Foundations of User-Centered Design

Questions about the Project? Done in groups ~4 members Projects must have at least two real users (who are not members of the team) Find a project that you can get excited about Find people with shared goals, vision, and work style Get started now! –If you have a project, start selling it

Types of Projects Induce change: –Take an existing interaction and make it more efficient or add new capabilities Invent new forms –Enable new behaviors

Refrain from Building from the “ground up” Investing too much in the “back end” Yet another attempt at a well known or commonly pursued interface: –To do lists, grocery finders, course schedulers, apartment finders, mail or news readers, etc.

Friday You will conduct a brainstorming activity with a small group. You don’t NEED to have a specific idea for this.

Next Monday You will each make a ONE MINUTE pitch of an idea. You will submit two power point slides prior to class.

Hall of Fame or Shame? My task: after taking a cup and filling it with soda, I need to put a lid on the cup

Analysis Why is the first one a candidate for Hall of Shame, while the other is a candidate for the Hall of Fame? –Mappings But: must consider context

Exercise Another taste of what you’ll be doing….

A two-person game Start with the numbers 1, 2, 3,..., 9 Alternate turns, taking one number at a time Player one Xs out the number they want to take Payer two circles the number they want to take A player wins when they have any 3 numbers that sum to 15 –e.g., 1, 3, 9, 5 wins because equals 15 If numbers are all used with no winner, the game is a draw

OK, now try it another way

Now, observe Do you really need the numbers? An interface is a representation of a problem/task A well-designed interface can wholly transform a task, making it much simpler

Moving On – Today’s Objectives “Refresh your memory" of some basic human psychology Begin to discuss design principles based on these principles

The Core Process of UI Design Understand User Behavior Map Behavior to Interaction Evaluate

Human Cognition It’s Human-Computer Interaction, User Interface Design so we need to understand something about human capabilities … so a very brief overview of human cognitive capabilities as relevant to HCI

Human Cognition Attention Perception and recognition Memory Learning Problem solving and reasoning

Attention From the range of available possibilities, select what to concentrate on Visual or auditory scanning Factors that affect ease of focusing on the right stuff: –Specificity of goals –Information display

Attention – Design Implications Information relevant to the current task should be salient Graphical techniques – layout, ordering, organization, underlining, color, animation – can be used to achieve this goal But don’t visually clutter the interface: plain interfaces can be easier to use

Attention - Example My Task – Enter the query “task centered user interface design” into a search engine. Consider two interfaces that support web search; evaluate both from the perspective of being able to focus on where to enter your query.

Perception Acquiring information from the environment Involves using different senses Vision is dominant sense for sighted people Results in internal experience of external events

Perception – Design Implications Icons should be designed so users can easily distinguish their meanings Sounds should be clearly audible and distinguishable Text should be legible and distinguishable from the background

Perception - Example My goal is to read the new messages in an online forum

Icons: are their meanings clear? Attention: easy to focus on the right stuff?

Also true for auditory cues Microsoft Money generates the “Exclamation” sound whenever a new transaction is entered into an account. –Annoying in it’s own right –But is this the proper choice of sounds?

Memory Short-Term Memory –Instant, effortless recall –Severely limited capacity – “7 plus or minus 2” –“Chunking” –Fragile Long-Term Memory –“Unlimited” capacity –Takes time/effort to store and retrieve –Interpretative –Retrieval is context-sensitive –rote memory vs. relationships vs. explanation

Memory (continued) People are really good at remembering some things –Visual cues, especially faces People are much better at recognizing things than recalling them People are good at associative reminding People remember the typical case and the exceptions

Memory – Design Implications Don’t make users remember complicated procedures Limit number of items in text menus Design interfaces that promote recognition over recall Give users resources to help them visually encode information (colors, icons, time stamps, etc.)

More than items in menu – bad?

Visual representation of contacts – recognition, not recall Pictures Spatial organization of information

Learning Acquiring new knowledge or skills Exploratory learning – learning by doing Scaffolding or “training wheels”

Learning – Design Implications Create interfaces that encourage exploration –Easy to try out and undo actions Design interfaces that constrain and guide users to select the right action Provide multiple, linked representations

Can undo picture editing actionCan learn about actions that are not available in current context

Problem solving and reasoning Conscious/reflective activity –Thinking over one’s options –Figuring out the best option or solution –Making a plan –Weighing pros and cons

Problem solving – Design Implications Provide the proper information and aids But, even better – design to make problem- solving and reasoning unnecessary

Example What’s the best flight from Vancouver to Montreal? –Time –Layovers –Plane changes –Price –…

Representation 1 AC 117VancouverCalgary7:009:00 Cdn 321VancouverCalgary9:0012:00 Cdn 355CalgaryMontreal13:3019:30 AC 123CalgaryToronto12:3016:30 AC 123TorontoMontreal16:4517:30 * Time zones: van-cal  + 1 ; cal – tor, mon  + 2

Representation 2 Vancouver Calgary Toronto Montreal AC 117 AC 123 Cdn 321 Cdn 355

Another Example: Tax Preparation Software User doesn’t have to do computation User doesn’t have to figure out which form to use Instead, software poses questions that users are likely to be able to answer

Next Steps Reading: –Start reading DOET (Finish by Sept. 9) Project: –“It Bugs Me” Activity – Bring to class Friday –Begin brainstorming ideas – Bring next Monday Next class: –Studio : “It Bugs Me” and getting to know each other