Designing with the Mind in Mind: A Simple Guide to Understanding User Interface Design Rules

✍ Scribed by Jeff Johnson

• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 188
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

"Take fundamental principles of psychology. Illustrate. Combine with Fundamental Principles of Design. Stir gently until fully blended.  Read daily until finished. Caution: The mixture is addictive." -- Don Norman, Nielsen Norman group, Author of Design of Future Things .

"[This book] is a primer to understand the why of the larger human action principles at work-a sort of cognitive science for designers in a hurry. Above all, this is a book of profound insight into the human mind for practical people who want to get something done." -- Stuart Card, Senior Research Fellow and the manager of the User Interface Research group at the Palo Alto Research Centerfrom the foreword

"If you want to know why design rules work, Jeff Johnson provides fresh insight into the psychological rational for user-interface design rules that pervade discussions in the world of software product and service development." -- Aaron Marcus, President, Aaron Marcus and Associates, Inc.

Early user interface (UI) practitioners were trained in cognitive psychology, from which UI design rules were based. But as the field evolves, designers enter the field from many disciplines. Practitioners today have enough experience in UI design that they have been exposed to design rules, but it is essential that they understand the psychology behind the rules in order to effectively apply them. In Designing with the Mind in Mind , Jeff Johnson, author of the best selling GUI Bloopers , provides designers with just enough background in perceptual and cognitive psychology that UI design guidelines make intuitive sense rather than being just a list of rules to follow.

                                     * The first practical, all-in-one source for practitioners on user interface design rules and why, when and how to apply them. * Provides just enough background into the reasoning behind interface design rules that practitioners can make informed decisions in every project. * Gives practitioners the insight they need to make educated design decisions when confronted with tradeoffs, including competing design rules, time constrictions, or limited resources.

