LU4 IMPROVING YOUR DESIGN

Question 1

What is an example of a machine translation UI improvement?

Answer 1

A mock-up where users select a word and see all possible translations.

Question 2

What issue arises with displaying too many alternatives?

Answer 2

The user has to guess which translation is the “best.”

Question 3

How can the system improve the translation process?

Answer 3

By tokenizing keywords in the text and predicting a domain to enforce constraints.

Question 4

What does design iteration involve?

Answer 4

Iterating the designers’ own understanding of the problem.

Question 5

Why is getting useful feedback challenging?

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

What do fast feedback methodologies enable?

Answer 6

They enable researchers to quickly get lots of useful feedback and ideas from people efficiently.

Question 7

What are some fast feedback approaches? (3)

Answer 7

Card sorting, storyboards, and design fictions.

Question 8

What is card sorting?

Answer 8

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.

Question 9

What does card sorting help you understand?

Answer 9

It helps you understand how people naturally group things, which can be useful for UI/UX redesigns.

Question 10

What are the pros of card sorting? (3)

Answer 10

Easy to explain to users.

Easy to run.

The outcome shows how participants think about UI layouts.

Question 11

What are the cons of card sorting?(2)

Answer 11

Individual bias/preferences can influence results.

There may be different definitions of terms among users.

Question 12

What is a common usage of card sorting?

Answer 12

It is commonly used for putting menu items or information into categories on a website

Question 13

What are storyboards?

Answer 13

Series of sketches showing how a user might interact with the technology or progress through a task.

Question 14

How are storyboards often used?

Answer 14

They are often used with a scenario to bring in more detail and context.

Question 15

What are the pros of using storyboards? (3)

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

What are the cons of using storyboards?

Answer 16

Rough sketches mean not everything can go in.

Limited in scope, impractical to use on a whole project.

Question 17

Why are poorly drawn storyboards beneficial?

Answer 17

Poorly drawn storyboards are actually better for getting feedback from users on important things.

Question 18

What are storyboards used for? (2)

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

What is design fiction?

Answer 19

A short story that explains how you envision your app will be used ideally.

Question 20

How is design fiction similar to a storyboard?

Answer 20

Like a storyboard, it provides a narrative of the user interaction, but typically using words instead of sketches.

Question 21

What does design fiction provide?

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

What is the basic idea of heuristics in UI design?

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

What are the pros of using heuristics? (3)

Answer 23

Simple, high level, and easy to explain to others.

Many examples online of “good” interfaces that follow the principles.

Helps spot problems in design.

Question 24

What are the cons of using heuristics? (2)

Answer 24

High level, so may not provide useful guidance for low-level problems.

Represents the most common types of problems, not all problems.

Question 25

Nielsen’s 10 Heuristics

Answer 25

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.

Question 26

What is the purpose of visibility of system status?

Answer 26

The system should always keep users informed about what is going on through appropriate feedback within a reasonable time.

Question 27

Why is visibility of system status important? (2)

Answer 27

People learn from seeing the feedback of their actions.

Knowledge of the system state is necessary for some actions.

Question 28

What does “match between system and the real world” mean?

Answer 28

The interface should use concepts, language, and real-world conventions that are familiar to the user.

Question 29

Why is matching the system to the real world important? (2)

Answer 29

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.

Question 30

What is meant by user control and freedom?

Answer 30

Allow the user to control the interaction, undo actions, exit from any sequence of actions, and not be forced into a series of actions.

Question 31

Why is user control and freedom important? (2)

Answer 31

Users make errors and need the ability to go back and correct them.

Users need a way to “exit”.

Question 32

What is the heuristic of consistency and standards?

Answer 32

Similar information should be visually similar, and different information should be expressed differently. Developers need to know the conventions used by the industry/sector.

Question 33

Why is consistency and standards important? (2)

Answer 33

People leverage things they already know.

Users expect that something they learned will continue to be true.

Question 34

What is error prevention?

Answer 34

Prevent errors from happening in the first place.

Question 35

Why is error prevention important?(2)

Answer 35

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.

Question 36

What does “recognition rather than recall” entail?

Answer 36

Show all the options available to the user rather than expecting them to remember.

Question 37

Why is recognition rather than recall important?

Answer 37

People are better at recognizing information than recalling it.

Question 38

What is the importance of flexibility and efficiency of use?

Answer 38

Experts should have a way to use the interface faster or more efficiently, with design accelerators like keyboard shortcuts.

Question 39

Why is flexibility and efficiency of use important? (2)

Answer 39

Using the mouse is MUCH slower than the keyboard.

Users who know what they want should be able to find it quickly and efficiently.

Question 40

What is aesthetics and minimalist design?

Answer 40

Get rid of clutter, making it easier to see things.

Question 41

Why is aesthetics and minimalist design important?

Answer 41

The more things to look at, the harder it is for a user to process the information.

Question 42

What does “help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors” mean?

Answer 42

Error messages should be clear, written in plain language, explain the problem, and give constructive advice on how to solve the problem.