Wenn Nutzer mittels digitaler Technologien in die physikalische Welt eingreifen und dort Objekte beeinflussen, spricht man von sogenannten greifbaren (engl. tangible) Interfaces.
Der Kerngedanke des Prinzips “Tangible User Interface” ist es, dem Benutzer eine, auf dessen physikalischen Erfahrungen mit der realen Umwelt basierende, Interaktion mit der digitalen Repräsentation von Informationen zu ermöglichen. Ziel ist es die Interaktion über eine Schnittstelle im dreidimensionalen Raum stattfinden zu lassen und haptisch erfahrbar zu machen. “Mit Tangible Interfaces agieren wir in unserer materiellen Umgebung und berühren das Interface selber.”
E. Hornecker. Die Rückkehr des Sensorischen: Tangible Interfaces und Tangible Interaction. In Mensch-Computer-Interface. Zur Geschichte und Zukunft der Computerbedienung, pages 235–256. Transcript Verlag, 2008.
Interacting with a dynamic shape display
Im Video gezeigten Beispiel nutzt ein Teilnehmer einer Videokonferenz eine spezielle Anzeige Matrix, welche durch bewegliche Stifte und Aktoren die Form sowie die Bewegungen der Hände emuliert.
Ein über der Oberfläche montierter Projektor bietet Kontext zu den Shapeshifting-Pins, wodurch sie Farbe und Hervorhebungstiefe erhalten. In einem vom MIT veröffentlichten Video wird die Matrix gezeigt, wie sie eine Kugel bewegt, ein Buch spiegelt, 3D-Diagramme anzeigt und eine extrem sichtbare Smartphone-Benachrichtigung gibt.
Bei Verwendung in Verbindung mit einem Kinect-Sensor wird inFORM viel interessanter. Der Sensor ist in der Lage, die Position von 3D-Objekten genau abzubilden und zu interpretieren, und das System des MIT verwendet diese Daten, um es Ihnen zu ermöglichen, die Stifte der Tabelle nur mit den Händen zu bewegen. Dies kann sogar remote funktionieren, wie das Video zeigt, das zeigt, wie ein MIT-Mitarbeiter über eine Videokonferenz mit Gegenständen interagiert.
Das MIT erwähnt, dass es “eine Reihe von Anwendungsdomänen” für inFORM erforscht. Zu den wichtigsten Interessengebieten gehören 3D-Visualisierungen von CT-Scans und anderen medizinischen Anwendungen, Geräteinteraktion und die Manipulation physikalischer Objekte. Es ist auch sehr an Kartierungs- und Geländemodellen interessiert, die von Stadtplanern und Architekten verwendet werden könnten, um 3D-Designs besser zu visualisieren und zu teilen. Die MIT Tangible Media Group, die für die Gründung von inFORM verantwortlich ist, sagt, dass sie derzeit mit der Changing Places-Gruppe des MIT zusammenarbeitet, um die Möglichkeiten für Stadtplaner zu erkunden.
Derzeit interagieren wir noch über grafische Benutzeroberflächen (GUIs) mit Computern, während das Projekt inFORM eine taktile Benutzeroberfläche (TUI) bieten.
MIT vergleicht TUIs mit einem digitalen Eisberg: Nur die Spitze der digitalen Inhalte taucht “über Wasser” in den physischen Bereich auf. Das Endspiel, das an TUIs vorbeigeht, ist Radical Atoms, eine Zukunft, in der “alle digitalen Informationen physische Manifestation haben … als ob der Eisberg aus den Tiefen auferstanden wäre, um seine versunkene Masse zu offenbaren”.
Utility is another important attribute and is about if the system provides the features the users actually need. If you are integrating a really usable feature with nearly none of your users’ needs, it’s going to be useless after all. Usability and utility together determine if a system is useful or not.
For analyzing and optimizing the utility of a system you can use the same methods and data you can use for improving usability.
The importance of Usability
Usability is actually not just important, it is a necessity. Especially the success of digital products strongly depends on the usability of the system. Websites and apps are a really good example of products that rely on good usability. Because if the usability of your product is not great, they will move on and use another system. That’s also the reason why bad usability is directly connected to losing users or customers.
