Lecture 4: Comments on Lesson 2: Digital Design

Hidden Costs of Building an E-Commerce Site

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Notes from The Lesson Plan

The first two lesson objectives deal with the concept of user centered design. Katz-Haas defines UCD as a philosophy and a process. It is a philosophy that places the person (as opposed to the 'thing') at the center; it is a process that focuses on cognitive factors (such as perception, memory, learning, problem-solving, etc.) as they come into play during peoples' interactions with things.

UCD seeks to answer questions about users and their tasks and goals, then use the findings to drive development and design.

UCD seeks to answer questions such as:

• Who are the users of this 'thing'?
• What are the users’ tasks and goals?
• What are the users’ experience levels with this thing, and things like it?
• What functions do the users need from this thing?
• What information might the users need, and in what form do they need it?
• How do users think this 'thing' should work?
• How can the design of this ‘thing’ facilitate users' cognitive processes?

User-Centered Design concerns itself with both usefulness and usability.

Usefulness relates to relevance; do the functions, information, etc., match what the user actually needs?

Usability relates to ease-of-use—a simple concept, but not always easy or intuitive to implement.

Now, this can translated into several design principles as defined in the first reading:

• Clear navigation aids
• No dead-end pages
• Direct accessBandwidth and interaction
• Simplicity and consistency
• Design integrity and stability
• Feedback and dialog

Check out the interactive exercise to test your understanding of these concepts.

User Interface Design Principles