Five Principles/tips of User Interface design

October 2012 Version 1.0

Why I choose this topic

• Because now days interaction is one of the key aspect in every day to day life.

• Especially the interaction between Humans and Computers is the important one.

• Human Computer Interaction is an emerging and broad field which focus mostly on interaction design.

• Now a days Every where, any place any time you name it we make interactions.

Why I choose this topic cont…

• So for example when I’m using a website, computer program , playing game, or anything else it requires interaction.

• Ok when I say interaction the other thing that can came to my mind is Interface. YES we interact most of time with Interfaces.

• Well I want My interaction to be smooth and user friendly. Because I don’t want jump around here and there and get lost somewhere.

Back to our interfaces• So what are interfaces:- To simply put them Interface are the

layers through which we humans interact with our machines.

• Key points about you have to about interfaces– Usability – Utility – Content of course… but content needs to be accessed so Accessibility

is also there.– And you can find other Functional and Non functional Requirements…

Lets Continue to our principles then…

Here they are the Principles• Understand Your users and Support their Goals• Why? After All your users are your judges. Even if you create a good

interface design that is so tempting to use if your users is not satisfied with it will be a waste of time. Agree?

That what we call it User Centered Design. So Ask your self

Who are the users ?what do really users need from the software/hardware ?What is the suitable way that the user interact with software/hardware so on and

so forth ?

Read them and understand them

• Make your interface easy and enjoyable to use – You don’t want your users to see your interface

once and find “get me out of Here” button.– Well then impress your viewers • Well one example you can take is Apple products

– I can assure you that Apple will never create anything with out first understanding how users will interface their products so more or less they apply the User Centered Design in their product Development Life cycle.

Follow The principles

• The notion of Consistency - users need consistent look and feel in your

interface but what else?- Well actions the user performs several times

are to be give the same expected outcome. So your system need to respond in a consistent manner.

The principles cont…• Make your interface MORE Sensible/Awesome

– What do I mean?• Well I prefer an interface that is interactive ,that can speak to me, that

can actually read my mind (If possible). – Ok What I mean is your interface should be usable (USABILITY)

and it must give sense for the user. It has to Make sense on every aspect. E.g.. Use terms on your interface that is common and understandable.

• Feedback mechanism : your interface should ask for feedback from the users. You have to give the impression on the users that their actions have meaning. – Give your users a credit on every aspect of interaction.

» E.g. After the user fills out a survey you can say thank you for your time and you will hear from us again.

Don’t forget to implement them

• We hate Problems Right so avoid interface problems• We are living in competitive world so if your system’s interface has

noticeable bugs well your reputation is gone forever.So test your interface every time . “Once Again follow the trend of user centered approach. Give your

interface to the users and Observe how users are working on your interface.

Ask Your self this Questions.- Are they able to navigate and search and in general achieve their goal in easy manner.?- Is your interface intuitive to both naïve users and Sophisticated users.?

Conclusion

• To Sum up– Try to implement User-Centered Interface Design

in every aspect since the great thing about this approach is it incorporates so many different disciplines like hardware and software engineering, psychology, sociology , computer science etc…

– And I hope you will apply those principles in your current and future projects also.

That’s it folks

• This is just guideline/tips for you on Interface design if you want to explore I recommend

Sharp, H., Rogers, Y., & Preece, J. (2007).• Interaction Design: beyond human-computer

2nd Edition – Contact me on natnaelgonfa4@gmail.com– Your feedback is important for me.

• Thank you for your time.