This document discusses principles of visual perception and Gestalt psychology. It introduces concepts like proximity, similarity, closure, symmetry, continuity and common fate which are principles that describe how our brain groups visual elements. It discusses "laws" like Hick's law, Fitts' law, and the Von Restorff effect which explain how factors like number of choices, target size and distance, and uniqueness influence decision making and memory. The document uses examples of images to demonstrate how these principles and laws can be applied or broken in user interface design. It aims to explain how an understanding of visual perception can help create more effective digital products and user experiences.
The document discusses the concept of gamification and how game mechanics and thinking can be applied to engage audiences and solve problems. It provides examples of how game play has become a significant part of people's lives and explores research showing cognitive benefits of game playing, such as improved problem solving abilities and enhanced capacity for processing visual information. The document suggests gamification could be a way to motivate behavior change and addresses arguments that game playing is a waste of time by highlighting the potential impacts on jobs, society, and other areas.
This document discusses using games to facilitate knowledge co-creation. It introduces the ATLAS game, which is used to teach co-development methods through collaborative game play. The game involves 3-5 players who work together to plan a service project by placing question cards on a game board and discussing the answers. The document analyzes how activity systems shape player roles and interactions during game play. Tensions can arise from the relationships between tools, rules, objectives and roles defined by the game.
- The document discusses the limitations of small screens for mobile games and how to design effectively for them based on principles of visual perception and cognitive psychology.
- Key limitations of small screens include their size, which affects what level of detail users can perceive, as well as the distracting environments they are often used in.
- Research suggests using high contrast, simplified visuals like outlines and cartoons rather than realistic graphics to ensure the most important information stands out and is accessible. Gestalt principles of proximity, similarity and closure can also help direct user attention.
- The level of visual detail users can perceive depends on factors like screen size and distance from the eyes, so game designs need to account for perceiving only overall
This is an introduction to the most important psychology concepts from the perspective of UX and their application to video games and software.
These slides were prepared by Dr. Marc Miquel. All the materials used in them are referenced to their authors.
This document provides the names and student IDs of five group members for a project on postdigital topics. It also includes an agenda for their presentation covering five topics: postdigital body and generation; geocaching at Stob Burg; Pokémon Go and virtual reality; a VR experience at the Tate Modern; and postdigital emotions depicted in an episode of Black Mirror.
A bigger view of UX doesn't need a bigger screenEric Reiss
User experience has been around since the dawn of time. But for most people and their employers, UX is something that happens on a two-dimentional interface – a laptop, a tablet, a smartphone. As a result, our talents, as UX professionals, are limiting our career opportunities. Service design is part of UX. So is product design. As our discipline matures, we need to move beyond the digital interfaces and demonstrate how our skills can be applied to many other areas.
I made my first product design improvement at the age of three (I will provide photographic proof). And I have been thinking about user experience throughout my life. I would like to share some stories with my friends in Slovakia that I hope will help them grow their careers, strengthen their community, and enhance their national presence on the international scene.
Keynote for the Third International Conference on ICT in Education - ticEDUCA2014, at the Institute of Education of the University of Lisbon, on 15 November 2014.
This document summarizes a research paper about how video games can teach essential life skills. It discusses how video games may enhance critical thinking, complex problem solving, empathy and sympathy, and visual spatial processing. It provides examples of how games like Uncharted 4, Metal Gear Solid V, and Portal teach these skills. The document concludes that while more research is still needed, many studies have shown video games' potential to impart important skills beyond just entertainment.
The document discusses the concept of gamification and how game mechanics and thinking can be applied to engage audiences and solve problems. It provides examples of how game play has become a significant part of people's lives and explores research showing cognitive benefits of game playing, such as improved problem solving abilities and enhanced capacity for processing visual information. The document suggests gamification could be a way to motivate behavior change and addresses arguments that game playing is a waste of time by highlighting the potential impacts on jobs, society, and other areas.
This document discusses using games to facilitate knowledge co-creation. It introduces the ATLAS game, which is used to teach co-development methods through collaborative game play. The game involves 3-5 players who work together to plan a service project by placing question cards on a game board and discussing the answers. The document analyzes how activity systems shape player roles and interactions during game play. Tensions can arise from the relationships between tools, rules, objectives and roles defined by the game.
- The document discusses the limitations of small screens for mobile games and how to design effectively for them based on principles of visual perception and cognitive psychology.
