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Lesson 11 DESIGN GUIDELINES FOR COGNITIVE WORK

The document outlines 10 user interface design guidelines for cognitive work: 1) Ensure system status is always visible and easy to understand. 2) Design interfaces that match real-world concepts and language. 3) Allow users control and the ability to undo/redo actions. 4) Maintain consistency in graphics, terminology, and concepts across platforms.

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Jovee Rose
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52 views

Lesson 11 DESIGN GUIDELINES FOR COGNITIVE WORK

The document outlines 10 user interface design guidelines for cognitive work: 1) Ensure system status is always visible and easy to understand. 2) Design interfaces that match real-world concepts and language. 3) Allow users control and the ability to undo/redo actions. 4) Maintain consistency in graphics, terminology, and concepts across platforms.

Uploaded by

Jovee Rose
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DESIGN GUIDELINES FOR COGNITIVE

WORK
Nielsen and Molich's 10 User Interface
Design Guidelines
• Visibility of system status. Users should always be
informed of system operations with easy to understand
and highly visible status displayed on the screen within
a reasonable amount of time.
• Match between system and the real world. Designers
should endeavor to mirror the language and concepts
users would find in the real world based on who their
target users are. Presenting information in logical order
and piggybacking on user’s expectations derived from
their real-world experiences will reduce cognitive strain
and make systems easier to use
• User control and freedom. Present users a digital
space where backward steps are possible,
including undoing and redoing previous actions.
• Consistency and standards. Interface designers
should ensure that both the graphic elements
and terminology are maintained across similar
platforms. For example, an icon that represents
one category or concept should not represent a
different concept when used on a different
screen.
• Error prevention. Whenever possible, design
systems so that potential errors are kept to a
minimum. Users do not like being called upon
to detect and remedy problems, which on
occasion may be beyond their level of
expertise. Eliminating or flagging actions that
may result in errors are two possible means of
achieving error prevention.
• Recognition rather than recall. Minimize cognitive load by
maintaining task-relevant information within the display while
users explore the interface. Human attention is limited and
we are only capable of maintaining around five items in our
short-term memory at one time. Due to the limitations of
short-term memory, designers should ensure that users can
simply employ recognition instead of recalling information
across parts of the dialogue.
• Recognizing something is always easier than recall because
recognition involves perceiving cues that help us reach into
our vast memory and allowing relevant information to
surface. For example, we often find the format of multiple
choice questions easier than short answer questions on a test
because it only requires us to recognize the answer rather
than recall it from our memory.
• Flexibility and efficiency of use. With increased use comes
the demand for less interactions that allow faster navigation.
This can be achieved by using abbreviations, function keys,
hidden commands and macro facilities. Users should be able
to customize or tailor the interface to suit their needs so that
frequent actions can be achieved through more convenient
means.
• Aesthetic and minimalist design. Keep clutter to a minimum.
All unnecessary information competes for the user's limited
attentional resources, which could inhibit user’s memory
retrieval of relevant information. Therefore, the display must
be reduced to only the necessary components for the current
tasks, while providing clearly visible and unambiguous means
of navigating to other content.
• Help users recognize, diagnose and recover from
errors. Designers should assume users are unable to
understand technical terminology, therefore, error
messages should almost always be expressed in plain
language to ensure nothing gets lost in translation.
• Help and documentation. Ideally, we want users to
navigate the system without having to resort to
documentation. However, depending on the type of
solution, documentation may be necessary. When
users require help, ensure it is easily located, specific to
the task at hand and worded in a way that will guide
them through the necessary steps towards a solution
to the issue they are facing.
END

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