Interaction Design Chapter 10

The Human Action Cycle Psychological model Describes steps users take to interact with computer systems Use actions and tasks to achieve goals

The Human Action Cycle Goal Formation Execution stage – Translate goals into tasks – Planning the action sequence – Executing action sequence Evaluation stage – Perceiving what's happening – Interpreting the outcome as per expectations – Comparing what happened with what was wanted

Human Action Cycle Can be quick or fast Can be broken down into smaller Human action cycles Flexible Differs from person to person

Goal Formation One step Think of a goal

Execution Stage Involves thinking and action Thinking – Translate goals into tasks – Planning the action sequence Action – Executing action sequence

Evaluation stage All thinking Comparing expectation with result

HAC Influence on the Design Process Predict difficulties Changes to environment and technology Skills and training

Explaining the System to the User The user has to understand the UI The user uses Prior knowledge Documentation Training We use – Designer and User model, and the System image

Designer Model What the designer knows Structural and operational Complete and clear

User Model What the user knows Functional Sometimes incorrect

System Image Communicate design to user Contains – UI – Documentation – Training – What the user knows

UI and the User Needs to meet the user model’s expectation Needs to meet the functionality of the designer model Take into account older user models

Metaphor Technically all computer UI’s Used to make an accurate user model Used to unify UI

Problem’s with Metaphors Adhering too strictly Outside user experience Make sure all metaphors connect

Making a metaphor Task scenarios, use cases, requirements gathering Make sure makes sense to user Make several

Questions?