Chapter 1
Introduction
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Human Computer Interaction
• A discipline concerned with the
Design Implementation
Evaluation
of interactive computing systems for human use.
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Goals
• A basic goal of HCI is
• to improve the interactions between users and computers
• by making computers more usable and receptive to the user's needs.
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Defining the User Interface
• User interface, design is a subset of a field of study called
human-computer interaction (HCI).
• The user interface is
• the part of a computer and its software that people can see, hear, touch, talk
to, or otherwise understand or direct.
• The user interface has essentially two components: input and
output.
• Input is how a person communicates his / her needs to the
computer.
• Output is how the computer conveys the results of its computations
and requirements to the user.
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Examples
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History of user interface designing
• First Generation :Machines that reduce Physical Labor
Eg: Hand Axe
• Second Generation: Machines that displayed output
Eg: M/C that calculate the speed of wind , temperature, time.
• Third Generation: M/C that provide output with feedback
• Feedback is an acknowledgment a user receives from m/c when
his action is registered.
Eg: Fan, TV ,lights, Mixer,….
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History of user interface designing…..
• Fourth Generation: Machine with Computing Power
E.g.: Desktop ,Laptop ,smart Phone, Tab….
• Fifth Generation: Intelligent Machines
E.g.: Smart Phone, Automatic AC
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Overview
• Why are some everyday things difficult to understand and use?
• What are Don Norman’s principles and how do they apply to the design
of everyday things?
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The Psychopathology of Everyday Things
Psychopathology means
Psycho=mind; patho = suffering; logy=study
Psychopathology=study of mental illness
How the design of our everyday things can make us crazy.
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• Consider the door.
• There is not much you can do to a door: you can
• open it or shut it.
• Suppose you are in an office building, walking down a corridor. You
come to a door. In which direction does it open? Should you pull or
push, on the left or the right? May be the door slides.
• If so, in which direction? I have seen doors that slide up into the
ceiling.
• A door poses only two essential questions: In which direction does it
move? On which side should one work it?
• The answers should be given by the design, without any need for
words or symbols, certainly without any need for trial and error.
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The Psychopathology
of Everyday Things
Why are some common things so hard to use?
• Doors
• Stoves
• Light switches
• Remote control
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Complexity of modern Devices
• Every product is launched with something different.
• Sometimes they are with enhanced features or sometimes with
new appearance.
• The designers rarely make an effort to analyze the utility of
their new design.
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Complexity of modern Devices….
• Eg : Norman Pots
• The pot has interesting
appearance ,but the designer
again has not considered the
difficulty of the user to put tea
from it.
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Complexity of modern Devices….
• Eg : Coffee Cup
• The cup has interesting
appearance ,but the designer
again has not considered the
difficulty of the user .
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Complexity of modern Devices….
• A designer has to ensure that the features are presented in
simple and comprehensible way to user ,yet ensure perfect
usability.
• Well-designed objects are easy to interpret and understand.
They contain visible clues to their operation.
• Poorly designed objects can be difficult and frustrating to use.
They provide no clues—or sometimes false clues
• The result is a world filled with frustration, with objects that
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Complexity of modern Devices….
• Eg: TV Remote
• A new TV may be upgraded with many new features but user
sees all these features through remote that is in users hand .
• If remote control confuses the user ,all features provided are
useless.
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Not all are easy to use by novice users
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Human Centered Design
• Human centered designing is to consider all aspects of the destined user
such as his interests, behavior, needs, likes, dislikes, skill set and build
products that users will able to easily adapt.
• Analyzing the human characteristics is the requirement of the product
design and user satisfaction is the designers goal.
• People keep conceptual model about product
• Conceptual model is the mental image a human has built.
• As a good designer ,he should able to use these mental models of the
user as well be able to create mental models of the user.
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Conceptual model
• People have “mental models” of how things work
• Mental model of system which allows users to:
- understand the system
- predict the effects of actions
- interpret results
• Conceptual models built from:
• Affordances: how do I use it?
• Constraints : why can’t I do that?
• Feedback: what is it doing now?
• Power of observation: can is see it?
• models may be wrong, particularly if above attributes are misleading
• models allows people toRina
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simulate operation of device 20
Normans Fundamental Principles of
Interaction/Design Principles
• Affordances
• Feedback
• Constraints
• Mapping
• Visibility
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Affordances
• Perceived and actual properties of an object that give clues to its
operation
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Another Example…
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Mapping
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Constraints
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Constraints…
• Reduce the chance of error
• Can also work to focus user’s attention to needed task
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Visibility
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Visibility..
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Feedback
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Feedback
• other example of feedback in
everyday design
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Example
Good: Scissors
affordances:
• holes for something to be inserted
constraints:
• big hole for several fingers, small hole for thumb
mapping:
• between holes and fingers suggested and constrained by appearance
conceptual model:
• implications clear of how the operating parts work
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Example 12:00
Bad: Digital watch
Affordances:
• four push buttons to push, but not clear what they will do
Constraints and mapping unknown
• no visible relation between buttons, possible actions and end result
Conceptual model:
• must be taught
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