IS 303 Key concepts

• Three types of emotional responses and the three types/ways to design for emotion o Visceral: Powerful emotional signals from environment are interpreted/responded to automatically; to design for visceral , focus on the immediate emotional reaction/impact(Physical features…attractiveness, look, feel, and sound…dominate) o Behavioral: Learned “muscle-memory” tasks/everyday behaviors triggered by situations that match appropriate patterns; to design for behavorial, focus on the practical, functional, usable performance o Reective: Conscious, contemplative thought + meaning behind the task & how it reects on us within the context of our lives; to design for the reective, focus on the meaning, message, social/cultural context(It is about “self-image”. Emotions at this level assign agency & cause, such as guilt/blame or praise/pride)

• The user wants to focus on the task, not the technology for specifying the task” and how it relates to interface and implications for design: Users should be able to easily and intuitively accomplish their goals without being distracted or hindered by the intricacies of the interface itself. Imagine trying to use a remote control. If the buttons are confusing or the layout is illogical, you'll spend more time figuring out how to use it than actually watching TV. A good interface, like a well-designed remote, should be so intuitive that you can use it without even thinking about it. By focusing on the user's needs and goals, designers can create interfaces that are not only efficient but also enjoyable to use.

• Everyone is disabled v no one is disabled:"Everyone faces challenges versus with the right support, everyone can overcome limitations.

• Seven Principles of Universal Design o Equitable use: Useful/appealing to all ranges of abilities w/o exclusion or stigmatization o Flexibility in use: Allow for a range of ability and preference via choice and adaptability o Simple and Intuitive to use: Regardless of knowledge, experience, language or level of concentration or varying expectation of user, design should be simple and intuitive to use o Perceptible information: Provide effective communication of information regardless of environmental conditions or user abilities o Tolerance for error: Minimize the impact/damage caused by mistakes or untended behavior o Low physical effort: Design for comfort of use, minimizing effort/fatigue, maintaining natural posture, avoiding repetitive & sustained actions o Size and space for approach and use: Placement of system should be such that it can be reached/used by any user regardless of body size/posture/mobility

Four basic interaction design activities (non linear process)

o Establishing requirements: Understanding who we are designing for, then determining the support a solution can provide o Designing alternatives: Suggest ideas that will meet requirements o Prototyping: Produce a concrete representation of a solution idea o Evaluating: Determine the usability of the product

Three models of communication o Transmission model: a linear, one-way process where a sender intentionally transmits a message to a receiver o Interaction model: a process where participants alternate positions as sender/receiver and generate meaning by sending messages and receiving feedback within physical and psychological contexts o Transaction model: a process where communicators generate social realities within social, relational, and cultural contexts, not just to exchange messages, but to create relationships/communities, intercultural alliances, and shape self-concepts • Three things humans need from communication o Transmit data: send the information o Information/Channel richness: the amount of information that can be transmitted during a communication episode o Social presence: “…the degree to which a person [or machine] is perceived as a ‘real person’ in mediated communication”1 and a “sense of ‘being together with another’…distinguished from spatial/physical presence”2; is all about how real and connected you feel to someone when you're communicating online

• Information scent: Relative to an info need…imperfect estimate of value a source will deliver derived from a representation of the source; Making it easy for users to nd what they're looking for by providing clear and helpful cues. Think of it like following your nose – you're drawn towards the strongest, most appealing scent, and that's how users navigate through websites and apps. o Four concepts ● Estimated value - this is the user's perception of how valuable the information behind a link or path appears to be; used to decide whether ● to proceed w/ the hunt ● Remote representation - this refers to the cues and clues that give the user an idea of what they'll nd if they follow a particular path (ex: A link title, a short description, or an image) ● Actual source - This is the actual content or information that the user encounters after following a link or path. ● True value - this is the actual usefulness or relevance of the information found to the user's specific needs and goals. o Assessed by cues: it means that conclusions are drawn or decisions are made based on indirect evidence, subtle signals, or contextual clues rather than explicit or direct information. o Signs of a poor scent ● Flailing - User does not know where to go when they get to a page Low confidence (before or after click) - User believes link won’t take them where they want to go/page landed on doesn’t beacon (signal) information wanted ● Back button use - suggests users are constantly retracing their steps, indicating they've made wrong turns due to poor information scent. o Where do cues come from: can come from anywhere that provides information or signals that can be interpreted and used to make decisions or guide behavior. o Three recommendations when devising navigation to support information scent: Use icons/text that are very specic and understandable, Make content scannable/glanceable, and Redesign if you note frequent use of the back button

• Gestalt laws of perception o Law of Proximity: when elements are placed close together the eye perceives them as a group o Law of Similarity: when objects look similar to one another the eye perceives them as a group or pattern o Law of Closure: Tendency to perceive a set of individual elements as a single, recognizable pattern rather than multiple individual elements (your brain fills in the missing parts to make a complete shape.) o Law of Continuity: lines are seen as following the smoothest path; if you see a line that seems to be interrupted, you'll likely assume it continues behind the interruption. o Law of Prägnanz: reality is organized or reduced to the simplest form possible; our brains are always looking for the simplest, most organized way to understand what we see and hear. This helps us make sense of the world quickly and efficiently.

o Hick-Hyman Law(1952): The time it takes to make a decision increases proportionally to the number and complexity of choices ● Hick-Hyman Law implication for design: the more options presented to a user, the longer it will take them to make a decision. therefore, designers should prioritize simplifying interfaces by reducing the number of visible choices to minimize user decision-making time and cognitive load o Fitts Law(1954): a predictive model that describes how effectively a pointing device can acquire targets on a screen. ● Fitts law implication for design: average movement time; Big targets in a close range are acquired faster than small targets at a distance. o GOMS/KLM: A cognitive model used to analyze and predict how users will interact with a system by breaking down a task into four key components, allowing designers to evaluate and improve the usability of an interface by identifying potential inefficiencies in user actions and predicting how long it will take to complete a task. GOM stands for Goals, Operators, Methods, Selection. Goals are what the user wants to achieve. Operators are basic actions performed to use the system in service of goals (system or mental state). Methods are ways a goal can be split into subgoals (goal decomposition). Selection is a rule governing method that was chosen. o GOMS implication for design: predict the time it will take for the user to carry out a goal (assuming an expert user with no mistakes). This allows a designer to prole an application to locate hindrances. ● Example: Analyzing the task of" "sending an email" on a typical email client. "Goal"is to send an email,"Operators" would be actions like clicking the "compose" button, typing text in the recipient eld, and clicking "send", and "Methods" would be the specic steps to achieve the goal (e.g., navigate to the inbox, click compose, type email address, write message, click send), and "Selection Rules" would determine which method to use based on the situation (like choosing between keyboard shortcuts or mouse clicks depending on user preference).