3.5 Usability Heuristics & Interaction Design Flashcards
What is IxD?
Interaction Design
What is Interaction Design?
A subset of UX design, focusing specifically on the way users interact with a product, environment, system, or service.
What is UX design concerned with as a whole?
The experience, look and feel of the software
What is IxD concerned with?
The specific interactions that occur when using that software. Things like page transitions and buttons, touch-interactions, keyboard and mouse input, etc. all fall under the umbrella of interaction design.
IxD, on the other hand, refers only to choreographing animations and interactions, making sure they’re pleasurable and quick, and ensuring that the user understands the consequences of their every action.
What is usability?
Usability refers to the ease with which users can navigate a user interface.
What are Jakob Nielsen’s five quality attributes of Usability?
- Learnability
- Efficiency
- Errors
- Memorability
- Satisfaction
LEEMS
What is Learnability?
Refers to how easy it is for users to accomplish their goals the very first time they interact with the product/service.
Apps or websites that feel familiar because they’re easy to get around are “Learnable”
What is Efficiency?
Refers to the speed at which a user can accomplish their goals after they’re familiar with an app or website.
In other words, after you’ve used an app once or twice, how fast can you navigate it?
What is Memorability?
When you come to software, after not using it for some time, is it easy for the user to use it? It refers to how easy it is for users to remember how to use the software after not doing so for some time.
Have you ever gone through a period of time without using one of your favorite apps? Once you come back to it, is it still easy for you to use? Or, do you have to spend time re-learning its interface? This is memorability, or how easy it is for users to remember how to use an app or website after not doing so for some time.
What are Errors?
How likely are users to make an error, and how many do they make? After making them, is it easy for them to get back on track? This deals with user errors, when they happen, why, and how to help users get around them.
What is Satisfaction?
This refers to how enjoyable it is to use an app or website. Is it gratifying and fun? Or, do users feel miserable using it?
What is a “Heuristic”?
They offer guidelines that can be applied and tweaked based on a given scenario
Heuristics allow us to standardize common methods we consider to be the “right way” of doing things. The reason usability relies on heuristics rather than rules is because design is art, and art doesn’t always conform to rules. For example, red is typically a color reserved for negative actions and warnings, but take a look at Yelp or Pinterest and you’ll see that all primary actions on their site use the color red.
Who developed Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics?
By Nielsen and Rolf Molich back in 1990
What are the 10 Usability Heuristics?
- Visibility of System Status
- Match between system & the real world
- User control & freedom
- Consistency & standards
- Error prevention
- Recognition rather than recall
- Flexibility and efficiency of use
- Aesthetic & Minimalist Design
- Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, & Recover from Errors
- Help & Documentation
Visibility of System Status
The system should always keep users informed about what’s going on through appropriate feedback within a reasonable period of time.
Match Between System & the Real World
The system should speak the users’ language with words, phrases, and concepts familiar to the user rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, displaying information in a natural, logical order.
User Control & Freedom
Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked “emergency exit” to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Support undo and redo.
Consistency & Standards
Users shouldn’t have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions.
Error Prevention
Even better than a good error message is a careful design that prevents a problem from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action.
Recognition Rather than Recall
Minimize the user’s memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user shouldn’t have to remember information from one part of the dialog to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.
Flexibility & Efficiency of Use
Accelerators—unseen by the novice user—can often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.
Aesthetic & Minimalist Design
Dialogs shouldn’t contain irrelevant or rarely needed information. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.
Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, & Recover from Errors
Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.
Help & Documentation
Ideally, a system could be used without documentation, but it’s still sometimes necessary to provide it for your users. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user’s task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large
What is a heuristic evaluation?
A method used to uncover usability issues in a user interface so that they can be iterated and improved upon
When performing a heuristic evaluation, ensure your evaluators…
a. Don’t share their results with other evaluators until the test is concluded
b. Share their results with other evaluators before and during the test.
a. Don’t share their results with other evaluators until the test is concluded
Which of the following elements would fall under the umbrella of Interaction Design?
a. Navigation and display
b. Audio engineering
c. Contextual requirements
d. Keyboard and mouse input
d. Keyboard and mouse input
You’re working on a new character mesh for your up-and-coming indie game, “Duck Simulator: A Fine-Feathered Adventure.” Just when you’re about to finish, you accidentally click the “X” button to close the program; however, a pop-up dialog box asks you if you really want to quit without saving, allowing you to click “no” and save your work. This is an example of what usability heuristic in play?
a. Consistency and Standards
b. Recovery from Errors
c. Help and Documentation
d. Error Prevention
d. Error Prevention
“A subset of UX design that focuses specifically on the way users interact with a product, environment, system, or service” describes what type of design?
a. Usability Design
b. Communication Design
c. System Design
d. Interaction Design
d. Interaction Design
Why is usability important for a site or app?
a. Users will be able to navigate the site or app smoothly and accomplish their goals without trouble
b. Users will intuitively know how to use a site or app and not have to refer to onboarding instructions
a. Users will be able to navigate the site or app smoothly and accomplish their goals without trouble
Choose from Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics that match with this quote: “I get what you’re saying”
Match between system & the real world
Choose from Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics that match with this quote: “Uh oh, I changed my mind”
User control & freedom
Choose from Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics that match with this quote: “Hey, I’ve seen this before”
Consistency and standards
Choose from Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics that match with this quote: “That’s not what I wanted to do!”
Error Prevention
Choose from Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics that match with this quote: “I know what’s going on”
Visibility of systems
Choose from Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics that match with this quote: “Everything I need is in one place”
Recognition rather than recall
Choose from Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics that match with this quote: “I can customize my UI”
Flexibility & Efficiency of Use
Choose from Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics that match with this quote: “Beautiful & smart”
Aesthetic & Minimalist Design
Choose from Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics that match with this quote: “A little help, please”
Help & Documentation
Choose from Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics that match with this quote: “I can fix this”
Help users recognize, Diagnose & recover from errors
What is a heuristic evaluation?
A heuristic evaluation is a review of your user interface, looking closely at user experience aspects.
What does a heuristic evaluation help you identify?
It helps to identify many kinds of user experience problems and is conducted against a set of design principles aka heuristics (hence the name).
