INP 153: Designing for the User Experience I

1
INP 153 Designing for the User Experience I

• Lecture 7 Visual Vocabulary
• Review for Midterm

2
What is a visual vocabulary?

• A visual vocabulary is a set of icons that you
  use to communicate the form and function of a
  system in a blue-print.
• Particularly useful early in design process to
  convey important design decisions to team.

3
What can a visual vocabulary convey?

• They are a tool for blue-prints, so they are used
  to communicate aspects of the system to
  colleagues.
• They offer a standard way to present paths the
  different routes a user can take, actions the
  ways users decide on their paths, and results
  what occurs as a result of actions.

4
Rules of thumb for a visual vocabulary

• Should be simple enough to draw by hand.
• Do not use a special feature available in online
  one graphics application. In other words, your
  visual-vocabulary for be tool-independent
  regardless of the application used, everyone
  should be able to use the visual vocabulary.

5
Where to learn more

• Read A Visual Vocabulary for Describing
  Information Architecture and Interaction Design

6
Standard Vocabulary
page
file
page stack
file stack
upstream movement not permitted
downstream movement
Multi-directionality
7
Group project

• Your company is designing a cellular phone. You
  are supposed to come up with a rudimentary
  blue-print for the following functions/components
  
• home screen, text messaging, roaming
  notification, game collection, digital camera,
  voicemail, phone book, phone settings
• Keep in mind that you have different buttons
  that perform multiple functions. Design your
  blue-prints to show this.

8
The usefulness of a visual vocabulary

• Consistency is the key behind a visual
  vocabulary. If you are consistent, then you
  probably wont have to spend too much time
  describing your vocabulary your colleagues will
  learn it implicitly!

9
Midterm Review

• Make sure you understand all of the key words
  available on the course website!
• Dont just memorize the books definition look
  up multiple sources. Youll save time and learn
  the material better.

10
Midterm review 1 of 11

• Information Architecture what is it? Why do we
  have it? Why do some work better than others?

11
Midterm review 2 of 11

• What is metadata? Why is it important?

12
Midterm review 3 of 11

• 4 key concepts in IA
• Handles complex systems
• Invisible to the user
• Facilitates information seeking behavior,
  including browsing, searching and retrieval
• Can fall into a knowledge network, which is a
  heterogeneous network of resources

13
Midterm review 4 of 11

• What is an information ecology? What is
  information foraging? What is berry-picking?

14
Midterm review 5 of 11

• What is a persona? What should you keep in mind
  when creating one? What input do you have into
  the creation of personas other than your
  imagination, what can you use to design
  personas?
• Make sure you can create a persona!

15
Midterm review 6 of 11

• Three common information needs
• Known-item
• Exploratory seeking
• Exhaustive

16
Midterm review 7 of 11

• What is the distinction between top-down and
  bottom-up information architecture?
• I dont want to hear this website is top-down
  or this website has a bottom-up focus. Both are
  essential aspects of a website.

17
Midterm review 8 of 11

• What is an
• Organization system, organization scheme and
  organization structure
• Labeling system, varieties of labels
• Navigation system
• Searching system
• Chunk
• Controlled vocabulary

18
Midterm review 9 of 11

• Whats a competitive analysis? How do you conduct
  one?

19
Midterm review 10 of 11

• Whats a card sort? How do you perform one? What
  does it accomplish? What types of card sorts are
  there?

20
Midterm review 11 of 11

• What types of diagrams are there? What do they
  accomplish?
• Whats a visual vocabulary? How is it useful?

21
Midterm questions

• What questions do you have about the midterm?

22
Tips for preparing

• Review your notes and textbook. What we did today
  will not completely prepare you familiarize
  yourself with the terms and techniques.
• Studying in groups will capitalize on different
  points of view to help clarify content.
• Make sure you can actually perform every
  technique weve covered!