Designing Web Interfaces MCAD Lecture 3.13.2009

academic stuff

things to consider

examples & discussion

activity

background

design+ economics > law > brand identity > interactive design

You’ve completed your research.

You’ve outlined your strategy.

You’ve built your architecture.

Collaboration is critical.

Design is…

an activity that requires us to develop

empathy for others, which involves a

deep understanding of how people will

interact with something. It is a

process of problem solving that

uncovers obvious flaws as well as

hidden truths. It is a creative

exercise that generates things we can

react to and helps us draw conclusions

and make decisions.

People have a fundamental need to emotionally

connect with things. The interface is the doorway to

those experiences.

It’s not about the drop shadows. It’s about how

people react to them.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gibbons/2722815615/

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/garyjd/74946837/

Aesthetic Usability Effect:

A phenomenon in which people perceive

more-aesthetic designs as easier to use

than less-aesthetic designs.

Lidwell, Holden, Butler. Universal Principles of Design

Rockport Publishers 2003.

Photo credit: http://www.ecojoes.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/old_school_cellphone.jpg

Photo credit: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Cell_phone_Sagem_my202X_ubt.jpeg/

Photo credit: Apple, Inc.

Aesthetic Usability Effect:

Sites that made the effort to craft a

nice, professionally designed look made

a lot more headway with users, even if

those users had few other reasons to

trust those sites.

Stanford Web Credibility Project credibility.stanford.edu

What are the building blocks?

layout & grids

typography

color

visual motifs and metaphors

images

cultural references

texture & rhythm

interaction

Consider:

What is the site’s intended purpose?

Who is the intended audience?

What is the intended emotional

experience?

…an interactive experience that:conveys information

helps accomplish a routine task

entertains

creates desire

Activity!

What is the site’s intended purpose?

Who is the intended audience?

What is the intended emotional

experience?