If users … are not able to accomplish their goals efficiently, they leave. … cannot find what you are offering them, they leave. … get lost, they leave. … get stuck, they leave. … cannot easily recover from an error, they leave. … have difficulties using the system, they leave.
But usability is not only important for the number of users interacting with your product. It also directly affects how they feel about your product and is, therefore, an essential part of the user experience. Because of that, usability should also be an important part of your budget.
According to Jakob Nielsen, you should spend about 10% of a design project budget on usability. On average, this budget for usability will more than double the quality metrics of your website. Although the outcome might not be as great, it is also really important to emphasize usability in the design process of software or even physical products. Good usability will always improve the user experience and also increase the ROI significantly. According to Nielsen, businesses that spend only 10% of their budget on usability improvements will see, on average, a 135% increase in their desired metrics.
So spending money on usability is not only better for the users, but it also brings a lot of benefits for the company. Another reason for spending money on usability is that bad usability will cost you even more money. Dissatisfied users will not come back, tell their friends about it, stop using your product or even ask for a refund. Spending money on usability will not only make your customers happy and make them recurring customers, but it will also help you to grow your business.
According to Forbes, Jeff Bezos invested about 100 times more money in usability design than he invested in marketing during the first years of Amazon. In his eyes that is also the reason that led to such overwhelming access.
Another great example from the Interaction Design Foundation is
”When McAfee started integrating usability testing to learn more about its customers and their needs, the company saved 90% in support expenses costs.”
The Interaction Design Foundation also created a great list on how to design for good usability. This list is mainly about usability on websites, but most of the steps listed below are also important for other digital products and software.
Work with a clear understanding of users’ goals and show it in your design.
Mimic the real world regarding concepts, icons, and language.
Present instantly understandable, jargon-free messages and actions users can take – one chief action per screen.
Limit options to give a strong information scent on an uncluttered display – show essential information for completing tasks.
Keep content consistent.
Follow established norms regarding function and layout (e.g., logo positioning, tappable buttons).
Use proper font size, color, contrast, whitespace, etc. to:
combine aesthetic appeal with scanning readability,
present a clear, logical information hierarchy,
design for accessibility
Use chunking and emphasize key information at the beginning and end of interactive sequences.
Offer informative feedback about the system status.
Include helpful navigation systems and search functionality.
Allow for customizable controls, including shortcuts.
Avoid disruptions – e.g., forced logins/pop-ups.
Make forms easy to complete.
Include warnings and autocorrect features to minimize errors.
Make errors easy to diagnose.
Offer easy-to-understand help documentation.
Show clear contact options.
Provide a back button to undo actions.
Include ALT tags to show more information about images.
Consider server abilities regarding page-loading time and downtime.
Beware of in-app browsers and restrictions (e.g., scrolling) in mobile design.
Make links active.
Describe links accurately
Use user personas.
Do thorough usability testing
Accessibility, Usability and Inclusion
Accessibility, usability, and inclusive design are closely related topics and help with creating systems that work for everyone. All of their goals, approaches, and guidelines overlap significantly. That’s also the main reason why you should focus on them together. There are only a few cases where you should only focus on one of them.
Although the emphasis on these topics has been steadily growing in the last few years, it’s unfortunately still far away from becoming the new normal. That’s especially true for accessibility and inclusion. For a lot of designers and developers, accessibility is just a set of boxes they have to check before releasing the product. But actually it is a really big part of the usability of a product.
Accessibility
The term accessibility is officially defined as “the quality of being easy to approach, reach, enter, speak with, use, or understand”, “the quality of being usable, reachable, obtainable, etc.:” and “the quality of being suitable or adapted for use by people with disabilities:”
Accessibility in the context of design is related to the discriminatory aspects of the user experience for people with disabilities. Good accessibility means that they can contribute equally without any additional barriers. Despite the fact that accessibility is mainly focusing on people with disabilities, most of these requirements are also improving the usability for everyone else. For example, if a website is optimized for low vision, you can also see the content better if the sun is shining directly on your screen or when you’re sitting in a completely dark room.
