06 Design principles

Question 1

What are design principles?

Answer 1

Design principles stem from different disciplines including advertising, architecture, and software development

Using design principles as reference points will increase the probability that your designs and software will be successful

Design principles are proven guidelines and rules for effective design

Question 2

What is a product if users are able to figure out what it does and how to use it just by looking at it?

Answer 2

Perceivable

Question 3

What are visual clues that tell us how something should be used?

Answer 3

Affordances

Question 4

Symbols used for media players, are a good example of what?

Answer 4

Conventions

Question 5

Which law states that it is faster to hit a large target that is closer to you, than a small target that is further away?

Answer 5

Fitts’s Law

Question 6

Presenting users with information gradually and only as it is needed, is known as what?

Answer 6

Progressive disclosure

Question 7

Providing users with information before taking a test helps users to do what?

Answer 7

Make a risk-reward evaluation

Question 8

The Blackberry Z10’s usability issues can be considered an example that supports?

Answer 8

t is not impossible to create new conventions, but it is difficult to get right

Question 9

What law states that the time it takes to make a decision depends on the number of options available?

Answer 9

Hick’s law

Question 10

What are design prinicples?

Answer 10

• Universal truths
• Apply across diciplines
• Increase probability of sucess

Question 11

What are design patterns?

Answer 11

• Spesific methods/approaches
• Bring principles to life
• Spesific to software

Question 12

Why is predictability so important?

Answer 12

We make risk.reward assesment all the time with out most valuable asset: TIME. Giving people more information so that they are able to make a proper assesment usually has a higher sucess rate.

Question 13

How do you make it predicatble to the user?

Answer 13

Tell them how long it takes
What they need to do
What they are going to get
What happens next

Question 14

What are affordances?

Answer 14

Affordances are visual clues that tell us how a product or controlshould be used or operated - example - buttons (something about them is askking them to be pushed)

Question 15

What does affordances do?

Answer 15

Make it obvious how a product works
Make it clear what to do next
Assist learnability

Question 16

What are conventions?

Answer 16

Conventions are established ways of doing things and in software design - conventions are established interface patterens. They are powerful becayse people know how to use them - and you are not asking users to learn something new

Question 17

What is feedback?

Answer 17

Feedback confirms actions, encourages users to continiue and it clearifies what they can do next

Question 18

What are constraints?

Answer 18

Having constraints is like showing only numeric letters when in a phone field - it makes it easier to fill iy out and harder to make mistakes

Question 19

why is forgivness so important?

Answer 19

humans will always make mistakes. instead of punishing it should forgive us an make amends

Question 20

What are some of the characteristics of a forgiving product?

Answer 20

If offers strong affordances that indicate what we should do, it allows us to reverseour actions letting us undo any mistakes we do make, and asks us to confirm what we´re about to do

Question 21

How can a software be forgining?

Answer 21

strong affordnaces (show us how to use it)
reversability of actions
confirmations
warnings
help

Question 22

What is hicks law?

Answer 22

It suggest that the time it takes to make a decision depends on the number of options presented. Essentially the more oprions presented the longer it takes to decide what to do.

Question 23

What is fitts law?

Answer 23

States that it is faster to hit larger targets that are closer to you than to hit smaller targerts that are further away (for example a big button the bottom of the screen is closer to you)

Question 24

What is progressive disclosure?

Answer 24

Dont expose users to all information all of the time - just tell them what they need to know - when they need to know it.

Question 25

How can your design be progressive?

Answer 25

Dont present all the information all of the time
Reduce complexity
Only present necceary information

Question 26

What are the benefits of progressive disclosure?

Answer 26

Prevents information overload
Helps users make decisions and take action
Smoothens the flow