Human Factors of Computer Interface Design

I highly recommend that you read (closely) these two blog posts that illustrate principles we discussed in class recently:

• Gestalt principles of visual perception – on Shweta’s blog
• Nielsen’s 10 heuristics – on Spencer’s blog

I am learning A LOT by reading everyone’s posts and I urge you to read them, too. If email is unreliable, please subscribe to them using the WordPress reader or Feedly, an RSS feed reader (that’s what I use).

• Kanrawi’s bad design example will make you laugh
• Deok reflects on the dinner conversation with John Yuda and my driving. 🙂 He engages and provides some ideas for a design solution, while citing a book I’d like all of you to hear about.
• Xin comes up with a new idea for saving quotes and annotations while reading – a combination of brain and natural user interface. Nifty!
• Jack’s post is a good example of a breakthrough idea – please put more effort into identifying breakthrough ideas and blogging about them!
• SW approaches the golden child of interface design – amazon.com and GASP! critiques it. She brings a new perspective that enables her to see problems others miss.
• Dylan’s reading notes make 2 good points: 1) a lot of excise in chapter 14!; 2) some neat videos of informal user research on Windows 8
• AK reviewed a very interesting article about creating personas from usage metrics. Check it out and see what you think about the idea.

Oh, and… remember to take Eddy’s poll about blogging! It would be interesting to know your habits. And, thank you Eddy for creating a calendar resource that all students can use!

Some of the posts that stood out to me this week:

• Suren’s top 5 lists of important sites, people, books, etc. about usability (though, after hearing how much time it took to write that post, I’d say – don’t spend that much time on a blog post!)
• Also Suren’s recommendation of two documentaries about typography – great to watch as you relax a bit over October break
• Stew’s presentation reflection, which includes links to usability guidelines from major companies

Bonus link:

How to stand out in an interview – fantastic post from one of my favorite blogs out there, Lifehacker.

What stood out to you this week from what you read online?

Do you like the collection of Week’s best? Let me know by rating or commenting!

I almost forgot I used to do this… so this is not a comprehensive list, but here are a couple of posts that stood out to me from this past week:

Nick provides an example of an optical illusion that shows the difference between children and adults’ visual perception. I think he posted this while we were having this conversation in class -wish he’d shared it then!

Kanrawi makes a very clear point in her reading reflection – if you understand the human mind, you can create your own guidelines for whatever new environment/technology comes up, rather than have to wait for someone to tell you what to do/not do.

Oh, and Carol has been on a roll – she wrote quite a few posts on her blog last week, and they all demonstrate a clear understanding of course concepts, so head over and take a look!

What were some of your favorite posts from last week?