User Interface Design Principles for Interaction Design

In recent years, the number of computationally-based devices has grown rapidly, and with them the number of interfaces we encounter. Often, the face for today’s product or service is, at first touch, an interface. While the pervasiveness of the interface might present a minor challenge for the majority, for those with little previous knowledge or accessibility limitations the challenge can be insurmountable. In many cases, the way we access and use, and even the degree to which we rely on technology, may be vastly different from generation to generation. As the number of interfaces and the diversity of users grow, the need for effective interface design increases. Clocks on VCRs and DVD players flash at users insistently demanding to be reset, a mute testimony to the failure of the interface. Designers commonly mimic standard interface design elements such as icons and metaphors, or create flashy interfaces that may appeal visually, but often at the expense of user understanding and functionality. Despite mimicry, creativity, new technology, and a steadily growing need, interfaces are mired in paradigms established decades ago at a time when user interface was more a computer novelty than a part of everyday life. Thus far, pundits, consultants, and authors have attempted to improve interface design primarily by exploring and analyzing existing patterns of interface design, or by defining desirable enduser experiences. One example of a detailed analysis of an existing pattern is the Nielsen Norman Group’s 106-page report, “Site Map Usability.”1 A site map is a means for quickly gaining an overview of a Web site. The report mentions a principle in the first sentence of the executive summary: “Help users understand where they are”; then analyzes in great detail a specific means or pattern for meeting that need such as “Web site maps,” delivering twenty-eight guidelines “to improve site map usability.” Another recent example is Duyne, Landay, and Hong’s book The Design of Sites,2 which focuses on using existing patterns to improve Web interface design. As helpful as such approaches are, the examination of an existing pattern such as the site map, and a detailed recipe for the execution of that pattern, is not designed to stimulate innovation. 1 Nielsen Norman Group, Site Map Usability (Fremont, CA, 1998). 2 Douglas K. van Duyne, James A. Landay, and Jason I Hong, The Design of Sites (Boston: Addison-Wesley, 2003).