Accessibility focuses on the following disabilities:
Visual
Low Vision
Blindness
Color Blindness
Red-Green Color Blindness
Blue-Yellow Color Blindness
Complete Color Blindness
Hearing/Auditory
Hard Hearing
Deafness
Speech
Speech Disorders
Motor
Slow Response Times
Limited Motor Controls (inability to use a mouse, touch, …)
Cognitive
Learning Disabilities
Distractibility
Inability to focus on a large amount of information
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 from 2018 are already addressing these disabilities and are focusing on four key principles:
Perceivable
Operable
Understandable
Robust
They even offer web tools for websites to check if your own website is compliant with their guidelines. These guidelines are also defined as an international standard in the ISO 40500 norm.
Inclusive Design
Inclusive design was already defined as
“The design of mainstream products and/or services that are accessible to, and usable by, as many people as reasonably possible … without the need for special adaptation or specialised design.”
by the British Standard Institute back in 2005.
Inclusive design is not about designing a product that addresses the needs of the entire population, it is more about creating an appropriate design for the diversity of the population. According to the Inclusive Design Toolkit of the University of Cambridge, it is about:
“Developing a family of products and derivatives to provide the best possible coverage of the population.“, “Ensuring that each individual product has clear and distinct target users.” and “Reducing the level of ability required to use each product, in order to improve the user experience for a broad range of customers, in a variety of situations.”
To sum that up it is about taking a product to as many users as possible. In some regions, it is also called universal design or design for all. Another big advantage of inclusive design is that it also works great for people with temporary disabilities (injuries) or situational limitations (while carrying a baby or grocery bag).
Jakob Nielsen already defined the components of usability in his book Usability Engineering back in 1993. His “model of the attributes of system acceptability” already defined the following 5 quality components that are still in use:
Whitney Quesenbery also described five similar qualities that a product needs to be usable in 2001. Although his criteria may look different at the first glance, they describe basically the same things. His 5 e’s are:
Effectiveness
Efficiency (Efficiency)
Engagement (Satisfaction)
Error Tolerance (Errors)
Ease of Learning (Learnability)
Learnability and Ease of Learning
Good learnability helps the users accomplish their tasks without the need to learn how to use the system first. The easier it is to fulfill the tasks, the better the learnability of the system. The ease of learning can also be divided into the following five components.
Familiarity Familiarity is about the way the users expect things to happen while they are using the system.
Consistency Consistency basically describes that elements that look the same should also do the same. An example of internal consistency would be an “Ok” or “Next” button. They should always have the same label, look the same and also work the same throughout the whole system.
Generalizability Generalizability is strongly connected to consistency and sometimes even called external consistency. It mainly refers to established conventions beyond our own system. A good example of that would be the logo on a website. People expect it to be on the top of your website and that it is linked to the homepage when you click on it because that’s what they learned from the other websites they are using on a daily basis.
Predictability Predictability is about building a system that works the way the users expect it to. But since there are a lot of different user levels out there it is much harder to achieve than it sounds like. Because of these different user levels, it is also common to test a system with the “most stupid user possible”. An example for predictability would be that users on a Mac expect to personalize a program by clicking on the name of it in the top left corner and going to preferences.
Simplicity Simplicity is all about simplifying the system and only displaying necessary elements. A good example of that is the Safari Browser. If you open it the first time it looks super basic and does not have a lot of functions for experts, but if you are an expert you already know that you can enable additional features in the preferences that allow you to use it for the development process. Android phones for example also have a similar feature. If you tap on the build number in the settings seven times you will get the additional android developer functions.
These and similar components are often also mentioned as part of one of the 5 principles for good website usability. There they are part of the “clarity” of a website.
The learnability of a system is also important when releasing new features or functionality so that users familiar with the system don’t become frustrated with it after an update. This frustration happens a lot when social media companies like Facebook or Instagram are releasing new features. Regular users are often complaining about new functions or layout because they are already used to the old one, even when the new one is much better and easier to learn.
