Beyound Function and Design

I noticed the over the past few year's I've talking to much about media design, about it having a purpose and meaning and all. However I am also a software designer, so what is it about software design are there and key things to note in the field of the design of software.

Well, there is as amazing as it is, there are actually design principles when it comes to coding, the design of applications. Sadly these princples have been ignored to the point where functions is focused and when there is trouble using a software, it is the fault of the user. However that should not stand most of the time, it is true that new software will generate a new breed of idiots who are clueless in using them, but lets take a look at how even the software aspect has to complie to the principles of design.

1. Beauty V.S. Usability
One of the first and most interesting things discovered was that beauty and usability works together in an application. On one hand from a cognitive point of view, colour added no discernible value for everyday work, which means how good the applications looks doesn’t really matter (Norman 1988). However, on the other hand the surprise is that we also discovered evidence that pleasing things work better, are easier to learn and produce better results (Asdhy 1999). Furthermore good human-centred design practices are most essential for tasks or situations that are stressful (Isen 1993). Hence we can conclude that true beauty in a product has to be more than skin deep. To be truly beautiful, the product has to fulfil its functional purpose, be easy to use and comprehensible (Norman 2002).

2. Knowing what V.S. Knowing where
Next we moved on towards the in-depth look at the functionality of the interface. The screen objects should provide information that can potentially be used to evaluate the object’s function (Ehret 2002), in other words it is not enough to be able to know what we are looking for; we must also know where to look for it (Jones 1986). In order to achieve this we have to take into account the elements on the screen like space, colour, grouping, so to enable the users to locate the correct button/function without having to move their eyes from a cantered location (Moyes 1995). In addition, users of direct manipulation interfaces will rely on location as a performance cue only to the extent that the interface provides them (Moyes 1994). In conclusion we know that an interface has to provide spatial hints on what and where to look for function.

3. Importance of information
The one key thing which is important is the information displayed. Noting that users will not be using the application for some "experiential feeling" but for the content that is on it (Nielsen 1995). Furthermore content should be displayed in a simple yet understandable manner (Nielsen 1999; Nielsen 2000). Apart from that we have to also take note that in the case of the SMM, information displayed on the screen should be big and kept short as people tend to read 25% slower on screens as compared to paper (Nielsen 2000). Another factor to note is information retention, as there is no use displaying important information when the user does not remember anything (Hall 2004). Here we can see the importance of the information so much so that "content is king" (Nielsen 1999)and also the importance of making sure it gets retained beyond the time of access.

There so next time we design a software, its not just concentrate in functionality, but think about the human aspects of it.


References

Asdhy, F. G., Isen, A.M., and Turken, A.U. (1999). "A neuropsychological theory of positive affect and its influence on cognition." Psychological review 106: 529 - 550.

Ehret, B. D. (2002). "Learning Where to Look: Location Learning in Graphic User Interfaces." 4(1): 211 - 218.

Hall, R. a. H., P. (2004). "The Impact of Web Page Text-Background Color Combinations on Readability, Retention, Aesthetics, and Behavioral Intention." Behaviour & Information Technology.

Isen, A. M. (1993). Handbook of Emotions, New York: Guilford: 261 - 277.

Jones, W. P., and Dumais, S.T. (1986). "The spatial metaphor for user interface: Experimental tests of references by location versus name." ACM transactions on Office Information Systems 4(1): 42 - 63.

Moyes, J. (1994). "When users do and don't rely on icon shape." Proc. of ACM CHI'94 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2: 283-284.

Moyes, J. (1995). Putting icons in context: the interface of contextual information on the usability. Glasgow, University of Glasgow.

Nielsen, J. (1995). "Guidelines for multimedia on the Web." Retrieved 02 May, 2007, from www.useit.com/alertbox/9512.html.

Nielsen, J. (1999). User Interface Directions for the Web. Communications of the ACM. 42: 65 - 72.

Nielsen, J. (2000). Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity. Indianapolis, IN, New Riders Publishing.

Norman, D. A. (1988). The Design of Everyday Things. New York, Basic Books.

Norman, D. A. (2002). Emotions & design: Attractive things work better. Interactions Magazine. july + august: 36 - 42.