Thursday, July 07, 2005
HCI, Usability, and beyond...
As a consultant, I'm often involved in improving the usability of software products. Sometimes, I'm called in after the fact, and I can only suggest a few changes here and there. In other cases, I've the chance to influence the human-computer interaction from the very beginning. In both cases, the way I approach interaction design depends heavily on my customer.
Some of the companies I work with are somewhat conservative. They are honestly interested in improving the user's experience. They value usability and ergonomics standard like ISO 9241 and ISO/IEC 11581 (which can be very useful at times, especially to settle down controversy by appealing to an international standard :-). They love the idea of making everything easier: "Don't Make me Think", by Steve Krug, is usually on their bookshelves. But they won't (for instance) change an interface based on their terminology and information architecture (which they consider "professional") to another based on the terminology and the (possibly fuzzy) mental model of a casual user, although the latter would be so much easier to understand for anybody outside the company.
Some of the companies I work with, however, enjoy a true freedom in the design of the user interaction. Here, I try to apply the best method I've ever found to create a pleasant user experience: the concept of personas, as introduced by Alan Cooper in "The Inmates Are Running The Asylum" (my Italian readers can also get a good translation from Apogeo, "Il Disagio Tecnologico").
If you are involved in interaction design, do yourself a favor: get the book. It's a short and nice read. You don't have to agree on each and every detail, but if you find yourself in strong disagreement, please leave GUI design to someone else :-)).
Beware: many software developers find the idea of personas too child-like. Or, they think it's not their job to think like that, or to get to know the user like that, and so on. Cooper thinks a programmer can't possibly double as a good interaction designer. I don't agree on that (well, Cooper himself has been a programmer, so... :-). But I'm pretty sure that interaction design it's not for everyone.
Next time: why I don't like grids. Gee, this may put an old friend of mine out of the publishing business :-).
Some of the companies I work with are somewhat conservative. They are honestly interested in improving the user's experience. They value usability and ergonomics standard like ISO 9241 and ISO/IEC 11581 (which can be very useful at times, especially to settle down controversy by appealing to an international standard :-). They love the idea of making everything easier: "Don't Make me Think", by Steve Krug, is usually on their bookshelves. But they won't (for instance) change an interface based on their terminology and information architecture (which they consider "professional") to another based on the terminology and the (possibly fuzzy) mental model of a casual user, although the latter would be so much easier to understand for anybody outside the company.
Some of the companies I work with, however, enjoy a true freedom in the design of the user interaction. Here, I try to apply the best method I've ever found to create a pleasant user experience: the concept of personas, as introduced by Alan Cooper in "The Inmates Are Running The Asylum" (my Italian readers can also get a good translation from Apogeo, "Il Disagio Tecnologico").
If you are involved in interaction design, do yourself a favor: get the book. It's a short and nice read. You don't have to agree on each and every detail, but if you find yourself in strong disagreement, please leave GUI design to someone else :-)).
Beware: many software developers find the idea of personas too child-like. Or, they think it's not their job to think like that, or to get to know the user like that, and so on. Cooper thinks a programmer can't possibly double as a good interaction designer. I don't agree on that (well, Cooper himself has been a programmer, so... :-). But I'm pretty sure that interaction design it's not for everyone.
Next time: why I don't like grids. Gee, this may put an old friend of mine out of the publishing business :-).
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Sono contento di aver monitorato il tuo sito nel tempo alla ricerca di novità che per i tuoi numerosi impegni di lavoro venivano pubblicate col contagocce. Sono ancora più contento di aver messo un link al tuo blog nei miei preferiti perché lo trovo ricchissimo di spunti interessanti (anche quando abbracciano l'IT solo di striscio, come le gite con la tua amata ;-) e poi sono per me ottima occasione per tenere allenato l'inglese, purtroppo solo letto!
Buon lavoro e continua così. Se proprio devi cambiare, migliora ancora :-))
Buon lavoro e continua così. Se proprio devi cambiare, migliora ancora :-))
# posted by 
: 8:51 AM
: 8:51 AM
Grazie :-)).
Per ora sei l'unico coraggioso :-) che lascia qualche commento, anche se a leggere sono tanti...
Il blog e' uno step interessante verso la destrutturazione della scrittura, una volta o l'altra dovrei scriverci su qualcosa :-)), una sorta di tautoblog :-).
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Per ora sei l'unico coraggioso :-) che lascia qualche commento, anche se a leggere sono tanti...
Il blog e' uno step interessante verso la destrutturazione della scrittura, una volta o l'altra dovrei scriverci su qualcosa :-)), una sorta di tautoblog :-).
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