The HCI Design Landscape

Software design - Two definitions:
    Software engineering - Design of software code, modular structure, and programs.
    HCI - Design of software products, including user interface, interaction, user tasks, etc.

    - Design is conscious activity - respects environment, affordances, and complexity of real life.
    - Guidelines and principles do not make for good designing - tacit knowledge, experience, intuition.
    - Good design puts the human user at the center of all design decisions.
    - Cannot simplify too far though - Many software tasks are inherently difficult - managing complexity.

Design as a conversation with materials - designer iterates with the problem, and with the community for which design is being done.   

Design is creative - Cannot be reduced to steps and guidelines. Good design inherently messy, intuitive, and takes creative risks. Beyond the notion of problem-solving - more like "solution creating."

Design is communicative - Software design uses specific language for defining data and tasks. Essentially, much of the task of design is good communication!

Interaction design - User interface design, with a focus on the "how" or interaction of HCI:

• Navigation and organization of site
• design and specification of interface controls and behavior
• field and display labels
• formats, how data is manipulated
• most representative deliverable = storyboards and prototype

Information design - Content and document design, focus on the "what"

• organization
• UI architecture
• search and indexing
• most representative deliverable = page definition, display formats, (some) UI architecture diagram

Visual (graphical) design - Design of graphical theme or scheme, visual hierarchy, graphical elements

• the "look and feel" of a site or product
• appearance of page elements and how they are laid out
• color theory, typography, layout, and iconography
• most representative deliverable = "page comps"

Simple Principles for  Web Design

1. Focus on user's experience of the product and their task.

2. Honor the web platform - Design with hypertext in mind - Use the browser for what it can do

3. ...but remember that basic design principles do not change

4. Users and their tasks still rule design

5. Don't get caught up in the graphics - Users are focused on their task and content.

6. Remember what it's like for the "normal" user with an average computer.

7. Keep it simple (Nielsen).

8. Functional is better than cool.

9. If you can't see it on the screen, it probably won't be used.

10. Performance is as important as simplicity. Users will not make experience simplicity if they are forced to wait.

11. Simple navigation is key. Make sure users know where they are - awareness of location.

12. Be careful when emulating other web sites - Investigate as many examples as you can and learn from them.