What is HCI?
Interaction between users and systems occurs at the User Interface (or simply interface)
Hardware Interface?
- Not limited to IT product interface
- Can be generalized to the interfaces of any interactive products
ex. laptop, cell phone, printer, desktop, VR-glasses, apple watch
Software Interface?
Windows, Max OS, Microsoft Word, Browser etc
Intangible interface?
E.g. voice recognition interface
Process of Interaction Design?
- Identifying needs and establishing requirements for the user experience.
- Developing alternative designs that meet those requirements
- Building interactive version of the design so that they can be communicated and assessed
- Evaluating what is being built throughout the process and the user experience it offers
- Iterate, iterate, iterate
User-Centered Design
- Ensure that the design match the needs and capabilities of the people for whom they intended
- Evaluation is at the heart of interaction design
- Equally important is to understand user and user behavior
+ Key to this module is to understand the user- centered design in a theoretical way, while to learn to use specific software skills is secondary.
Design objective I: Usability
- What is the Usability goals? (5)
- Effectiveness
- Efficiency
- Safety
- Learnability
- Memorability
Design Objective II: User Experience
- What is the experience goals? (7)
- Satisfying
- Enjoyable
- Engaging
- Entertaining
- Attentive
- Aesthetically pleasing
- Flow
- More….
What is Design Tradeoffs?
- Functionality vs. complexity
- Function vs. form
- Changes to interface in a new version vs. remaining consistency with the previous version
Important Design Concepts (6)
- Affordance
- Visibility
- Mapping
- Feedback
- Consistency
- Contraints
Explain “Affordance” design concept
Affordance refers to the perceived and actual properties of the thing, primarily those fundamental properties that determine just how the thing could possibly be used.
– Chair is for sitting
– Knobs are for turning – Button is for pushing
• It provides strong clues to the operations of things.
Example of Virtual Affordance
- How do the following screen objects afford?
- What if you were a novice user?
- Would you know what to do with them?
Arrows like front/back
Explain “Visibility” design concept
- The user should be able to tell the state of device and the alternatives for action.
- When functionality is hidden, problems in use occur
- When capabilities are visible, it does not require memory of how to use
Example of visibility
Physical: Själva handtaget som reglerar varmt/kallt
HCI: a single button to do two things
Explain “Mapping” design concept
- It is possible to determine the relationships between actions and results, between the controls and their effects, and between the system state and what is visible.
Explain “Feedback” design concept
- The user receives full and continuous feedback about the results of actions in time.
- Can be sound made, or change in physical state – Button pushing and key pressing
Explain “Consistency” design concept
• To have similar operations and use similar elements for achieving similar tasks.
– For example: always use ctrl key plus first initial of the command for an operation – ctrl+C, ctrl+S, ctrl+O
• One benefit of consistency is to make it easier to learn and use.
• It is problematic to apply the concept of consistency to complex interfaces and applications.
• Consistency vs. variety
Explain “Constraints” design concept
- Constraint refers to determining ways of restricting the kinds of user interaction that can take place at a given moment.
- E.g. in a graphical user interface, a deactivated certain menu option is often dimmed.
- One advantage of constraining is to prevent the user from selecting incorrect options and reduce the chance of making mistakes. (Make it logically for the user)
Key to Interaction Design (ID)
• ID is concerned with designing interactive products to support people in their everyday and working lives
• ID is multidisciplinary, involving many inputs from wide-reaching disciplines and fields
• ID is big business
• ID involves taking into account a number of interdependent factors including context of use, type of task and kind of user
• Need to strive for usability and user experience goals
• Designandusabilityprinciplesareusefulheuristics
for analyzing and evaluating interactive products
