![\""are](\"http:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/the-impossible-art-of-li-wei.jpg\" "\\"the-impossible-art-of-li-wei\\"")
are you sure this is how i save a file?<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Attention: <\/span><\/p>\n Primarily, we need to understand how users are directed through a task, and the tools we can use to focus or divert attention. This is commonly seen on websites as a ‘call to action’. For example, Google\u2019s sparse design draws immediate attention to its ‘search’ functionality, as this is what Google want user’s to do.<\/p>\n Colour, ordering, spacing and animation can all be used to help attract or divert attention, as well as avoiding over cluttering. Humans are particularly drawn to moving items (like the T-Rex in Jurassic Park), and so this is a tool we can use to attract attention<\/p>\n click where to claim my free prize?<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Eye scans showing that people read websites in an ‘F pattern’. Like the shape of a capital F, people will scan along the first line, and then down the page, highlighting mainly on the first word of each sentence, and only occasionally reading a sentence all the way across. This means that people will skim past alot of important sentences, like this one where reading to the end could win you money. It won\u2019t. But you should have read it anyway.<\/p>\n Perception:<\/span><\/p>\n Perception seems a bit obvious – it can be visual, auditory or tactile (i.e. force feedback), and changes based on context. There are a few things we need to take into account based on the limits of our perception – text should be legible, icons should be easy to interpret, that sort of thing. Studies done into advertising and copywriting show us simple rules we can follow to make websites and programs more readable \u2013 for example it\u2019s easier to read high contrast items, and black on white is read quicker than white on black. Furthermore white space is important in readability.<\/p>\n Memory:<\/span><\/p>\n People find recognition easier than recall. To aid this, we want to make things visually consistent, so that people will recognise features they’ve used before, rather than having to remember them. In the before-times, we use to have to remember commands for a terminal (i.e. erase all) and type them in to execute the command. Now GUI\u2019s allow us to present these options on a screen, and have a user select them. Images will aid this, as people remember images easier than they remember words. The user will recognise an icon they\u2019ve used before, and select it to perform the same task.<\/p>\n GIS tells us this is a memorable icon<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n So, who\u2019s done this right? We’ve been asked to identify 3 products we like using, and 3 we don\u2019t. I’ll also be seeing how they fit in with the cognitive processes talked about above<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n So what did the ones that were good do?<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Just a small design failure this week, but a mystery to me (would welcome comments with solutions). This is the water machine at work:<\/p>\n water machine<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n We can see there are 5 buttons, all with icons. It\u2019s these icons I\u2019m having trouble with.<\/p>\n The big button has a picture of some drops of water. I\u2019m assuming, due to its prominence, and the fact that I tried it, that this button makes water come out. Great<\/p>\n Now for the four smaller buttons.<\/p>\n Two, very confusingly, have the same picture on (a glass with some ice cubes in). I can\u2019t tell whether these buttons do the same thing, or different things. The same icon would suggest the same function, but maybe not.<\/p>\n The icons on the other side \u2013 a steaming mug, and a steaming mug with a plus on, I assume do hot water. And\u2026 hotter water? Does that mean that the two ice cube buttons do cold water, and colder water? But then why no plus on one of those buttons? And which one would be colder?<\/p>\n It\u2019s a mystery to me!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Understanding Cognition In order to design a positive user experience, it is important to understand how humans work from a cognitive perspective. There are three aspects of this attention, perception and memory. By understanding what humans can and can\u2019t do, we can create models of behaviour and guidelines that will aid the user experience design, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[30],"class_list":["post-188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-user-research","tag-cognition","grve-entry-item","grve-blog-item"],"yoast_head":"\n![\""click](\"http:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/news_trex.jpg\" "\\"news_trex\\"")
![\"GIS](\"http:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/memorable-icon.jpg\" "\\"memorable"){kind=icon}
3 User Experience Winners<\/h3>\n
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3 User Experience Losers.<\/h3>\n
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Similarities & Differences<\/h3>\n
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\nIn contrast, the items that I considered had a negative user experience<\/p>\n\n
Design failure \u2013 Water Machine <\/h3>\n
![\"water](\"http:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/IMG_0139.jpg\" "\\"IMG_0139\\"")