Teeny Tiny Actions and Patterns
Lecture outline
Exploration of more interaction and interface patterns as well as the introduction of microinteractions. Lecture slides will be made available on the day of the lecture (June 22).
Teeny Tiny Actions and Patterns
Microinteractions
Whereas feature design is macro (big), microinteractions focus on the micro (small). One feature will be a series of microinteractions, and as a result, you have likely designed microinteractions before.
Sweating the Details
A microinteraction is a single task. An easy way to think of it is as a sentence: "Khoi adjusts the brightness on his phone display using a slider."
Sweating the Details
A microinteraction is a single task. An easy way to think of it is as a sentence: "Khoi adjusts the brightness of his phone display using a slider."
"Khoi adjusts the brightness of his phone display..." is the task being completed.
"...using a slider." is the object enabling completion of the task.
The Details
Microinteractions are comprised of a couple of pieces:
- A trigger: A user or system initiation.
- Rules: What is being controlled.
- Feedback: A response to the initialization.
Triggers
Triggers for microinteractions can either be user or system initiated. In either case, the user needs to be able to understand and learn the trigger to make effective use of the interaction.
Clear affordances are important for visual triggers
A trigger does not have to be a visible control
From Cult of Mac, triple tap home to dim the screen
From Little Big Details
From Little Big Details
Rules
Rules are the often invisible control or response being solicited by a trigger. It is important to keep in mind the user's mental models, as well as how you help the user understand the rule.
From Little Big Details
From Little Big Details
From Betalogue
Machines Are Better At
Microinteractions can be useful as they can help us with tasks that we (humans) are typically bad at. For example, machines are usually better at:
- Remembering
- "Multi-tasking"
- Searching
- Calculating
You Have Data
Depending on the device your interface lives in, you have access to further information on your user and the context of use. This data may offer you an ability to define better rules. Consider:
- What is possible?
- What do I know?
- What could or should be collected?
Feedback
This is the visual, aural, and/or haptic response your user receives. Your goal here is to give only what is necessary to help them understand the rules and understand the states.
From Little Big Details
From Little Big Details
From Little Big Details
Clippy, a much maligned Office assistant
For lecture...
To help offset some of the in-lab critiques, we are going to start using the second half of lecture for weekly crits starting June 22.
These crits will not be public and will require sign-up in advance. Attending the lecture crit time means you will be free from the lab crit time. There are five slots available per lab (D101, D102, D103).
You can start signing up today by messaging me over the course chat or via email.
Next week's lecture
UI for Humans
A recap of human-specific issues in interface design including (but not limited to) accessibility and culture. Pre-recorded lectures and slides will typically become available the day of the lecture.