Efficient, Memorable, SatisfactoryUsability principles beyond usability

What’s he talking about?

- Terms- Users- Usability- Experiences

Terms

- system: the thing being built, used, tested, improved, abandoned, replaced- user interface (UI): the part of the system the user interacts with- user: the person, customer, experiencer

The User

- The user is a person.- People have similar abilities and limitations- People form goals- People use systems to achieve their goals (duh, users)- People use their brains to make decisions and perform actions

Brain Functions

- Attention: filtering information- Perception: recognizing meaningful information- Cognition: evaluating that information, weighing outcomes, forming memories- Action: doing something

Brain Functions

Attention

ActionPerception

Cognition

Usability

- Refers to usefulness of UI- Related to how UI facilitates and accommodates the four brain functions of the user

A usable UI manages Attention

Attention

- Simplicity (or complexity) of UI

Attention

- Signal vs. noise

Attention

- Signal vs. noise

Attention

- Channels of attention- High-demand

- Low-demand

A usable UI accommodates Perception

Perception

- Legibility

ColorColorColorColorNo Color

Size mattersContrastContrastContrastContrastContrast

Perception

- Tactility

Perception

- Audibility- Tone- Volume- Pronunciation

A usable UI enables Cognition

Cognition

- Knowledge in the world- Affordances- Sounds- Icons- Prompts- Manuals

Cognition

- Knowledge in the head- Language- Memory- Mental model- Risk and reward

A usable UI facilitates Action

Action

- Expectation- Evaluation

- Feedback from the system- Errors (system vs. user)- Progress indicators

Assessing Usability

- Efficient- Memorable- Satisfactory

Efficient

- Ease of perception- Learning- Error recovery- Steps- Time

Memorable

- Mental model- Redundancy- Vernacular- ‘Chunking’ of information - Redundancy

Satisfactory

- Provides feedback- Goal achievement- Egress (a way out, an exit, finality)

Usability and Experiences

- The whole world is a system- Users strive to achieve goals- Ideally, the world would help them do so efficiently, memorably, and satisfactorily- The world sucks

Usability and Experiences

- We can make the world better: more efficient, more memorable, more satisfactory- Design with principles of usability in mind- Learn about people- Exercise empathy

Designing with Empathy

- Focus on user goals- Simplify processes- Test, test, test- Ask real users

Thanks!

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