To achieve good ease of learning it is important to match the system to the existing mental models of a user.
Mental Models
A mental model represents a person’s thought process for how something works and helps people to understand life and make better decisions. Although mental models need to be learned through previous experiences, assumptions, and observations, we are unconsciously working with a broad base of different mental models throughout our day.
In combination with usability, mental models are often described as a simple representation of something in the real world. For example, we all know that we need to push a button if we want something to happen and these physical buttons are also translated to the digital buttons we are using on a daily basis. The form of an unknown object should already trigger the appropriate action in the user.
A car also consists of a lot of different mental models. Users expect an ignition or start button to start the car, they also expect to turn the steering wheel for changing the direction to left and right and to find a gas and brake pedal at the same position most cars have. Because of all these mental models, you can use basically every car after learning how to use one.
Memorability is also strongly connected to the learnability of a system. It describes how easy it is to reestablish proficiency after a longer period of not using the system. Memorability is especially important for systems that are not being used on a daily basis. A good example of a system that would need good memorability in Austria is “FinanzOnline” because most users just use it once a year when they do their income tax. Although they have completely redesigned it earlier this year, there is still room for improvement.
Efficiency
Efficiency is about how quickly a user can perform their tasks once they know the system and learned how to use it. It is not only about the speed, it is also about the number of steps they need to accomplish their tasks. The ultimate goal of optimizing the efficiency of a system is to reduce the number of clicks.
For achieving this goal, it is important to use clearly labeled buttons, navigations with meaningful titles and also adapt the system to the users’ main interaction method. Elements designed for fingers on the smartphone or tablet should feel and look differently than elements that are mainly used with a keyboard and mouse. Another possibility to improve the efficiency is to integrate meaningful shortcuts like “cmd + a”, “cmd + c” and “cmd + v” on Mac or “strg + a”, “strg + c” and “strg + v” on Windows.
Effectiveness
Effectiveness and efficiency are commonly used interchangeably and it is not easy to separate them, but they are not the same. While efficiency is about how quickly a task can be accomplished, effectiveness is about how well the work is done.
An important point to improve effectiveness is about assisting the user to complete their goal with a high degree of accuracy. A good example would be to tell the users during the sign-up process which criteria the password has to fulfill and which criteria are already fulfilled while typing it in. This does not only reduce data entry errors but also prevents the user from getting frustrated.
Another point to optimize effectiveness would be to offer multiple ways to get to the same page because it makes it more likely that the user gets there. But you also have to pay attention to not offer too many ways because that would decrease the efficiency again.
This component is primarily about preventing errors from happening. It is also about minimizing the number of errors users make, how severe they are, and how easily they can recover from them. Creating a system without any errors would be the ultimate goal, but especially for digital products, it is nearly impossible to achieve because there are a lot of factors beyond the control of the designer, as the ecosystem.
According to Whitney Quesenbery, the system has to restrict the user from opportunities to do the wrong thing. Good examples for that would be disabled buttons, distinct labels, clear language, and meaningful instructions.
Another important part of errors is how to recover from them. Good systems offer the users support to get back to the right path if something went wrong. For example on a Mac, you can go back after deleting a file with “cmd + z” and recover the file without using the bin.
Error messages are also a key factor in helping the user to recover from them. They should consist of a description of the error with additional information on how to fix it like “The upload was not possible because the file is too big. You can upload files with a maximum file size of 100 MBs.”. If the system created the error, there should also be a way to report it to the developers. This reporting function is a free way to get hints from real users about what is not working and the users also get the feeling that their opinion is valuable and that something changes based on their feedback.
This quality is about the satisfaction of the user while and after using the system and how pleasant and engaging the experience is. Aesthetics play an important role in this component. But it’s not just about looking nice, it should also look proper and avoid them from using systems from competitors.
To achieve this goal it is important that the system is intuitive and works like the users think it works. It is also important to know that a system may satisfy just a small number of users so it is important to measure the satisfaction with real users and not the developers of the system. Although it is nearly impossible to satisfy all users all the time, the goal should be to satisfy most users most of the time. Therefore it is also crucial to know the target audience, their technical proficiency, and how they are interacting with the system.
