Posts by Kuan-ju Chen

Xerox Star — user centered design

Xerox Star introduced in 1981, bring the concepts that define modern personal computing and user interfaces to the technology world. Since its born, Xerox Star have brought many GUI innovations to the world. Including graphic environment, replace text-based command-line interfaces with icons, windows, and menus; mouse interaction, popularized the use of a mouse for point-and-click navigation; integrated office tool, they were designed as a complete office system, including email, file management. They was presenting a demo show of how they leveraged early object-oriented programming principles to make the software modular and reusable.

Xerox Star demonstrated that computers could be approachable and user-friendly, inspiring the development of GUIs in other systems.

User-friendly and intuitive interfaces with Gestalt principles and Fitts’ Law

Gestalt Principles, focus on perception and organization. In the future design, design colors and shapes consistently. Group related elements close together to make relationships clear. At the same time, separate main features and secondary actions, to ensure key elements stand out against the background. While design user experience, arrange navigation items in a linear or logical sequence.

Fitts’ Law, focus on efficiency and movement. While designing user interfaces, make interactive elements (buttons, icons) large enough for users to click or tap easily. Leverage screen edges for key functions since they’re easy to target, stop consider to place menu bar or navigation bar in other places, due to edge and corner’s advantages.

Gestalt principles and Fitts’ Law help create designs that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also functional and intuitive.

How design systems and interaction design patterns support creativity in interaction design

Does the use of design systems and interaction design patterns stifle creativity in interaction design? No, they support your creativity, protect you from the chaos design.

With the design systems and interaction design patterns, designers can focus on solving complex problems rather than reinventing basic elements (like buttons or forms), and achieve increasing the efficiency. Moreover, with a predefined button style, you spend more time on the unique flow or experience. The consistence element designs could reducing cognitive load, so users are benefit from familiar patterns, and designers’ creativity can focus on improving the experience rather than teaching users new systems.

At the same time, as a designer, we should not over reliance on patterns, feel restricted by the “rules” of the system, avoiding risk or experimentation, and finally kill our creativities by ourself.

The immersive and decentralized interaction today (base on Web 2.0)

Shifted from the static nature of Web 1.0, Web 2.0 is more interactive and user-generated. With more social direction, it is focused on creating and sharing content.

But compare to today’s internet environment, there are further more differences. We have connections everywhere. For instance, smart watch, smart glasses, rings, and IoT gadgets. As the universal of technology, we have always online and real-time platform, and even AR and VR spaces. Compare to the attention economy Web 2.0, we are now more considering about ethical and privacy. We have Siri in ios devices, and we have ChatGPT today.

The world of technology has come a long way, but it may not have made it to Web 3.0 just yet.

How iPhone and iPad changed the world

I remember the time I got my first iPad pro. I beg my parent to got me an iPad instead of a smart phone, because I was so attracted by the iPads displayed in the Apple Store. For the child me, the design and features of iPad in the store is more appealing than an iPhone.

Why iPhone and iPad are so popular when the times they released? As a Z generation child its human center design is so fine, that we are gradually used to these natural control technologies. Their multi-touch interface replaced clunky buttons, more customize allows making technology more adaptable to individual needs, so they became extensions of our identity.

Apple are always advance on design technologies fluid.

U.S. government’s responsibility

Technology like the internet, GPS or other functionality were initially funded by government projects. Today, however, we’re at a crossroads, with governments, corporations, and open source communities all playing unique roles in developing new technology.

Who should take responsibility for driving the next wave of innovation?

I think it is alway us. Government is responsible for cover the basic for everyone(that’s the reason we pay tax, government’s funds should spent on “guarantee everyone(who pay the tax) life easy and convenient”, not leading the innovation.

From pixels to intuition

In the early days of personal computing, GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces) looked like a stripped-down version of what we know today. Computers like the first Macintosh and early Windows machines featured interfaces with basic windows, limited colors, and simple icons, primarily due to hardware limitations. Screens were small, and resolutions were low. Navigating these systems was an entirely manual process, using a mouse to click icons and a keyboard to enter commands.

In today’s landscape, interaction has expanded well beyond the mouse and keyboard. Touchscreens brought swiping, pinching, and tapping into everyday life, making smartphones and tablets even more accessible. Voice-controlled assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant introduced hands-free interaction, allowing us to control devices with spoken commands. Gesture recognition has also made an appearance, with some devices interpreting hand movements without physical contact.

Interaction design student are learning GUI(gesture user interface), and research on how to design user’s journey intuitive.

Lucy Suchman’s human center design&research

Lucy Suchman’s work, her study of Xerox photocopier operators, changed how people think about technology design by emphasizing the importance of real-world context. She shows that people did not follow a rigid, predictable process when using machines such as photocopiers, but instead adapted and improvised. Her research claims that technology should be designed with these human behaviors in mind, considering how people naturally interact with systems rather than expecting them to follow predefined instructions. From technology-centered design to a more human-centered approach, ensuring technology works better for people in real life.

Douglas Engelbart and his groundbreaking demo show

Douglas Engelbart’s demo was a groundbreaking moment in the history of computing and interaction design. It introduced some key technologies and concepts that are fundamental to how we interact with computers today. The ‘mouse’ he demonstrate, looks just like the mouse we have today, that was definitely revolutionary in human-computer interaction, as he break punch cards and command-line interfaces to a more graphical and user-friendly method.

Another thing worth to mention is the word processing and management demo. Included the ways to edit and organize text, which later influence the development of word processors and modern document management systems.

Ada Lovelace and Lillian Gilbreth

Ada Lovelace and Lillian Gilbreth are important in interaction design history because they both made early contributions that influence how we think about technology and human interaction.

As Ada Lovelace is ‘the first computer programmer’, and she wrote the first algorithm intended to be carried out by a machine, she foresaw the potential of computers beyond calculations. On the other side, Lillian Gilbreth is a pioneer in industrial and organizational psychology. She work on time-and-motion studie, focused on improving efficiency in workplaces. They both ahead of their time in thinking about how people interact with machines and systems.

Youtube icons and Mayan pictographs comparison

This is the icon for “Trending” in YouTube. It is symbolizing “fire”, probably representing “fire” or “hot”. If you click on the trending, it will jumped to the page showing the recently hot videos. The fire icon in YouTube metaphor is widely recognized in modern culture to mean something is “hot” or popular, thus giving this icon an instant understanding among users. The metaphor for the YouTube “Trending” icon is direct and modern: fire equals heat, and heat equals attention or excitement.

The fire pictograph in Mayan in the another hand, probably only presenting bonfire. The fire pictograph is having lots curves, and be blowed from the right toward left.