Interface Design for Software Engineers

Mithat Konar

2011–09–27

Interface design

• Many names/subspecialties:
  • Interface design (UI design)
  • Interaction design (IxD)
  • Experience design (XD)
  • User experience design (UXD)

Interface design

• Is it
  • a science?
  • engineering?
  • psychology?
  • design?
  • something else?
• Short answers:
  • Yes.
  • No.

Not a science

• Science requires theory.
• Level of IxD theory is very poor.
  • IxD is a young area.
  • But it’s growing.
• Current theory is not good enough to adequately describe interface/interaction.
• Definitely not good enough to adequeately prescribe interface/interaction.

Involves psychology

• Esp. cognition
• Gestalt
• Affordances
• Neilsen and Norman

Well-suited for designers

• Design methodologies are good for “wicked” problems.
• Interface design is a wicked problem.

Also suitable for engineers

• Analytic approaches are possible
  • Not theory, but structured thinking and methods
• Concepts and patterns for description
  • “Pre-theoretic” generalizations
• Experience-based best practices and testing for prescription
• Engineer must
  • Be comfortable with qualitative assessment
  • Be capable of social orientation