An Introduction to User Interface Design

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An Introduction to User Interface Design
Balaji Rajagopalan
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Outline

• User Interface Defined
• Models of Interface Design
• Principles

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User Interface Defined

• It's simply the parts of a computer and its
  software that you (the computer user) see, hear,
  touch, or talk to. It is the set of all the
  things that allow you and your computer to
  communicate with each other.
• (Source IBM Design Concepts)

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The best user interfaces are the ones you don't
have to pay much attention to (Source IBM)
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Three models during user interface design

• The user's conceptual model represents what the
  user thinks is happening and why
• The user interface designer's model describes
  what the user is intended to experience
• The programmer's model describes implementation
  details

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User's conceptual model

• Just as an architect must understand a client's
  needs and expectations to design a house that
  pleases the client, the user interface designer
  needs to understand users, their tasks, and their
  expectations.
• The key is to start UI early in the design cycle.
  

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Understanding User Needs

• using resources such as task analysis, surveys,
  customer visits, and user requirements lists
• incorporating information that users provide into
  the user interface design
• conducting usability tests
• (Project groups with an emphasis on UID will
  carryout all of the above)

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Simplicity, a golden rule

• Man is an over-complicated organism. If he is
  doomed to extinction he will die out for want of
  simplicity
• - Erza Pound

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First law of interface design

• A computer shall not harm your work or, through
  inaction, allow your work to come to harm
• e.g., Accept-Reject feature and Save

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Second law of interface design

• A system shall not waste your time or require
  you to do more work than is strictly necessary
• SAIL system will make sure you work hard!
• State Selection of Term
• CRN selection Say What?

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User Interface Design Pattern
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Top Web-Design Mistake of 2002

• 1. No Prices
• No B2C ecommerce site would make this mistake,
  but it's rife in B2B, where most "enterprise
  solutions" are presented so that you can't tell
  whether they are suited for 100 people or 100,000
  people. Price is the most specific piece of info
  customers use to understand the nature of an
  offering, and not providing it makes people feel
  lost and reduces their understanding of a product
  line. We have miles of videotape of users asking
  "Where's the price?" while tearing their hair
  out.

Source Jakob Nielsons Useit.com
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Good Interface Design requires

• Thinking early in the design process
• Understanding human learning and performance
• And doesnt come easy
• A good user interface rarely happens on the first
  try. Build time into your schedule to iterate
  your design. Each time find out what worked and
  what did not work. Pick out the trouble spots and
  work through them. A good interface takes time.
• Bad Interface design is easy and costly!
• One estimate puts loss of revenue at about 20 B
  owing to poor interface design

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Coming up

• Cognetics and the locus of Attention
• Meanings, Modes, Monotony, and Myths