Principles of good design A heuristic evaluation of Bloc Sanny [email protected] @sannylin

Goals for today 1. Introduce a framework for talking about and evaluating UI design 2. Apply those skills to our work (the Bloc app!)

History of Digital Design 1900s - Machines/Taylorism, WWII Human factors/ergonomics 1940s - Toyota production system, Andon Cord 1970s - Cognitive Science, Xerox PARC, CHI Job titles: Human factors researcher, Information architect, Industrial Designer, Usability engineer...

History of Digital Design 1900s - Machines/Taylorism, WWII Human factors/ergonomics 1940s - Toyota production system, Andon Cord 1970s - Cognitive Science, Xerox PARC, CHI CHI → HCI 1990s - Personal computing, Don Norman @ Apple, The Web 2000s - Mobile User experience designer, Interaction designer, User researcher...

“I invented the term [User Experience] because I thought Human Interface and usability were too narrow: I wanted to cover all aspects of the person’s experience with a system, including industrial design, graphics, the interface, the physical interaction, and the manual.”

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10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design Jakob Nielsen, 1995, https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/ 1. Visibility of system status 2. Match between system and the real world 3. User control and freedom 4. Consistency and standards 5. Error prevention 6. Recognition rather than recall 7. Flexibility and efficiency of use 8. Aesthetic and minimalist design 9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors 10. Help and documentation

1. Visibility of system status — “I know what’s going on” The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.

Bloc Fail

Bloc Win

2. Match between system and the real world — “I know what you’re talking about” The system should speak the users' language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order.

Bloc Fail "Hi Bloc folks, I’m not sure what this means? Shouldn’t Earnest have paid you the full 5K up front?"

3. User control and freedom — “Oops, let me outta here” Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked "emergency exit" to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Support undo and redo.

Bloc Fail/Win

4. Consistency and standards — “Seems familiar, makes sense” Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions.

Bloc Fail

Bloc Fail

5. Error Prevention — ”Glad I didn’t do that!” Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action.

Bloc Fail/Win

6. Recognition rather than recall — “I know what I need to do here” Minimize the user's memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.

Bloc Win

7. Flexibility and efficiency of use — “Allow me to do more or less” Accelerators -- unseen by the novice user -- may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.

Bloc Fail/Win

8. Aesthetic and minimalist design — “Looks good, works beautifully.” Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.

Bloc Fail

9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors “I know what went wrong, I can fix it.” Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.

Bloc Fail

10. Help and documentation — “Okay, I need help” Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user's task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.

Bloc Fail/Win

What would you change in your Top 10? 1. Visibility of system status 2. Match between system and the real world 3. User control and freedom 4. Consistency and standards 5. Error prevention 6. Recognition rather than recall 7. Flexibility and efficiency of use 8. Aesthetic and minimalist design 9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors 10. Help and documentation

For our students… HOMEWORK! Conduct a heuristic analysis of one of your own projects or your favorite app.

More lists Dieter Rams: https://www.vitsoe.com/us/about/good-design Bruce Tognazzini: http://asktog.com/atc/principles-of-interaction-design/ The only UX book you need to read https://smile.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/ Graphic design for engineers https://smile.amazon.com/Design-Hackers-Reverse-Engineering-Beauty