While I’m only currently half way through “The Design of Everyday Things”, what I have read so far has been brilliant. It’s a truly fascinating book that really dissects the interactions that human’s go through with design. It’s quite a funny read, not only because of Norman’s personal writing style but also because the examples he gives of design principles are all extremely relatable. Almost every idea of design he has talked about are things that I can see that have happened to me, and it is fantastic to be able to understand these. It is immensely applicable both in interaction design and really makes you consider every interaction you have with technology in your life.
Jakob Nielsen is a Danish web usability consultant and human–computer interaction researcher. He is the co-founder of Nielsen Norman Group with Donald A. Norman who I have looked at already through “The Design of Everyday Things”. The Nielsen Norman Group is a user interface and experience consulting firm, whose website has a lot of really interesting articles about interaction design. One that took my particular interest was the “10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design” which outlines 10 principles to be used as a basis for UI design. Similar to “The Design of Everyday Things”, when reading the points made in the article they do seem somewhat obvious, but when I considered how many times I’ve had issues with User Interfaces that relate to these principles, it made me realise the usefulness of the article. I’m really glad I found this article as I think it will be really useful for me going forward.
Part of Human Centred Design is making sure design is inclusive and accessible. With how common disabilities are in todays world it’s almost guaranteed that someone with one will use your design at some point. This article from Big Motive discusses how important it is for design to be able to be used by anyone and that it should be the new standard. I had looked at colour blindness accessibility in week 4, however after reading this article it made me realise that there are so many more issues that people can have which make using design hard. I understand how important inclusive design is and will definitely continue to consider it when designing. I also found it interesting how the article highlights that inclusive design applies to even those who don’t have as much knowledge about using UI’s and not just those with disabilities that make it harder.
Lisa is one of the first computers to utilise a Graphic User Interface (GUI). Released by Apple in 1984, Lisa revolutionised the usability of computers. Prior to GUI’s, computers needed an in depth knowledge to operate, with specific complex inputs requires to use them. Lisa’s GUI is extremely intuitive to use, with one of the main factor that made it so intuitive being the click and drag functionality. It seems obvious now, but being able to point, click, and drag object on screen allowed a fundamental human understanding of the GUI. I find it incredible to think that there was a time before clicking and dragging as it’s something I use everyday and don’t think about. Another major factor in Lisa’s usability is the desktop and icons. By creating a virtual desktop the screens viewed on Lisa were instantly understandable and relatable which was further helped by the icon set designed by Susan Kare which mimicked their real world counterparts. This was also really interesting to think about, that there was a time before icons and desktops. It really shows how important it is to reapply well known and popular designs to create intuitive systems.
I’ve always been really interesting in skeuomorphic design which is the use of traditional shapes and imagery to make new technology more recognisable and easy to understand. The most obvious use of skeuomorphism was Apple original iOS design which featured icons and interfaces designs from the real world counterparts of each softwares function. This made using iPhones incredibly easy to understand which was helpful in introducing the new touchscreen technology to the public. Skeuomorphism can be seen as far back as ancient Greece, when the building materials changed from wood to stone. The stone structures of the time were engraved with shapes and markings to appear more like the wooden structures that predated it which made it more comfortable for the people to embrace the new styles of building. Throughout the years architecture has moved through various forms of skeuomorphism until now where modern architecture is often minimalist and uses simple shapes. Similarly, the skeuomorphic UI design has been replaced with flat design as people have become used to the functions of modern UIs.
We are now seeing the introduction of “Neuomorphism”, which is the combination of both skeuomorphic and flat design. Seen more evidently in Apple’s “Big Sur” MacOS, neuomorphism combines the imagery of flat design with the depth and physicality of skeuomorphism. Neuomorphism makes buttons appear that they are behind the screen and are poking through leading some really unique and innovative UIs.