- Key limitations of small screens include their size, which affects what level of detail users can perceive, as well as the distracting environments they are often used in.
- Research suggests using high contrast, simplified visuals like outlines and cartoons rather than realistic graphics to ensure the most important information stands out and is accessible. Gestalt principles of proximity, similarity and closure can also help direct user attention.
- The level of visual detail users can perceive depends on factors like screen size and distance from the eyes, so game designs need to account for perceiving only overall
This is an introduction to the most important psychology concepts from the perspective of UX and their application to video games and software.
These slides were prepared by Dr. Marc Miquel. All the materials used in them are referenced to their authors.
This document provides the names and student IDs of five group members for a project on postdigital topics. It also includes an agenda for their presentation covering five topics: postdigital body and generation; geocaching at Stob Burg; Pokémon Go and virtual reality; a VR experience at the Tate Modern; and postdigital emotions depicted in an episode of Black Mirror.
A bigger view of UX doesn't need a bigger screenEric Reiss
User experience has been around since the dawn of time. But for most people and their employers, UX is something that happens on a two-dimentional interface – a laptop, a tablet, a smartphone. As a result, our talents, as UX professionals, are limiting our career opportunities. Service design is part of UX. So is product design. As our discipline matures, we need to move beyond the digital interfaces and demonstrate how our skills can be applied to many other areas.
I made my first product design improvement at the age of three (I will provide photographic proof). And I have been thinking about user experience throughout my life. I would like to share some stories with my friends in Slovakia that I hope will help them grow their careers, strengthen their community, and enhance their national presence on the international scene.
Keynote for the Third International Conference on ICT in Education - ticEDUCA2014, at the Institute of Education of the University of Lisbon, on 15 November 2014.
This document summarizes a research paper about how video games can teach essential life skills. It discusses how video games may enhance critical thinking, complex problem solving, empathy and sympathy, and visual spatial processing. It provides examples of how games like Uncharted 4, Metal Gear Solid V, and Portal teach these skills. The document concludes that while more research is still needed, many studies have shown video games' potential to impart important skills beyond just entertainment.
The Procedural Rhetoric of Pedagogy: A Reflection on Teaching Digital Storyte...Leah Henrickson
Presented at the Electronic Literature Organization Conference (30 May 2022 - 1 June 2022), hosted annually by the Electronic Literature Organization. Connects Ian Bogost's concept of procedural rhetoric to a university 'Digital Storytelling' classroom.
Full script available upon request.
Ari introduces the concept of productive play and how playful experiences can exist in non-playful contexts like professional work. Some examples are the pull-to-refresh gesture in iOS and tapping the status bar to scroll to the top of a page, which feel playful through their animations and interactions. Siri also introduces playfulness through its personality. These small playful details humanize our experience with technology and help us emotionally connect with systems in a way that is important to our humanity. Play allows us to engage with objects and our environment through discovery, self-actualization and social interaction, and helps remind us that we are alive.
Through Their Eyes Using VR to Simulate Retinal Disease & Empathize with ...UXPA Boston
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UX 101: The secrets of good (web & mobile) designMary Lan
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Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of machines to exhibit human-like intelligence. The document discusses the history and applications of AI. It defines AI as a man-made thinking power and explains that AI exists when a machine can perform tasks like learning, reasoning, and problem-solving. Examples of AI applications include autonomous spacecraft planning, beating humans at chess, driving driverless cars, language translation, and monitoring the stock market for insider trading. The document also discusses narrow AI, general AI, super AI, and different types of AI systems based on their capabilities.
This document discusses how alternative and mixed reality technologies can reshape industries like entertainment, advertising, education, and healthcare. It argues that these technologies allow for more connected, personalized, and participatory experiences compared to traditional methods. Specifically, it outlines how alternative reality experiences could reinvent entertainment by making audiences more engaged participants, reinvent advertising by focusing on relationships rather than data collection, reinvent education by blending formal and informal learning, and reinvent healthcare by using immersive stories to positively influence mental health and habits. The document promotes a platform called Conducttr that aims to facilitate these kinds of alternative and mixed reality experiences.
