HCI
• HCI (human-computer interaction) is the study
of how people interact with computers and to what extent computers are or are not
developed for successful interaction with human beings.
• As its name implies, HCI consists of three
User
• User
• By "user", we may mean an individual user, a
group of users working together. An appreciation of the way people's sensory systems (sight,
hearing, touch) relay information is vital. Also, different users form different conceptions or
mental models about their interactions and have different ways of learning and keeping
Computer
When we talk about the computer, we're referring to any technology ranging from
desktop computers, to large scale computer
systems. For example, if we were discussing the design of a Website, then the Website itself
would be referred to as "the computer". Devices such as mobile phones or VCRs can also be
Interaction
There are obvious differences between humans and machines. In spite of these, HCI attempts to ensure that they both get on with each other and interact successfully. In order to achieve a usable system, you need to apply what you know about humans and computers, and consult with likely users
throughout the design process. In real systems, the schedule and the budget are important, and it is
The Goals of HCI
• The goals of HCI are to produce usable and safe systems, as well as functional systems. In order to produce computer systems with good usability, developers must attempt to:
• understand the factors that determine how people use technology
• develop tools and techniques to enable building suitable systems
• achieve efficient, effective, and safe interaction
Usability
• Usability is one of the key concepts in HCI. It is concerned with making systems easy to learn and use.
• The ease, speed and pleasantness with which
intended people can use a product.
• “is a measure of the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which specified users can achieve specified goals in a particular
Usability
A usable system is:
•easy to learn
•easy to remember how to use
•effective to use
•efficient to use
•safe to use
According to Jakob Nielsen:
•Usability is a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use. The word "usability" also
refers to methods for improving ease-of-use during the design process.
5 quality components:
•Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter the design?
•Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks?
•Memorability: When users return to the design after a
period of not using it, how easily can they reestablish proficiency?
•Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are
these errors, and how easily can they recover from the errors?
Why is usability important?
• Many everyday systems and products seem to be designed with little regard to usability. This leads to frustration, wasted time and errors. This list contains examples of interactive products:
mobile phone, computer, personal organizer, remote control, soft drink machine, coffee
machine, ATM, ticket machine, library
information system, the web, photocopier, watch, printer, stereo, calculator, videogame etc¦.
Why is usability important?
• On the Web, usability is a necessary condition for survival. If a website is difficult to use, people
leave.
• If a website's information is hard to read or
doesn't answer users' key questions, they leave.
• The first law of e-commerce is that if users cannot find the product, they cannot buy it either.
• Current best practices spending about 10% of a
design project's budget on usability will more
• For internal design projects, think of doubling usability as cutting training budgets in half and doubling the number of transactions
employees perform per hour. For external
designs, think of doubling sales, doubling the number of registered users or customer leads, or doubling whatever other desired goal
motivated your design project
Interaction Design
What is interaction design:
•Designing interactive products to support the way people communicate and interact in their everyday and working lives.
•Creating user experience that enhance the way people work, communicate and interact.
•The focus of interaction design is very much
Process of interaction design
Interaction Design
Good and Poor Design:
•Primary concern of interaction design is to
develop interactive products that are usable. It means easy to learn, effective to use and
providing an enjoyable user experience.
•The best way is to compare well and poorly designed ones.
Interaction Design
Problem with voice mail system:
•Confusing
•Inefficient and requiring to carryout a number of steps for basic task
•Difficult to use
Interaction Design
Remote Control device:
•Restricting the control buttons
•Other functions as menu option and dialogue appear on TV monitor selected by control
buttons.
•Result as usable and pleasurable device.
Components of interaction design
Interaction design vs. HCI.
• ID has a wider range with theory, research and practice of designing user experience for all
manner of technologies, systems and products whereas HCI has traditionally had a narrow
focus , being “concerned with design,
Process of interaction design
1. Identifying needs and establishing
requirements for the user experience.
2. Developing alternative designs that meet those requirements.
3. Building interactive versions of the designs so that they can be communicated and
assessed.
