Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Week 6 - by Alice Low Soo Ying

Simplicity
Simplicity is not simple. Designing for simplicity is a process of elimination and simplicity forces you to have a good reason for everything. In film it's called Foreshadowing.

"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."
Albert Einstein

Chunking
The elements of perception + memory = chunking. The presentation of information is simplified by dividing it up. Bite size for easy storage. Forming chunks in working memory depends on how information in presented.

Contrast 
Contrast, differences along a visual dimension either in size or color. Contrast is irregularities in design that communicates information and makes element stand out. For example, designer will use contrast color for design typo poster because it can grab people attention.

Visual Variables 
Visual variables are used for communication by encoding data and drawing distinctions between visual  elements. There are two ways of visual variables which are selectivity & associativity. Most variables are selective but shape is not selective in general because it is hard to pick out triangles a midst a sea of rectangle.




User-centered design (UCD) is an approach to design that grounds the process in information about the people who will use the product. UCD processes focus on users through the planning, design and development of a product.

Problems
 Misunderstandings.
 Interviews are not precise.
 Never know what happen in the future.

Solutions (REMEMBER)
 users are 1st class members in the design process
- active collaborators vs passive participants
 users considered to know best about the subject matter
- know all about the work content
 Iterative process
- all design stages subject to revision

Methods of Involving the User
The easiest way is to TALK TO THEM.

Problems of Users
• hard to get a good pool of end users to test your product. (expensive, reluctance)
• users are not expert designers. (don't accept them to come up with design idea from scratch)
• user are not always right. (don't expect them to know what they want)

Methods of involving the user
• Prototype
• Direct Observations
• Indirect Observations
• Interview
• Focus group
• Studying Documentary
• Contextual interviews + site visits


References:
http://www.upassoc.org/usability_resources/about_usability/what_is_ucd.html
http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-usability/user-centered-design.shtml

No comments:

Post a Comment