Fundamentals Of Interaction Design Flashcards
What is interaction design?
Creation of a dialogue between a person and the product, a service, or system
What is the difference between conceptual models and mental models?
A conceptual model is a thought out solution by the designer while a mental model is how the user sees this thought out solution.
An example can be a fridge. The designer has put multiple doors where there usually is only one door for the freezer. The user may be confused because of this and may struggle to find the freezer door
Why is discoverability important?
The user should find information. Either if it’s information the user has searched for or information the designer wants the user to see
What is affordance and signifiers?
Affordances define what actions are available
Signifiers specify how people find the available actions
What is feedback?
A basic response from the system of your actions
What are mappings?
Relationship between controls and how they effect the system or environment
Why are constraints important?
They work as a guiding rail to lead the user through a path made by the designer in case the user has to perform a task in a specific order.
What is consistency?
Setting standards for user interactions. Same response from the same type of actions
Why are patterns and learnability important?
The easier it’s to learn the interface the quicker your user will become comfortable with it.
What is a visual hierarchy?
A way of giving emphasis on certain information. Important to make sure not all info is weighted the same
How do you avoid user errors?
Make sure the user can reverse actions. Nice to have multiple ways of navigating as well
Do not give the user a lot of information at once
What is space allocation?
Make sure to divide the screen into different parts based on tasks. Be careful with overlap as it may confuse the user
What features are important in navigation
- tabs
- menu items
- opening new windows
- navigation hints (signifiers)
- shortcuts
- breadcrumbs
What visual clues, alerts and feedback should you give the user?
- System status
- Task status
- Default status
- Alerts
