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Interaction Design Fundamentals

Interaction Design

Interaction Design (IxD) focuses on designing products that users can successfully interact with.

Designing With Affordances

An affordance is what an individual expects can be done with an object given its properties and their own abilities. Designers should be aware of how people might perceive the potential uses of an object, based on past experience and convention, and design accordingly.

Ten Usability Heuristics

The ten usability heuristics, developed by Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman, are a set of ten general principles for good interaction design. They help designers assess where a design is excelling and falling short, and what trade-offs are being made in a design process. Examples of heuristics include visibility of system status, consistency and standards, and flexibility and efficiency of use.

An illustrated list of Jakob Nielsen's ten usability heuristics.

Match between system and real world

Match between system and the real world, one of the ten usability heuristics, states that the design should use language that is familiar to the user. Information should be presented in a natural and logical way based on real-world conventions.

Recognition rather than recall

Recognition rather than recall, one of the ten usability heuristics, states that the design should limit the need for the user to remember information that is required to use the interface.

Aesthetic and minimalist design

Aesthetic and minimalist design, one of the ten usability heuristics, states that the design should not include information that is irrelevant or rarely needed.

Help and documentation

Help and documentation, one of the ten usability heuristics, states that the design may need to offer documentation that helps users complete certain tasks.

Consistency and standards

Consistency and standards, one of the ten usability heuristics, states that users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Designs should adhere to platform and industry conventions.

Error recognition and recovery

Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors, one of the ten usability heuristics, states that error messages should use plain language (no error codes), clearly explain the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.

User control and freedom

User control and freedom, one of the ten usability heuristics, states that the design should allow users to cancel or back out of actions done by mistake.

Flexibility and efficiency of use

Flexibility and efficiency of use, one of the ten usability heuristics, states that the design should offer shortcuts so that expert users can speed up interactions or customize frequent actions.

Error Prevention

Error prevention, one of the ten usability heuristics, states that the design should help the user avoid making errors.

Visibility of System Status

Visibility of system status, one of the ten usability heuristics, states that the design should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within a reasonable amount of time.

5 Dimensions of Interaction Design

The five dimensions of interaction design are words, visual representations, physical objects and space, time, and behavior.

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