This document discusses the role of dreaming in AI-human interactions and the impacts of virtual reality technologies. It summarizes a presentation on how increased immersion in virtual worlds through activities like video game playing may influence dreaming. The author's lab studies gamers' dreams and has found some gamers incorporate gaming content and scenarios into their dreams. The lab's research also suggests gaming may increase lucid and bizarreness in dreams, and influence how threats are simulated. The conclusions question whether these changes reflect improved cognition or creativity from extensive virtual world exposure and immersion.
This document provides an introduction to virtual environments and virtual reality. It defines key terms like virtual, reality, and what constitutes the first virtual reality. It discusses the progression from early storytelling to more immersive multi-sensory virtual experiences. Important components of virtual reality are identified as interactivity, immersion, and imagination. Definitions of virtual reality emphasize real-time simulation and interaction through multiple sensory channels. Key elements are identified as the virtual world, immersion, sensory feedback, and interactivity. Examples of applications are discussed including entertainment, design visualization, training, and clinical uses.
"Narrative Design and the Psychology of Emotions and Immersion in Games" by S...Sherry Jones
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The Metagame Book Club is a K-12 and College professional development institution that offers free webinars, discussions, live chats, and other interactive activities on the topics of game-based learning, game studies, gamification, and games in general.
Interested in joining us? Visit our website here:
The Metagame Book Club
http://bit.ly/metagamebookclub
Computer vision aims to build machines that can see like humans. The document introduces computer vision, discussing how it takes images from cameras and analyzes them using software to understand scenes. While deep learning is popular, understanding first principles is important for tasks where data is limited, to understand failures, and because curiosity drives humans to understand how things work. The document outlines the modules to be covered, including imaging, features, 3D reconstruction from single and multiple views, and perception.
The document provides an overview of a game design course. It discusses how games are a major form of entertainment in the 21st century and combines game worlds, rule sets, and player engagement. Students in the course will iteratively design, visualize, develop, document, and test unique game concepts. Effective game design operates within constraints like gameplay mechanics. The course also examines the relationship between artist, designer, and player. It introduces students to game design fundamentals and the discipline of designing games.
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Exploration of how to apply game design principles to invite more voices into the design and use of machine learning / data science systems. Picture credit: https://unsplash.com/photos/gFFhJPuERII.
Harry Collins - Testing Machines as Social Prostheses - EuroSTAR 2013TEST Huddle
This document discusses the use of Hawk-Eye technology in tennis line judging and whether humans or machines can make more accurate judgments. It describes an experiment where a blind person pretends to be a tennis fan and discusses Hawk-Eye with a sighted tennis expert to test their knowledge. The expert expresses uncertainty around human ability to accurately judge ball flights within millimeters but acknowledges Hawk-Eye is still imperfect. A second blind respondent judges the interaction, finding inconsistencies that suggest the first was actually sighted.
Gameplay usability is important for interactive game interfaces. Ubisoft's criteria focuses on avoiding confusion through clear signs and feedback, making gameplay comfortable through minimal workload and flexibility, and provoking action through cues and information about game state. Key principles for design include visibility of elements, consistency in behaviors and terminology, and accounting for human cognitive limitations like short attention spans and memory through grouping, context, and repetition. Modes should also be carefully managed to prevent user errors.
This document discusses emotional design and how emotions can be designed for in everyday human activities. It begins by defining design and outlining the different types of design including technology-driven, aesthetics-driven, and emotional-driven design. It then discusses what emotions are from a cognitive perspective involving cognitive evaluation, physiological changes, and action. A model of emotional design is presented involving user signals/inputs, perception, constraints, and emotion/outputs. Various methods for measuring emotions are also outlined including the human processor model, neuroscientific methods like EEG and fMRI, facial coding systems, and more. Finally, laws of perception, aesthetics, and cognition are briefly discussed.
"Everything I need to know I learnt from World of Warcraft": why we might nee...Martin Oliver
Ascilite 2010 keynote
"Everything I need to know I learnt from World of Warcraft": why we might need to start asking better questions about games, simulations and virtual worlds
Like many areas of educational technology research, a lot of the work that focuses on games, simulations and virtual worlds consists of case studies that demonstrate proof of concept, enthusiastic position pieces or success stories. All of this is important: we need to know what sort of things we can use these technologies to do, so as to build a broader repertoire of teaching practices. However, this kind of focus neglects a range of other questions and issues that may prove more important in the longer term.
