This document discusses interaction design and principles for user-centered design. It covers several topics: the seven stages of human action with goals, intentions, actions, feedback, and evaluation; crossing the gulfs of execution and evaluation in design; affordances and how objects provide clues about their use; the ISO principles of suitability, self-descriptiveness, controllability, conformity, error tolerance, individualization and learning; and tradeoffs in design decisions. The document emphasizes designing intuitive interfaces that guide users without the need for manuals.

1. Mater of Arts in Communication Design
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2. Interaction design
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3. Don Norman
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4. Interaction with word
affector
mechanism
receptor
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5. The seven stages of action (1)
1
• Forming the Goal
• Something to be achieved. Can be stated in a very
imprecise way, e.g., "make a nice meal“
2
• Forming the Intention
• Goals must be transformed into intentions, i.e., specific
statements of what has to be done to satisfy the goal. E.g.,
"Make a chicken casserole using a can of prepared sauce.“
3
• Specifying an Action Sequence
• What is to be done to the World. The precise sequence of
operators that must be performed to effect the intention.
E.g., "Defrost frozen chicken, open can, ...“
4
• Executing an Action
• Actually doing something. Putting the action sequence
into effect on the world. E.g., “actually opening the can”
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6. The seven stages of action (2)
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• Perceiving the State of the World
• Perceiving what has actually happened. E.g., “the
experience of smell, taste and look of the the
prepared meal”.
6
7
• Interpreting the State of the World
• Trying to make sense of the perceptions available.
E.g., “Putting those perceptions together to
present the sensory experience of a chicken
casserole”.
• Evaluating the Outcome
• Comparing what happened with what was
wanted. E.g., “did the chicken casserole match up
to the requirement of 'a nice meal?”
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7. How do we make things?
Specify actions
Set
goal
Execute actions
Form intention
Get status of word
Evaluate outcome
Understand status
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8. How do we make things?
Specify actions
Set
goal
Execute actions
Form intention
Get status of word
Evaluate outcome
Understand status
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9. How do we make things?
Specify actions
Set
goal
Execute actions
Form intention
Get status of word
Evaluate outcome
Understand status
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10. How do we make things?
Specify actions
Set
goal
Execute actions
Form intention
Get status of word
Evaluate outcome
Understand status
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11. Objective of good design
• Help users cross the two gulfs
• Without manuals!
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12. When a device as simple as a
door has to come with an
instruction manual—even a
one-word manual—then it is a
failure, poorly designed.
Donald Norman
Not always possible, but is a good target!
Minimize needs for help!
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13. Help vs manuals
• Help is when I get info during the process
• Manual is something I’m supposed to read before and it is not context
sensitive
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14. Interaction design
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15. Sony – 65 buttons!
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16. Affordance
An affordance is a
property of an object, or
an environment, which
allows an individual to
perform an action. For
example, a knob affords
twisting, and perhaps
pushing, while a cord
affords pulling.
Vital instrument to help customer to cross
easily the gulf of evaluation.
Evaluation makes by feedback analysis
easier the execution!
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17. Interaction design
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18. Interaction design
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19. Buttons
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20. Interaction design
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Microsoft Office, 1995
Microsoft BOB, 1995
More an assistant than a guide
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21. Interaction design
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22. The ISO Dialogue Principles
• ISO9241-10
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23. Suitability for the Task
• A dialog supports suitability for the task, if it supports the user in the
effective and efficient completion of the task. The dialog presents
the user only those concepts which are related to the user's task.
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24. Self-Descriptiveness
• A dialog supports self-descriptiveness, if each dialog step is
immediately comprehensible through feedback from the system or is
explained to the user on his or her requesting the relevant
information.
Microsoft Word for WindowsT
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25. Controllability
• A dialog supports controllability, if the user is able to maintain
direction over the whole course of the interaction until the point at
which the goal has been met.
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26. Conformity with User Expectations
• A dialog supports conformity with user expectations, if it corresponds
to the user's task knowledge, education, experience, and to
commonly held conventions.
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27. Error Tolerance
• A dialog supports error tolerance if, despite evident errors in input,
the intended results may be achieved with either no or minimal
corrective action having to be taken. Errors should be explained to
the user for him or her to correct them.
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28. Suitability for Individualization
• A dialog supports suitability for individualization, if the dialog system
is constructed to allow for modification to the user's individual
needs and skills for a given task.
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29. Suitability for Learning
• A dialog supports suitability for learning, if it guides the user through
the learning stages minimizing the learning time.
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30. Choose the best (1)
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31. Interaction design
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32. Interaction design
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33. Choose the best (2)
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34. Interaction design
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35. Interaction design
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36. “There are no simple
answers,
only tradeoffs”
Donald A.Norman
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37. Roberto Dadda
www.dadda.it
roberto@dadda.it
+39 338 775 22 03
Twitter, facebook, linkedin: robertodadda
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