User-Centered Design
The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.
(Voltaire)
Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design (Ben
Schneiderman)
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Strive for simplicity.
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Enable frequent users to use shortcuts.
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Offer information feedback. For every user action, there should be
a system feedback.
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Design dialogs to yield closure. For every user action, there should
be a system feedback.
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Offer error prevention and simple error handling. If users make an
error, the system should detect the error and offer simple, constructive,
and specific instructions for recovery.
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Permit easy reversal of actions.
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Support internal locus of control. Make users initiators of actions
rather than responders to actions.
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Reduce short-term memory load.
The differences between graphic design and information design:
Graphic design
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emphasizes appearance and expression of aesthetic values
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rooted in early twentieth-century Art Deco style.
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Examples: letterforms and styles, spacing, legibility, the use of symbols
and colors.
Information design
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emphasizes content as well as form
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rooted in information theory and the cognitive sciences; brings together
design and research.
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Examples: discovery of basic perceptual and cognitive processes; testing
of information displays real settings with real users to avoid generalizing
from results obtained in "drawing board" settings.
Caveats for information design
Information is not an end in itself. The measure of quality
for information design is not simply the designed product but also users'
behavior and satisfaction
Information design assumes that what users need is information. Other
design interventions might be more effective (i.e. simplify a complicated
process instead of explaining it in great detail).
Information is needed when and where users have to make a decision:
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Some people need little information to start with and develop their solution
as they confront new situations and new information.
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Other people prefer to plan everything before they begin; to do so they
need more information than the improvisers.
Decisions are not isolated events; they are linked together. A
good system of linkages enables users to solve problems and find solutions.
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