For example, educational research about games typically emphasises the way that playing motivates players; it ignores how successful games (such as massively multiplayer online games) often feel like work, and it also glosses over the way that bringing a game inside the curriculum changes the way that 'players' relate to it. There are also inconsistencies in the way games are thought about: the idea that they cause violence is often criticised as over-simplistic, yet the idea that they cause learning isn't. In virtual worlds, opportunities to create new identities is widespread, but questions about how this relates to our embodied relationships are rarely asked. In simulations, 'realism' is celebrated - but this means that simulations will always be second best to actual experiences, and it ignores how groups can disagree about whether something is realistic or not. Across this work, the complexity of learning and teaching seems hidden by the desire to promote the value of these technologies.
This talk will offer some examples of work that, in small ways, try to engage with these kinds of issue. Different priorities will be suggested, which invite a new kind of engagement with research and practice in this area.
Jeff Johnson at BayCHI: Designing with the Mind in MindBayCHI
Jeff Johnson at BayCHI in July 2010: Designing with the Mind in Mind: The Psychological Basis for UI Design Rules
http://www.baychi.org/calendar/20100713/
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This document provides an introduction to virtual environments and virtual reality. It defines key terms like virtual, reality, and what constitutes the first virtual reality. It discusses the progression from early storytelling to more immersive multi-sensory virtual experiences. Important components of virtual reality are identified as interactivity, immersion, and imagination. Definitions of virtual reality emphasize real-time simulation and interaction through multiple sensory channels. Key elements are identified as the virtual world, immersion, sensory feedback, and interactivity. Examples of applications are discussed including entertainment, design visualization, training, and clinical uses.
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3. The Plan
What is this meet-up?
Introductions round the table
Does our brain perceive things as they exist on a page or screen?
Gestalt Principles of Visual Perception
Bad UI game
Other UX “Laws” (not exhaustive!)
3
5. Our brain often interprets what is
on the page or screen to be
something else.
5
6. Bad design is everywhere...
Crane foot-operated switches. Image from Gerry Miller.Staff washroom, Dubai. Image from Silver Moor Business
Consulting 6
9. Gestalt psychology is an attempt to understand
the laws behind the ability to acquire and
maintain meaningful perceptions in an
apparently chaotic world.
Wikipedia
9
10. "The whole is something else than the sum of
its parts"
Kurt Koffka - Gestalt Psychologist
10
30. The Von Restorff Effect
The Von Restorff effect, also known as The Isolation Effect, predicts that when multiple
similar objects are present, the one that differs from the rest is most likely to be remembered.
30
35. Summary
We perceive “wholes”
first
Our perception and
understanding is not
formed from the parts of
an object or image
We like to group things
There are many ways our
visual perception system
groups things to help us
make sense of the world
Size, uniqueness, and
quantity have an effect
When interacting with an
interface, the size, quantity
and colours we use have
an effect on how successful
it will be.
35
Who am i - ux consultant - eux - ux bmth - ux insider - but frustrated no smaller ux meetups locally. I’d love for this to not just be me talking at people - trying to make this as interactive as possible with lots of discussions - and it’s cool if you want to get involved for future meetups
Look at the cards on the table...what is on the cards are simple shapes, and our eyes see that, but our brains and perception systems translate that differently. This is a big problem if you are work in an industry placing shapes and lines on screens for people to look at!
When you talk about visual perception, it’s impossible not to talk about gestalt psychology. So i’m going to chat briefly about what that means so we all understand.
Other “laws” - not actual laws - think of them as further guidelines that are useful in creating user interfaces
I want to start with some mind bending things. Does anyone have a problem with this being on the screen, it can be a bit upsetting if you have problems with your eyes or suffer from epilepsy and so on. I’m going to hand out a few more cards that demonstrate…
This one looks like the rows are sloping at angles, when in fact they are not. On the screen they are flat.
So this can be a major problem when we are designing things for other human beings to use. When you don’t design for the way we see the world, you get quite a few issues arising.
I want to talk about why this applies to the design we do. Are these washbasins or urinals?
These are foot controls in a crane. One round button controls the operators microphone to the ground crew, the other operates the emergency shut down on the crane. A lot of these design issues come down to the designer not considering how our perception system works. They haven’t considered proximity and similarity in these cases. Well those aren’t webpages or apps, but...
This is the old layout, but it demonstrates the same principle.
And this one from the Trainline I tap the wrong button every single time. I spend ages scrolling through each one of these to set up the date and time, only to accidentally tap “same day” and reset them all again!
UI’s tend to be designed in separate pieces, so we can forget the end result will be perceived as a whole by the end user. So the webpages and apps we are designing and creating, these can end up being quite chaotic to our visual system. Websites and apps that violate the way our visual perception system works, is where poor usability breeds, and therefore bad user experiences. So what to do? Well Gestalt Psychology to the rescue…
A huge part of why lots of designs don’t work is down to not designing things to satisfy the way we perceive the world. Gestalt Psychology gives us some rules we need to stick to when we design things that humans have to look at or interact with.
Gestalt psychology is a philosophy of mind of the Berlin School of experimental psychology.
Early 20th century theorists, such as Kurt Koffka, Max Wertheimer, and Wolfgang Köhler helped to form most of the theories around Gestalt Psychology
2] is often incorrectly translated[3] as "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts". This is not a principle of addition" he said.[5] The whole has an independent existence.
Emergence - Dog is not recognized by first identifying its parts and inferring the dog from those component parts. Dog appears as a whole, all at once.
Reification - what you perceive contains more spatial information than the image actually has. Illusory contours seen as real contours.
Multistability - ambiguous perceptual experiences that pop back and forth instabley between alternative interpretations - MC Escher - figure ground
Invariance - simple geometric objects are recognised regardless of rotation, translation, and scale.
Humans are constantly bombarded with visual stimuli , to stop us losing our minds we like to try and group things together to be more regular, orderly, symmetrical and simple. So we unify these signals into groups.
A lot of these things are common sense - but perhaps you don’t know why?
There are more grouping laws, i’m just concentrating on 6 illustrated here that you might find most useful as digital designers.
So, i’m going to put out some prints of some terrible interfaces - mainly microwaves and parking ticket machines - as I describe each one, see if you can circle on the picture where this law is broken (or observed!), good and bad is ok!
There are more grouping laws, i’m just concentrating on 6 illustrated here that you might find most useful as digital designers.
So, i’m going to put out some prints of some terrible interfaces - mainly microwaves and parking ticket machines - as I describe each one, see if you can circle on the picture where this law is broken (or observed!), good and bad is ok!
This site gives you so many options for the shoes - this is standard form for trainer sites, people love to dream. But applying this amount of options to other sites may not work.
This company is now in administration - getting these screenshots was quite hard!
Pre selected options
Only when you select Womens does the size appear
Much better way of drip feeding the options as the user needs them to avoid overwhelming them
What is giving you too much choice?
This was the example I thought was a good example. So many predefined settings, not even grouped together properly!
1954, psychologist Paul Fitts
fast movements and small targets result in greater error rates, due to the speed-accuracy trade-off.
speed-accuracy tradeoff. in many types of perceptual-motor tasks, there is a tradeoff between how fast a task can be performed and how many mistakes are made in performing the task. That is, a user can either perform the task very fast with a large number of errors or very slow with very few errors.
They key is to keep things you want users to tap/click closer and make them slightly bigger to reduce errors and time taken to complete. Also, placing items radially, or near edges is found to improve accuracy.
Button clickable area only extends to the edge of the text, rather than the edge of the button
Ubuntu screenshot - there is a text filter at the top, and a file filter at the bottom - but these would most likley be used in succession (yet are far apart)
The start button is so tiny, and surrounded by other buttons. The chance of innacuracy is high here.
This is a useful law to apply if you want the user to click soemthing, your next Call To Action. This might be a call to buy something, or progress along a series of screens like a “next” button, and so on.
It might also be the prominent option in a series of subscription options, this is the Von Restorff effect. Isolating the key item you want their visual system to pay more attention too.
This is a real tough one!
The yellow button is more prominent, but actually you’re supposed to press the grey one with the red arrow - someone has placed that there retrospectively to stop people making the error of pressing the yellow one.
1. We don’t see the logical or literal layout that is set out on a page or screen. It goes through our own perceptual filter. Our eyes and our brain work together, and often see something quite different to what is there.
2. To combat the chaotic amount of things we are bombarded with moment to moment, part of our perception system likes to group things together.
3.
I’ve also printed out some feedback forms with some ideas of future topics. There are some contact details on there for if you want to host the next one and propose a topic, or work together to co host something if that works better.