✦ Table of Contents

Morgan Kaufmann - Designing with the Mind in Mind (2010) (ATTiCA)......Page 3
Copyright
......Page 4
Acknowledgments......Page 5
Foreword......Page 6
USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN AND EVALUATION REQUIRES UNDERSTANDING AND EXPERIENCE......Page 8
COMPARING USER-INTERFACE DESIGN GUIDELINES......Page 9
WHERE DO DESIGN GUIDELINES COME FROM?......Page 10
INTENDED AUDIENCE OF THIS BOOK......Page 11
PERCEPTION BIASED BY EXPERIENCE......Page 12
PERCEPTION BIASED BY CURRENT CONTEXT......Page 15
PERCEPTION BIASED BY GOALS......Page 16
Avoid ambiguity......Page 19
Understand the goals......Page 20
GESTALT PRINCIPLE: PROXIMITY......Page 21
GESTALT PRINCIPLE: SIMILARITY......Page 24
GESTALT PRINCIPLE: CONTINUITY......Page 25
GESTALT PRINCIPLE: CLOSURE......Page 27
GESTALT PRINCIPLE: SYMMETRY......Page 28
GESTALT PRINCIPLE: FIGURE/GROUND......Page 29
GESTALT PRINCIPLES: COMMON FATE......Page 32
GESTALT PRINCIPLES: COMBINED......Page 33
We Seek and Use Visual Structure......Page 35
STRUCTURE ENHANCES PEOPLE’S ABILITY TO SCAN LONG NUMBERS......Page 38
DATA-SPECIFIC CONTROLS PROVIDE EVEN MORE STRUCTURE......Page 39
VISUAL HIERARCHY LETS PEOPLE FOCUS ON THE RELEVANT INFORMATION......Page 40
WE’RE WIRED FOR LANGUAGE, BUT NOT FOR READING......Page 42
IS READING FEATURE-DRIVEN OR CONTEXT-DRIVEN?......Page 44
SKILLED AND UNSKILLED READING USES DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE BRAIN......Page 46
Uncommon or unfamiliar vocabulary......Page 48
Difficult scripts and typefaces......Page 49
Text on noisy background......Page 50
Information buried in repetition......Page 52
Centered text......Page 53
Design implications: don’t disrupt reading; support it!......Page 55
Much of the reading required by software is unnecessary......Page 56
Design implications: minimize the need for reading......Page 59
Test on real users......Page 60
HOW COLOR VISION WORKS......Page 61
VISION IS OPTIMIZED FOR EDGE CONTRAST, NOT BRIGHTNESS......Page 63
ABILITY TO DISCRIMINATE COLORS DEPENDS ON HOW COLORS ARE PRESENTED......Page 64
COLOR-BLINDNESS......Page 66
EXTERNAL FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE ABILITY TO DISTINGUISH COLORS......Page 68
GUIDELINES FOR USING COLOR......Page 69
RESOLUTION OF THE FOVEA COMPARED TO THAT OF THE PERIPHERY......Page 72
IS THE VISUAL PERIPHERY GOOD FOR ANYTHING?......Page 75
EXAMPLES FROM COMPUTER USER INTERFACES......Page 76
COMMON METHODS OF MAKING MESSAGES VISIBLE......Page 79
Use sound (e.g., beep)......Page 81
Use them sparingly......Page 82
SHORT VS. LONG-TERM MEMORY......Page 85
Long-term memory......Page 86
Short-term memory......Page 87
CHARACTERISTICS OF SHORT-TERM MEMORY......Page 88
Modes......Page 92
Instructions......Page 93
CHARACTERISTICS OF LONG-TERM MEMORY......Page 95
Error prone......Page 96
Retroactively alterable......Page 97
IMPLICATIONS OF LONG-TERM MEMORY CHARACTERISTICS FOR USER INTERFACE DESIGN......Page 98
WE FOCUS ON OUR GOALS AND PAY LITTLE ATTENTION TO OUR TOOLS......Page 102
WE USE EXTERNAL AIDS TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT WE ARE DOING......Page 103
WE FOLLOW INFORMATION “SCENT” TOWARD OUR GOAL......Page 104
WE PREFER FAMILIAR PATHS......Page 107
OUR THOUGHT CYCLE: GOAL, EXECUTE, EVALUATE......Page 108
AFTER WE ACHIEVE A TASK’S PRIMARY GOAL, WE OFTEN FORGET CLEANUP STEPS......Page 111
RECOGNITION IS EASY......Page 113
RECALL IS HARD......Page 116
RECOGNITION VERSUS RECALL: IMPLICATIONS FOR UI DESIGN......Page 117
Use thumbnail images to depict full-sized images compactly......Page 119
Make authentication information easy to recall......Page 120
WE HAVE THREE BRAINS......Page 122
LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE IS (USUALLY) EASY......Page 123
PERFORMING LEARNED ACTIONS IS EASY......Page 125
PROBLEM SOLVING AND CALCULATION ARE HARD......Page 127
IMPLICATIONS FOR USER INTERFACE DESIGN......Page 133
ANSWERS TO PUZZLES ON PAGES 124 AND 125......Page 135
WE LEARN FASTER WHEN OPERATION IS TASK-FOCUSED, SIMPLE, AND CONSISTENT......Page 136
Objects/actions analysis......Page 138
As simple as possible......Page 139
Consistency......Page 140
The objects/actions matrix......Page 142
Keystroke consistency......Page 144
Terminology should be task-focused......Page 145
Terminology should be familiar......Page 146
Terminology should be consistent......Page 148
Developing task-focused, familiar, consistent terminology is easier with a good conceptual model......Page 150
WE LEARN FASTER WHEN RISK IS LOW......Page 152
SUMMARY......Page 153
We Have Time Requirements......Page 154
RESPONSIVENESS DEFINED......Page 155
THE MANY TIME CONSTANTS OF THE HUMAN BRAIN......Page 156
Shortest gap of silence that we can detect in a sound: 1 millisecond (0.001 second)......Page 158
Time lag between a visual event and our full perception of it: 100 milliseconds (0.1 seconds)......Page 159
Editorial “window” for events that reach consciousness: 200 milliseconds (0.2 second)......Page 160
Maximum duration of silent gap between turns in person-to-person conversation: ~1 second......Page 161
ENGINEERING APPROXIMATIONS Of TIME CONSTANTS: ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE......Page 162
0.001 second (1 millisecond)......Page 163
0.1 second (100 milliseconds)......Page 165
10 seconds......Page 166
Use busy indicators......Page 167
Delays between unit tasks are less bothersome than delays within unit tasks......Page 168
Display important information first......Page 169
Process user input according to priority, not the order in which it was received......Page 171
Monitor time compliance; decrease the quality of work to keep up......Page 172
ACHIEVING RESPONSIVENESS IS IMPORTANT......Page 173
CAVEAT......Page 175
Lessons......Page 177
Principle 1 Focus on the users and their tasks, not on the technology......Page 178
Principle 8 Design for responsiveness......Page 179
Principle 9 Try it out on users; then fix it......Page 180
Bibliography......Page 181
F......Page 185
N......Page 186
R......Page 187
W......Page 188