Module 1

• Psychopathology of everyday things


  The most relevant components of a product must be visible and communicate the correct message
• Good examples


  • Instruction manuals
  • In-person trainings
• Designers usually miss focusing on utility and instead focus on beauty
• Types of designers


  • Industrial designers
  • Interaction designers
  • Experience designers
• Industrial designers


  • Emphasize the form and the material that a product takes
• Interaction designers


  • Focus on designing the understandability of a product and its usability
• Experience designers


  • Concerned about the whole emotional impact that a product takes in users lives
• Human behavior is diverse, and people react in different ways. That's why design and UX are so closely related to psychology
• A good design is not the one that works pretty well in the expected scenario, but the one that can make the users feel comfortable when unexpected errors occur
• Human Centered Design (HCD)


  Theory that places the user in the center of any development process. Users' needs, capabilities and behaviors come first, before any development
• Norman's process to ensure a good HCD


  1. Discoverability

  2. Affordances

  3. Signifiers

  4. Constraints

  5. Mappings

  6. Feedback

  7. Conceptual model
• Discoverability


  The capacity that the user has to discover what are the actions possible to perform in a product
• Affordances


  What indicate how a product suppose to be used. It's not a property, it's more about a relationship
• Signifiers


  When an affordance is not perceived, we need to adopt signifiers. While the first is related to what actions are possible, the signifiers are related to where these actions take place
• Constraints


  Related to design. Any design has constraints and this is what makes any design a challenge
• Mappings


  Related about how the information is organized and set up
• Feedback


  Every system has to give feedback to the user, and this feedback should be immediate, informative, and enough: not too little, not too much
• Conceptual model


  Related about how people build ideas and concepts inside their minds
• Human Computer Interaction


  Studies the design and use of computer technology, focused on the interfaces between people and computers
• Tangible User Interface (TUI)


  A user interface in which a you can interact with digital information through the physical environment
• Reactable


  • Based on tangible user interface (TUI)
• Movement Permit System


  • An application used to issue move permits for essential purposes during the hours of National Disinfection Programme running for three days from 8 PM to 6 AM in Dubai during Covid 19 pandemic lockdown
• Smart mirror


  A two-way mirror with an electronic display behind the glass that can show the viewer different kinds of information in the form of widgets, such as weather, time, date, and news updates and clothing
• Ben Shneiderman's 8 rules for interface design


  • Strive for Consistency
  • Enable Frequent Users to Use Shortcuts
  • Offer Informative Feedback
  • Design Dialog to Yield Closure
  • Offer Simple Error Handling
  • Permit Easy Reversal of Actions
  • Support Internal Locus of Control
  • Reduce Short-Term Memory Load
• Strive for Consistency - Designing "consistent interfaces" means using the same design patterns and the same sequences of actions for similar situations. This includes, but isn't limited to, the right use of color, typography and terminology in prompt screens, commands, and menus throughout your user journey
• Enable Frequent Users to Use Shortcuts - Speaking of using Ul rules as shortcuts, your users will benefit from shortcuts as well, especially if they need to complete the same tasks often. Expert users might find the following features helpful
• Offer Informative Feedback - You need to keep your users informed of what is happening at every stage of their process. This feedback needs to be meaningful, relevant, clear, and fit the context.
• Design Dialog to Yield Closure - Sequences of actions need to have a beginning, middle and end. Once a task is completed, give some peace of mind to your user by providing them informative feedback and well-defined options for the next step if that's the case. Don't keep them wondering!
• Offer Simple Error Handling - A good interface should be designed to avoid errors as much as possible. But when errors do happen, your system needs to make it easy for the user to understand the issue and know how to solve it. Simple ways to handle errors include displaying clear error notifications along with descriptive hints to solve the problem.
• Permit Easy Reversal of Actions - It's an instant relief to find that "undo" option after a mistake is made. Your users will feel less anxious and more likely to explore options if they know there's */an easy way to reverse any accidents. This rule can be applied to any action, group of actions, or data entry. It can range from a simple button to a whole history of actions.
• Support Internal Locus of Control - It's important to give control and freedom to your users so they're able to feel they're in charge of the system, not the other way round. Avoid surprises, interruptions, or anything that hasn't be prompted by the users. Users should be the initiators of the actions rather than the responders.
• Reduce Short-Term Memory Load - Our attention span is limited and anything we can do to make our users' job easier, the better. It's simpler for us to recognize information rather than recall it. Here, we can refer to one of Nielsen's principles describing "recognition over recall". If we keep our interfaces simple and consistent, obeying to patterns, standards and conventions, we are already contributing to better recognition and ease of use.
• User satisfaction is often measured by a standardized, validated survey tool
• The conceptual model is related about how people build ideas and concepts inside their minds
• Discoverability


  The capacity that the user has to come upon what are the actions possible to perform in a product
• Computers are good at counting and measuring, data processing, accurate storage, repetitive actions, rapid responses, "Hard and fuzzy things"
• Industrial Designer


  Designers who emphasize the form and the material that a product takes
• A good design is the one that works pretty well in the expected scenario, but not the one that can make the users feel comfortable when unexpected errors occur
• Norman focuses on three different kinds of designers; these are industrial designers, experience designers, and UX designers
• Human Computer Interaction studies the design and use of computer technology, focused on the interfaces between people and computers