ITEC 3230 MIDTERM TERMS

Interaction Design

This field is concerned with designing interactive products to support the way people communicate and interact in their everyday and working lives

Interactive System

A system that stands in a relationship with humans such that they are able to interact with it

User Experience (UX)

Broadly defined as how people feel about a product, including their pleasure and satisfaction when using, looking at, or holding it. Don Norman defines it more specifically as all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products.

Usability

A quality attribute used to assess how easy user interfaces are to use

Usability Goals

• effectiveness

• efficiency

• safety

• utility

• learnability

• memorability

Effectiveness

how well users can do what they need

Efficiency

the effort required for an outcome

safety

preventing and recovering from errors

utility

providing the right functionality

learnability

ease of figuring out the system

memorability

ease of remembering how to use it

Core Design Principles

• Visibility

• Feedback

• Consistency

• Constraints

• Affordance

• Mapping

• Placebo button

Visibility

Ensuring that key functionality is visible so users know what actions are possible at any given juncture

Feedback

The process of signaling what action has been performed and what has been accomplished to the user

Consistency

Having similar operations and elements for achieving similar tasks to support learning

Constraints

Limiting the range of interaction possibilities to simplify the interface and guide the user, thereby reducing the chance of mistakes

Affordance

An attribute of an object that allows people to know how to use it by making action possibilities perceivable

Different types of Affordance

• False affordance

• Hidden affordance

False Affordance

An apparent affordance that has no real function, leading a user to perceive nonexistent possibilities for action

Hidden Affordance

A possibility for action that exists but is not perceived by the user

Mapping

The clear relationship between controls and their effects

Placebo Button

A control that has apparent functionality but no physical effect when pressed, often serving as a false affordance

Model

A simplification of some aspect of human-computer interaction designed to help designers predict and evaluate alternative designs

Conceptual Model

A high-level description of a product regarding what users can do with it and the concepts they need to understand to interact with it

Mental Model

The internal constructions and conceptual models in people's minds that represent their understanding of how things work

Framework

A set of interrelated concepts, questions, or principles used to guide the design process or analyze data from user studies

Designer’s Conceptual Model

The designer's specific conception of the look, feel, and operation of a product

System Image

The total information available to the user about the system, including its appearance, behavior, and any manuals or past knowledge

User’s Conceptual Model

The user's specific conception of how the system works, which is derived from the system image

Paradigm

A set of practices upon which a community has agreed, such as designing user-centered applications specifically for desktops

Cognition

The mental action of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses

Different types of Cognition

• Experimental

• Reflective

Experiential (Fast) Cognition

Perceiving and reacting to situations in the moment based on immediate sensory input and learned patterns

Reflective (Slow) Cognition

Actively thinking about and analyzing an experience to make conscious decisions

Gulf of Execution

The gap between the user and the physical system, specifically regarding how a user learns to use the system to achieve goals

Gulf of Evaluation

The gap between the physical system and the user, regarding how the user perceives the current system state

Distributed Cognition

A framework where cognitive phenomena are observed across people and artifacts rather than just within an individual mind

Cognitive Load

The amount of information working memory can process at any given time, typically five to nine pieces of information

External Cognition

A framework explaining how physical tools and external representations support cognitive activities

Computational Offloading

Using externalization to reduce the mental effort required for a task, such as solving math on paper.

Cognitive Tracing

Externally manipulating items into different orders or structures, such as sorting cards

Embodied Interaction

An approach that considers how cognition depends on the agent's body and physical sensorimotor interactions with the world

Methodology

A general approach or system of methods, techniques, and processes, such as Human-Centered Design (HCD)

Process

A well-defined set of steps and decision points for executing a specific task

Types of research

• Qualitative

• Quantitative

Qualitative Research

A subjective approach that uses words to explore human experiences, explaining the "why" and "how"

Quantitative Research

An objective approach that uses numbers to analyze relationships, explaining the "what" and "who"

Probes (Cultural Probes)

Tools designed to prompt and elicit information from people about their lives, often through diaries or photo collages

Contextual Inquiry

A method to inspire design by observing and interviewing users in their actual context

Think Aloud Protocol

A technique where users talk as they perform a task so researchers can record their thoughts and reasoning

Brainstorming

Mind Mapping

A brainstorming method used to create a map of a problem and its potential solutions to explore them in detail