Jazz King HCI journal - Module 1: What is Interactive...

Module 1: What is Interactive Design? After reading chapter 1 I learned that interaction design ia
a process were designers focus on creating engaging web interfaces with logical and thought
out behaviors and actions. I also learned that successful interactive design uses technology and
principles of good communication to create desired user experiences.
● Concerned with designing interactive products to support people in their everyday and
working lives.
● Multidisciplinary, involving many inputs from wide-reaching disciplines and fields.
● Now big business many companies want it but don't know how to do it.
● Optimizing the interaction between users and interactive products requires taking into
account a number of interdependent factors, including context of use, type of task, and
kind of user.
● Products need to be designed to match usability goals like ease of use and learning.
● User experience goals are concerned with creating systems that enhance the user
experience in terms of making it enjoyable, fun, helpful, motivating, and pleasurable.
● Design and usability principles, like feedback and simplicity, are useful heuristics for
analyzing and evaluating aspects of an interactive product.
Ten main usability principles developed by Nielsen (2001) and his colleagues.
1. Visibility of system status- always keep users informed about what is going on, through
providing appropriate feedback within reasonable time
2. Match between system and the real world- speak the users' language, sing words,
phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system oriented terms
3. User control and freedom- provide ways of allowing users to easily escape from places
they unexpectedly find themselves, by using clearly marked ‘Emergency exits’
4. Consistency and standards- avoid making users wonder whether different words,
situations, or actions mean the same thing
5. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors- use plain language to describe
the nature of the problem and suggest a way of solving it
6. Error prevention- where possible prevent errors occurring in the first place
7. Recognition rather than recall- make objects, actions, and options visible
8. Flexibility and efficiency of use- provide accelerators that are invisible to novice users,
but allow more experienced users to carry out tasks more quickly
9. Aesthetic and minimalist design- avoid using information that is irrelevant or rarely
needed
10. Help and documentation- provide information that can be easily searched and provides
help in set of concrete steps that can easily be followed
Key Terms
● Cell (mobile) phone- a phone with access to a cellular radio system so it can be used
over a wide area, without a physical connection to a network, a mobile phone
● Computer- an electronic device for storing and processing data, typically in binary form,
according to instructions given to it in a variable program
● Remote control- a device that controls a machine especially a television or VCR, from a
distance
● Coffee machines- are cooking appliances used to brew coffee