week 6

What is simplicity?


-Designing in simplicity is a process of elimination
-simplicity forces you to have a good reason for everything
-in film's its called foreshadowing.

CHUNKING


-The elements of perception + memory = chunks
-presentation of information is simplified by dividing it up
-bite size for easy storage
-forming chunks in forming memory depends on how information is presented.


Visual Variables are used for communication by encoding data + drawing disticntion between visual element.
There are two ways that visual variables works on perception. First is selectivity and second one is associativity.

Selectivity : Degree to which a single value can be selected from the entire visual field and using position,size,orientation,hue,texture,value.



THE GESTALT PRINCIPLE
-proximity
-similarity
-continuity
-closure
-area
-symmetry


USER CENTRED SYSTEM DESIGN

UCD shifts focused from the designer of the applications/system/web site to the user of that application.

DIFFICULTIES OF UCD
-good design not always = satisfy customer
-design is collaboration betweeen designer + customer
-design evolves
-if the inputs from user is wrong, then the system will suffer.


UCD is participatory Design,
PROBLEMS:
-misunderstandings
-interviews are not precise
-we never know what problems may crop up in the future.

METHOD OF INVOLVING THE USER

easiest way, TALK TO THEM

-contextual interview+site visits.
-interviews
-prototyping
-focus group
-direct observation
-indirect observation
-studying documentation

THE PROBLEM OF USER
-hard to get good pool of end user to test you product
  >expensive,reluctant etc
-users are not expert designers
  >dont expect them to come up with ideas design from scratch
-users not always right
  >dont expect them to know what they want