User Experience UX
• User experience (UX) is about how a person feels about using
a product, system or service. User experience highlights the experiential, affective, meaningful and valuable aspects of human-computer interaction and product ownership, but it also includes a person’s perceptions of the practical aspects such as utility, ease of use and efficiency of the system. User experience is subjective in nature, because it is about an
User Experience UX
• "User experience" encompasses all aspects of the end-user's interaction with the company, its services, and its products. The first requirement for an exemplary user experience is to meet the exact needs of the customer, without fuss or
bother. Next comes simplicity and elegance that produce products that are a joy to own, a joy to use. True user
experience goes far beyond giving customers what they say they want, or providing checklist features. In order to achieve high-quality user experience in a company's offerings there must be a seamless merging of the services of multiple
Influences on user experience
• Many factors can influence a user's
experience with a system. To address the variety, factors influencing user experience have been classified into three main
categories:
– user's state and previous experience,
– system properties,
– the usage context (situation).
Influences on user experience • Example
• Lisa is on her way home by bus, and wants to know how her husband is doing on a business trip. The bus is crowded and she did not get a seat, but she wants to use the time to contact her husband by phone. What affects her user experience with the mobile phone?
• Lisa’s own mental state and characteristics (motivation, expectations, mood, know-how) and current physical resources (only one hand available for the phone)
• The context, i.e. the current situation:
– Physical (moving bus, views passing by, lighting, noise – the environment Lisa feels via her senses);
– Social (fellow travellers, code of conduct, husband's availability - how other people affect user experience);
– Temporal (the duration of the bus trip – time constraints);
– Infrastructural (availability of network, cost of calls and text messages, legal restrictions); and
– Task (sending a text message is part of a bigger "task" of two-way dialogue, other ongoing activities such as monitoring when to step out of the bus, possible interruptions).
• This context motivates Lisa to use text messaging as the means to communicate with her husband. The context also affects the interaction with the mobile phone and thereby the user experience. The system needed for text messaging (mobile-phone and text-messaging service in this case): user interface and functionality (e.g. text-messaging software and keypad), design and brand, the replies coming from the husband. The primary value comes from the discussion itself, and all other parts of the system should support this purpose.
User Experience
• Every product that is used by someone has
user experience e.g newspaper, soft drink etc.
• It is about how people feel about a product and their pleasureness and satisfaction when using, looking, holding, opening and closing it.
Usability and UX
• The customer, looking for a new digital camera, goes to the large electronic retailer’s website. She quickly finds the camera she wants, puts it in the cart, and without incident, pays for it using the option to pick it up at the store that same day. Quick, easy — she is pleased and excited to receive her camera.
• When she arrives at the store, she initially doesn’t know where to go, as no visual clues present themselves. After a ten-minute wait at the customer service desk, she’s told she’s in the wrong place and needs to find another desk, this one labeled “Online Receiving”. Once she finds that desk, the clerk, who obviously can’t wait for his shift to end, sighs and says the camera she’s purchased is out of stock. She can buy a different camera at this point, but to receive a credit for her original online purchase, she needs to call an 800 number. She ends up leaving the store without a camera and a charge on her credit card she needs to resolve.
• This scenario highlights the difference between usability and user
• Usability answers the question, “Can the user accomplish their goal?” In
the case of our camera shopper, from the perspective of the site’s design, she did accomplish the goal, being very satisfied with the result.
• User experience answers the question, “Did the user have as delightful an experience as possible?” The store portion of the experience canceled out
the online portion.
• If the online portion was the only thing involved, our customer would’ve been delighted with the results and likely shopped again. Because of the total user experience, she’ll likely resist shopping with the brand again.
• In this organization’s case, the usability of the site involves only those people who directly influence the design of the site. However, to create a pleasurable user experience, we now have to involve people from all over the organization, including those people dictating how the store
operations are designed and implemented.
• User experience takes far more effort to do well, but the results have far better impact.
Design Principles
• Product should be designed to provide
adequate feedback to users to ensure thy know what to do next in their task.
• Theory based knowledge+ Experience+ common sense
• Most common design principles are
– Visibility : Can I see it?
– Feedback: What is it doing now?
– Constraints: Why can’t I do that?
– Consistency: I think I have seen this before?
Visibility:
•The more visible functions are, the more likely users will be able to know what to do next. Eg. Voice mail system
•Can see the state of device and possible actions
•Car positioned in a way that they can be easily found and used
• Visibility:
• Visibility:
• Visibility:
