Day 4
More on Information Design
and
Theories of human computer interaction
Objectives
 Learn how to organise content
 Understand Norman’s theory of humancomputer interaction
 Understand Grice’s theory of conversational
interaction
 Understand implications of the model for user
interface design
Critical tasks of Information Design
 Define the goals of the product
 Understand your users
 Assess the users’ needs and desires
 Create a content list
 Organise the content
 Produce a content flowchart
Organising your content/tasks
 You might have a good idea after your research
about the content/tasks that will be in your
system, but it must now be organised
 What should have highest priority?
 How will the user get from one part to the next?
 Where will one lot of content/tasks go with respect to
other content/tasks?
 What content/tasks should be grouped together?
From a list to card sorting
 Make a list of all the content/tasks you now
expect to have in your product

You can now use the card sorting technique
The card sorting technique
 video
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzinDOELYjA
 Uxsort (v1.6.0.1)
 http://uxsort.com/download.aspx
Create a content flow diagram
A Simple Website Map
Theories of human computer interaction
Norman’s 7-stage cycle of HCI
Two major implications for a designer
 The designer must bridge the gulf of execution
 Design the system to ease the process of getting from
the intention to the execution
 The designer must bridge the gulf of evaluation
 Design the system so that the response after the user
has performed an action can be easily interpreted and
then evaluated
So how do you bridge these gulfs?
Norman’s four principles
 Norman put forward four design principles that
address the problem of bridging the gulfs




Make things visible
Provide a good conceptual model
Use natural mappings
Give feedback
Make things visible
 Ensure that the user, by looking, can tell the
state of the device and the alternatives for action
Provide a good conceptual model
 Ensure the system image is coherent and consistent
and reflects the model that underlies the system
Use natural mappings
 Ensure there is a natural relationship between the look
of an object and its function
Give feedback
 Give the user full and continuous feedback
Grice’s theory of conversational interaction
 Grice put forward his theory in 1975.
 The theory was concerned with how people
interact during conversations.

Although the theory was developed with
human conversations in mind and was formed
well before computers became common place,
it has relevance today to designing a user
interface.
Grice’s cooperative principle
 Human communication is governed by the
Cooperative Principle.
 That is, people are expected to be cooperative
in a conversation, saying the type of thing that
is required, when it is required, given the
purpose of the conversation.
 Grice put forward four maxims that stem from
the Cooperative Principle:




the
the
the
the
Maxim
Maxim
Maxim
Maxim
of
of
of
of
Quantity
Quality
Relevance
Manner
My “conversation” with the Doc Martin’s site
Doc M: Welcome. Fast connection, click
here.
Me: OK. I click where it says “Click here”.
Hmm nothing happens. Oh, there are radio
buttons off to the right.
(Maxim of Manner breached because it wasn’t
clear where you have to click; and the Maxim
of Quality too)
Continuing on …
Doc M: To enter, click on the dot nearest to where you
live.
Me: Oh, it must send you to information relevant to
different locations in the world. Well, Brisbane is a
long way from Singapore but it’s the closest so I’ll click
on that. But I don’t really want to know about shops in
Singapore.
Doc M: Here is a lot of information about shoes and
Dr. Martens.
Me: Weird, this is just shoe styles. Why was I asked to
click on the dot nearest to where I live?
(Maxim of Relevance breached because being asked
where you live seems irrelevant to the user)
And more …
Doc M: Here’s a shoe, and another, and another,
join us, blueprint, here’s another shoe, feet first,
we’re all ears, here’s another shoe, and another,
feet first, what’s on, store locater, here’s another
shoe, feet first, privacy, check out our new product
ranges!!! terms and conditions, blueprint, feet
first, here’s another shoe.
Me: Woh, it seems like you’re throwing a whole
bunch of stuff at me but you’re not telling me what
to do.
(Maxim of Quantity breached because there’s too
much information being given for the help it is
giving)
And finally …
Me: Just for the heck of it, I’ll click on “what’s on”.
Doc M: News! Dr. Martens is the official
Macromedia site of the day.
Me: My God! Can this be true or has Grice’s Maxim
of Quality been breached!
Don Norman video
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E
_rwwEo5YhY&feature=related
How do you think you could save a
file with this?
What do these mean?
The answer (to slide 25) revealed … drag on the
thumb mark and then drag a file across