Designing Quality User Interfaces

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Designing Quality User Interfaces

• There is a quality about a great design that is
  difficult to put into words.
• Its always tempting to focus on just a few
  aspects of a design, separate from the whole
  problem.
• Good looks, good flow, good contentall those
  things are important, but how do you pin down
  that feeling of satisfaction you get when you
  encounter a tool or toy that clicks with you on a
  deep level?
• - Marc Rettig (1996)

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World Class -- Apply to UI -(St. Pierre. What
Defines World Class? Decanter, 1995)

• It must be able to age. Not the ability to last
  long, but to develop, turning into that pure
  marvel which is a fully mature wine.
• It is made with a combination of intelligence,
  determination, and skill.
• World-class means that it could be appreciated
  as such by any knowledgeable wine drinker
  anywhere, without much elaboration.
• It must have a definable superiority.

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World Class -- Apply to UI -(St. Pierre. What
Defines World Class? Decanter, 1995)

• It must have complexity, be interesting, have
  intensity, depth and richness, and be
  distinctive. It must have length, in its finish
  and in our memory, engage our minds, make us
  think about it.
• Essentially, they follow the rules for
  excellence that all art does they are important
  aesthetic experiences. But some standards change,
  art isnt static. The definition of world-class
  is not staticwines evolve all the time, and so
  do the standards.

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Interaction Design Criteria Descriptions, (Alben,
1996)

• Quality of Experience
• key question How does effective interaction
  design provide people with a successful and
  satisfying experience?

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Interaction Design Criteria Descriptions, (Alben,
1996)

• Understanding of Users
• design team needs to understand
• the needs, tasks, and environments of intended
  users
• understanding reflected in the product

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Interaction Design Criteria Descriptions, (Alben,
1996)

• Effective Design
• product a result
• of a well-thought-out and well-executed design
  process?
• major design issues
• rationale and method for resolving them?
• management of issues
• budgeting, scheduling and other practical issues,
  such as interpersonal communications
• manage to support goals

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Interaction Design Criteria Descriptions, (Alben,
1996)

• Needed
• satisfies a need
• makes significant social, economic, or
  environmental contribution

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Interaction Design Criteria Descriptions, (Alben,
1996)

• Learnable and Usable
• easy to learn and use
• communicates a sense of
• its purpose,
• how to begin,
• and how to proceed
• easy to retain learning over time
• self-evident and self-revealing features
• supports and allows for
• different approaches and uses
• users levels of experience, skills, and
  problem-solving strategies

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Interaction Design Criteria Descriptions, (Alben,
1996)

• Appropriate
• solves the right problem at the right level
• serves users in efficient and practical ways
• contributions to appropriate solution
• social,
• cultural,
• economic,
• and technical aspects

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Interaction Design Criteria Descriptions, (Alben,
1996)

• Aesthetic Experience
• aesthetically pleasing and satisfying
• cohesively designed,
• exhibiting continuity and excellence across
  graphic, interaction, information, and industrial
  design
• consistency of spirit and style
• performs well within technological constraints
• integrates of software and hardware

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Interaction Design Criteria Descriptions, (Alben,
1996)

• Mutable
• considered appropriateness of mutability
• adaptability
• to suit the particular needs and preferences of
  individuals and groups
• design
• for change and evolution
• for new, even unforeseen, uses

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Interaction Design Criteria Descriptions, (Alben,
1996)

• Manageable
• design supports entire context of use not just
  functionality
• helps users manage needs
• such as installation, training, maintenance,
  costs, and supplies
• considered in an individual as well as an
  organizational sense
• design accounts for issues such as
• negotiations for competing use
• concept of ownership, including rights and
  responsibilities

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Presentations - Visual representations -
Aesthetics
Interaction - Interaction techniques -
Device mappings - Standard menus
Object relationships - Properties -
Behaviors - Common metaphors
The Look-and-Feel Iceberg, (IBM, 1992)
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Interface Designers Model

• Presentation
• look element-- obvious part of UI
• color use
• animation
• sound
• shapes
• graphics
• text
• screen layout

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Interface Designers Model

• Interaction
• feel element-- also an obvious part
• interaction techniques
• keyboard
• function keys
• input devices
• feedback on user actions

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Interface Designers Model

• Object relationships/properties
• not an obvious part of the UI
• match design to users mental model and tasks

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Interface Designers Model

• Key idea
• user interface not just look and feel
• inappropriate grossly incomplete
• viewpoint
• naïve
• does not give UI credit for role played in user
  satisfaction, perception and performance
• consumer/users first impression
• based on look and feel
• finding users model takes time and resources
• often equate look feel with product usability

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UI Issues

• Understand who users are
• Understand where users are trying to go or what
  they are trying to do
• Find out how much misdirection or frustration
  they can stand before they give up and do
  something else
• Ex. Train crossing gates
• when should they come down -- 20 to 30 seconds
  before train arrives