These are examples of my teaching experience. I find it one of the most rewarding parts of what I do.
Expectation effect is when the personal expectations of a user affects their perception and behavior.
Examples are everywhere. Advertising uses the expectation effect to convince people that their claims will work, even when there is no evidence of it.
In this illustration, I made an advertisement for Microsoft Windows 8 that makes use of the expectation effect.
Errors are a part of design because designers need to consider that users may try to use their design in unintended ways, and try to offer guidance or reminders about how to use a system correctly.
In general, there are two kinds of errors: Slips and Mistakes.
Slips occur when a user does something out of unconscious habit, such as driving past a turn on a commonly traveled route towards a well-known destination, or visiting a website that they visit all the time, when trying to get to a new one. An example of a preventable slip in software is when you use the word attachment in your Gmail, but don’t add an attachment, Gmail reminds you that you may want to add the attachment before sending.
Mistakes, however, occur when a user makes a conscious mistake, like driving too far into a parking space and bumping the front of your car. Cars can prevent this kind of issue with alarms that let you know when you are about to run into something while parking or backing up.
In this illustration, I created an error dialog that makes the user admit that they are sure that they want to remove a lot of potentially precious data.
Today, I’m presenting on behalf of Library Link NJ on the topics of eBook borrowing and the Basics of Graphic Design.
In this session, we are going to look at using Overdrive to borrow eBooks, a very common method in libraries today. We will spend the rest of the time looking at the basics of Graphic Design concepts, like inspiration, font choice, layout and visual branding. The materials that I am distributing are below.
The graphic design presentation is here.
The eBooks handout (Brisbin, Lemasney, 2014)Â is here.
A complete list of all of my presentation materials is here. Â
The entry point design principle is about making your entry point a place for your user to get past, then enter the deeper space of your place, product, or site. There are a few things to keep in mind in designing a good entry point: Low barriers to entry, incentives to drive users past the entry point, and strong clues about intended navigation or navigation options. A prime example of a great physical entry point is a store that does not interrupt your entry with any sensory interruption, like high traffic between users and the space, or lemonade-stand style interruptions as you enter. Navigation cues should be especially easy to figure out in a store or web site, and should not compete with advertisements or other distractions. There should be incentives for the user to go deeper, such as reminders of popular products or services, and invitations to use them.
In my illustration, I decided to show how entry point theory is applied at lemasney.com.
Desire lines are a development tool that a designer can use from the way that people actually interact with an interface, space, or object before finalizing features, paths, or navigation. It is often used in designing walking paths in a new space to help determine the best place to put a paved path. It is also used in interface design for software and industrial design for tools and other objects, but can be applied in lots of situations.
In this illustration, I made thin lines indicating paths (desire lines) that people used to get from one place to another in a space, and wider pathways reacting to the desired lines that most people chose that might be paved and formalized.
There are times where design is best accomplished by a single, monolithic voice (design by dictator) and other times when it is best done by committee. In cases where stakeholder buy in is not necessary, the design parameters are exceptionally clear, or the scope and timing of the design are narrow, design by dictator may work perfectly. In many other cases however, design is best done by collecting representatives of diverse backgrounds, stakeholder representation, and critical thinking. The design by committee process often takes more time, is often a compromise of many views, and can be frustrating comparative to a single voice, but it often leads to a design that is of higher value to more people. Design by in-group, in which the committee is composed of only like-minded people, can be just as disappointing to a larger audience as design by dictator.
I decided to do an abstract color study illustration of the potential beauty of design by committee, many voices coming together in a reasonable fashion. Meanwhile, I did the design without advice from others. Irony?
Technology and the Arts Special: Art All Night Trenton 2013
