LU4 IMPROVING YOUR DESIGN Flashcards
What is an example of a machine translation UI improvement?
A mock-up where users select a word and see all possible translations.
What issue arises with displaying too many alternatives?
The user has to guess which translation is the “best.”
How can the system improve the translation process?
By tokenizing keywords in the text and predicting a domain to enforce constraints.
What does design iteration involve?
Iterating the designers’ own understanding of the problem.
Why is getting useful feedback challenging?
People’s time is expensive, and they are often unwilling to spend much time giving feedback. They may also provide easy answers that aren’t necessarily useful.
What do fast feedback methodologies enable?
They enable researchers to quickly get lots of useful feedback and ideas from people efficiently.
What are some fast feedback approaches? (3)
Card sorting, storyboards, and design fictions.
What is card sorting?
Card sorting involves taking several ideas, concepts, or things and putting them on cards. Users are then asked to sort the cards to understand how they group concepts.
What does card sorting help you understand?
It helps you understand how people naturally group things, which can be useful for UI/UX redesigns.
What are the pros of card sorting? (3)
Easy to explain to users.
Easy to run.
The outcome shows how participants think about UI layouts.
What are the cons of card sorting?(2)
Individual bias/preferences can influence results.
There may be different definitions of terms among users.
What is a common usage of card sorting?
It is commonly used for putting menu items or information into categories on a website
What are storyboards?
Series of sketches showing how a user might interact with the technology or progress through a task.
How are storyboards often used?
They are often used with a scenario to bring in more detail and context.
What are the pros of using storyboards? (3)
Simple to design by yourself.
Makes you think through the process of how something will be used and identify needed features.
Useful for communicating ideas.
What are the cons of using storyboards?
Rough sketches mean not everything can go in.
Limited in scope, impractical to use on a whole project.
Why are poorly drawn storyboards beneficial?
Poorly drawn storyboards are actually better for getting feedback from users on important things.
What are storyboards used for? (2)
Getting feedback from users early in the process:
In focus groups to see initial reactions.
With customers to see if your idea matches theirs.
With potential users to quickly see if something makes sense.
With client or boss to clearly articulate an idea.
Helping you think through your design:
Forces the designer to step through how something will be used.
What is design fiction?
A short story that explains how you envision your app will be used ideally.
How is design fiction similar to a storyboard?
Like a storyboard, it provides a narrative of the user interaction, but typically using words instead of sketches.
What does design fiction provide?
It provides enough detail for someone to understand key parts of the interaction and how the app fits into the daily workflow of the user.
What is the basic idea of heuristics in UI design?
A broad set of principles that apply to practically any type of interface, functioning as both a goal for good design and a key tool in some usability evaluations.
What are the pros of using heuristics? (3)
Simple, high level, and easy to explain to others.
Many examples online of “good” interfaces that follow the principles.
Helps spot problems in design.
What are the cons of using heuristics? (2)
High level, so may not provide useful guidance for low-level problems.
Represents the most common types of problems, not all problems.
Nielsen’s 10 Heuristics
Visibility of system status.
Match between system and the real world.
User control and freedom.
Consistency and standards.
Error prevention.
Recognition rather than recall.
Flexibility and efficiency of use.
Aesthetics and minimalist design.
Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors.
Help and documentation.
What is the purpose of visibility of system status?
The system should always keep users informed about what is going on through appropriate feedback within a reasonable time.
Why is visibility of system status important? (2)
People learn from seeing the feedback of their actions.
Knowledge of the system state is necessary for some actions.
What does “match between system and the real world” mean?
The interface should use concepts, language, and real-world conventions that are familiar to the user.
Why is matching the system to the real world important? (2)
The user already has knowledge from the outside world, which the interface can leverage.
If the interface does not match the way the world typically works, people will become confused.
What is meant by user control and freedom?
Allow the user to control the interaction, undo actions, exit from any sequence of actions, and not be forced into a series of actions.
Why is user control and freedom important? (2)
Users make errors and need the ability to go back and correct them.
Users need a way to “exit”.
What is the heuristic of consistency and standards?
Similar information should be visually similar, and different information should be expressed differently. Developers need to know the conventions used by the industry/sector.
Why is consistency and standards important? (2)
People leverage things they already know.
Users expect that something they learned will continue to be true.
What is error prevention?
Prevent errors from happening in the first place.
Why is error prevention important?(2)
Users are not machines; they do not always perceive all the information and can forget things.
Computers can use all the information available and remember the last few things.
What does “recognition rather than recall” entail?
Show all the options available to the user rather than expecting them to remember.
Why is recognition rather than recall important?
People are better at recognizing information than recalling it.
What is the importance of flexibility and efficiency of use?
Experts should have a way to use the interface faster or more efficiently, with design accelerators like keyboard shortcuts.
Why is flexibility and efficiency of use important? (2)
Using the mouse is MUCH slower than the keyboard.
Users who know what they want should be able to find it quickly and efficiently.
What is aesthetics and minimalist design?
Get rid of clutter, making it easier to see things.
Why is aesthetics and minimalist design important?
The more things to look at, the harder it is for a user to process the information.
What does “help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors” mean?
Error messages should be clear, written in plain language, explain the problem, and give constructive advice on how to solve the problem.
