perceivability
By looking at a product the user should have an idea about what the product does and how to use it
They should be able to answer
- What does the product do
- What do I need to do
- What should I do first
If users cannot figure out how to use the product they will look elsewhere
Skeuomorphism
Making digital products looks like their real world counterparts
e.g books on iBooks look like real books
Predictability
Users need to know what they are going to get from your product or your page or your process BEFORE they invest their time using it
E.g tell the user how many questions or long it takes to complete a customer survey - more inclined to take it if they know how much of their time will be taken up (risk reward assessment)
How to make your software predictable
- Tell user how long something will take
- What they need to do
- What they are going to get
- What will happen next
Affordances
Visual clues that tell us how a product should be operated or used
E.g Buttons make it obvious that it should be pressed
Switches make it clear that we should flick them
Affordances summary
Affordances:
- Make it clear how a product / control etc is suppose to work
- Make it clear to the user what they should do next
- The assist the learnability of the product or software
Conventions
Conventions are established ways of doing things
Follow established conventions - so you don’t have to ask your users to learn how to do something new
E.g pause and play buttons - don’t reinvent common symbols used everyday!
Feedback
Immediate feedback is highly important in software - don’t interrupt users flow - keep it as smooht as possible
E.g important that when a user clicks into a field it’s immediately obvious that it is active - e.g use blinking cursor. / highlighting / underlying field Otherwise user will continuously keep clicking on feed to see if it is active before typing
Feedback Recap
Feedback:
- Feedback confirms actions
- Encourages users to continue
- Clarifies what the user can do next
Constraints
Constraints are simple mental aids that keep us on the right track by limiting our alternatives
E.g in the ‘Phone Number’ field on a mobile phone only accept numeric digits by displaying numeric keypad
Forgiveness
How to create a ‘forgiving product’:
- Offer strong affordances that give the user a clear indication of what to do
- Allow the user to reverse their actions
- Ask the user to confirm what they are about to do (don’t overuse - can be irritating to user)
- Provide warnings to the user when something major is about to happen
- Provide help to user (e.g instruction if the interface is complex or how to recover if an error has been made)
Hick’s Law
The time it takes to make a decision is dependent on the number of options available
The more options the longer it takes to make a decision
E.g Pricing levels always come in 3 tiers - any less and the users would feel limited, anymore and the user would be overwhelmed with options and too much to choose from
Less options mean the user flows through the software smoother and quicker
Fitt’s law
It’s faster to hit larger targets that are closer to you than smaller ones that are further away
E.g Large buttons at the bottom of the screen are easier to hit
E.g a large play button at the bottom of Spotify screen song
Most important buttons should be large and close to the user
Progressive Disclosure
Progressive disclosure in software:
- Don’t present all the information to the user all the time, present it on a need to know basis
- Reduces complexity by only presenting necessary info
Present the bare minimum information and options to the user to reduce complexity
