DES102: Introduction to HCI - Design Principles Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering core interaction design principles in HCI including visibility, feedback, constraints, consistency, affordances, signifiers, and gaze-assisted typing.

Design Principles

Generalizable abstractions derived from a mix of theory-based knowledge, experience, and common-sense that serve as guidelines for interaction design.

Visibility

A design principle focused on making relevant parts and necessary actions clear and obvious to the user.

Feedback

Information sent back to the user about what action has been performed, utilizing auditory, visual, tactile, graphical, or textual signals.

Constraints

A design principle that limits or restricts the possible actions on a system to prevent users from selecting incorrect options.

Consistency

A design principle stating that interfaces should feature similar operations and elements for similar tasks to improve learnability and usability.

Aesthetic Consistency

Consistency of style and appearance (such as consistent fonts, colors, and logos) that enhances recognition and sets emotional expectations.

Functional Consistency

Consistency of meaning and action across devices (such as standard play and pause symbols) enabling users to leverage existing knowledge.

Internal Consistency

Designing elements and operations to behave identically across different parts within the same system or application.

External Consistency

Designing operations and interfaces to be consistent with other external applications, systems, and devices.

Affordance

The relationship between the physical or structural properties of an object and the capabilities of its user that determines how the object can be used.

Perceived Affordances

Learned conventions of arbitrary mappings between user action and digital effect at virtual interfaces.

Signifiers

Design clues or indicators that communicate where an action should take place to help users discover intended affordances.

Gaze-Assisted Typing (GAT)

An interaction method that combines gaze tracking with touch input for key selection.