous?
Iris and fingerprint recognition is discrete since it is essentially a picture of the iris or fingerprint; handwriting, gesture and speech recognition are all examples of continuous input. Gesture represents continuous input as the system needs to monitor all movement to understand the gesture, while both handwriting and speech are also continuous actions.
[Unit 1, review question 2]
Consider three different types of output devices: screen, loudspeaker and simple devices (such as dials, lights and buzzers).
A fourth, very common device is the printer. The nature of the output delivered by each of these varies in terms of its persistence, i.e. how
long it lasts.
Compare the output from each of these four types with respect to its persistence. What implications does this have for design?
The output on a screen lasts as long as the screen is turned on and the window displaying the information has not been overwritten (on the screen). Output from a printer lasts much longer, but is also dependent on the kind of paper or other medium used.
Audio output is very transient unless it is recorded by another device, and disappears instantly it is played. Output from simple devices also disappears instantly because these devices display output on a moment by-moment basis.
The implication for design is that the persistence of the output should be taken into account when choosing output devices.
[Unit 1, review question 3]
Cognition refers to what goes on in our heads. The Set Book introduces six cognitive processes that have implications for interaction design. Name these and think of other processes that would be covered by this definition of cognition.
The set book mentions
- attention
- perception and recognition
- memory
- learning
- reading, speaking, and listening
- problem-solving, planning, reasoning, decision-making.
Other processes include being aware of the environment, sensing, making judgements and using imagination.
[Unit 3, review question 1]
For each of the following design decisions, identify the cognitive process that is affected by the decision, and use your understanding of this process to explain why the decision has been made:
- including animated adverts on a web page
- the magnifying glass in Adobe Reader
- structuring commands in a desktop application around menus
- greying out commands that are not accessible or not relevant to the current operation
- including tactile feedback in a computer game control console.
In some cases, the design decision may be associated with more than one cognitive process, and your answers may vary from those given below.
- Moving images attract our attention more than static text. Advertisers want their adverts to be read and so they animate their adverts. The cognitive process concerned is attention.
- The magnifying glass allows you to see the overall view of the document, yet also to magnify specific areas to be seen in more detail. The cognitive process concerned is reading.
- Using menu structures promotes recognition rather than recall. The cognitive process concerned is memory.
- If commands are greyed out when they are not appropriate then the user will get used to which commands are appropriate in what situation. The cognitive process concerned is learning.
- If the console shakes as though driving over rough ground at the same time that the game screen shows an image of driving down a rough road, then this increases your experience of the situation. The cognitive process concerned is perception.
[Unit 3, review question 2]
Suggest some design decisions from applications you commonly use which reflect knowledge about the following cognitive processes:
- perception
- attention
- memory
- problem solving, planning, reasoning and decision making.
I thought of the following examples, but you may have others:
- Picture-based menus on a mobile phone is an example of design informed by knowledge about perception.
- Using colour to highlight important information on a news website or a travel website is an example of design informed by knowledge about attention. Depending on the colour, or the ‘logo’, it could also relate
to recognition. - The feature in many internet browsers to complete a URL when you enter the first few characters is an example of design informed by knowledge of memory. It is also to help the user be more efficient by requiring them to type less.
- Providing hyperlinked explanations or definitions of terms within other documents, e.g. in the Microsoft Help function, is an example of design informed by knowledge about problem solving, planning, reasoning and decision making.
[Unit 3, review question 3]
It can be difficult to remember passages of a book that we have read passively. Why is this, and how can we ensure that we remember more of it? You may find it helpful to reflect on your experience of reading the Set Book.
The more attention that is paid to information, the more easily it is remembered. The degree to which we remember information is related to the degree to which the information has been encoded. We can improve our memory of information by reflecting on it, comparing it to other knowledge or experience we have, talking with colleagues about it, writing about it and so on. This is why it is important to complete the review questions and activities in M364.
[Unit 3, review question 4]
Miller’s magical number 7 plus or minus 2 has been applied by designers in inappropriate ways (see Box 3.2 on pages 105–7 of the Set Book). Suggest a design guideline based on Miller’s findings that would accurately represent them.
A design guideline based on Miller’s findings might be ‘Do not expect users to remember more than five items at a time’. Of course, better interaction design would not require users to remember items at all if it could be avoided. Recognition rather than recall is another common design principle that insists that users are asked to remember as little as possible.
[Unit 3, review question 5]
Briefly explain the gulf of execution and the gulf of evaluation and how these can be bridged.
The gulf of execution describes the distance from the user to the interface, while the gulf of evaluation is the distance from the interface to the user. Here ‘distance’ does not refer to physical distance but conceptual distance. These gulfs can be bridged by designing interfaces that take account of the psychological characteristics of the user, and by the user learning to create goals, plans and action sequences that fit with how
the interface works.
[Unit 3, review question 6]