Another way to come to this goal a bit closer is that developers, designers, and usability professionals have to work hand in hand. There is still a lot of software out there, especially open-source software, that is just done by programmers and is neither usable nor aesthetically pleasing at all.
Der “haptic table top puck” ist eine art Computermaus, mit der es möglich digitalen Benutzeroberflächen in die physikalische Welt zu bringen.
Haptic Tabletop Puck – Youtube
Ein User Interface muss nicht gezwungenermaßen nur zweidimensional sein. Das Gerät ist eine zusätzliche Peripherie, mit welcher es möglich ist die Beschaffenheit sowie die Reibung von Oberflächen mittels einem taktilen Feedback zu imitieren.
Haptic Tabletop Puck
Das Signal mittels eines Kolbens an einen Finger weitergegeben. Der Kolben fungiert nicht nur als Aktor, auch eingaben durch Drücken des Kolbens können bestimmte Aktionen triggern.
Aufbau Haptic Tabletop Puck
Um eine Oberflächenreibung zu simulieren ist der Puck mit einer zusätzlichen Bremse ausgestattet, die mittels Servo dosiert wird.
Many people with prosopagnosia (another term is face blindness) use compensatory strategies that help them circumvent their difficulties. There are a few strategies to choose from. But they always have two sides to them. A total of 75 people – people with prosopagnosia, friends or acquaintances and the family of those with the condition – were surveyed through questionnaires and interviews. The following list is intended to show both the positive and negative sides of these methods and what consequences are often involved:
Reliance The method of relying on others is used but is not that popular. It can help if the other person helps to identify people or starts with a conversation during social events. Downside is that it takes a lot of effort, it needs to be discreet and the other person could not always be there to help.
Visual association Only a few people with prosopagnosia stated that they use the strategy to develop memorable links between a persons qualities and character using objects, locations, etc. This requires regular contact and some degree of familiarity with the other person. And some people with DP struggle a lot with visual imagery.
Facial cues to identify This strategy has the most votes and is used the most. Memorising facial features as unusual eyebrows, blemishes or other distinctive features like skin tone can help to identify people. Usually this is done by caricaturing the physical attributes of the face. Downside is that it needs regular contact to maintain the associations and it can be exhausting because it is super effortful, those features must be studied and it can be inappropriate if somebody stars at your mouth during speech for too long.
Identify others through conversation This method is not as often used as distinguishing facial cues. This could be asking to introduce themselves, repeating the name to remember it, introducing first and hoping they would do the same, connecting the topic of the conversation with people they could know, small talk, taking attention to read the other persons reaction and listen to the voice. This strategy could sometimes work but they have to listen more at first to buy the time they need for these cues. This methods has a lot of downsides to it. It can be mentally very exhausting and it is not said that this will reveal who the other person is. Sometimes it can be super inappropriate. People also said that if often seems like they don’t really want to talk and are unwilling to engage in the conversation.
Other cues to identify Other cues than facial ones could be the voice, gait, manners, hairstyle, smell, jewellery, clothes, body shape or posture, character, height, tattoos, ethnicity, gender, glasses, handwriting or bags. Problem is that they can’t trust on this method because everything can suddenly change and some information may not always be shown.
Recognition aids This strategy describes how extra help can lead to identifying persons. This could be through memorising detailed notes on behaviour or appearance, studying photographs, using social media, writing names down during a meeting for example or using name tags. This method can be unreliable as well because people often chance their appearance. The name tag method can work but it is often inappropriate or could be difficult to read.
Avoidance This is a strategy that is not that unusual for people with prosopagnosia. By avoiding uncomfortable situations, using humour to hide difficult or embarrassing moments, avoiding names or being the first person to arrive somewhere some situations can be prevented. But, as all the other strategies as well, this may be inappropriate or undoable. What is worse with this is that it can have serious psychological consequences or can be considered as extremely rude and can lead to hatred or mobbing in the worst case.
Strategies
The following list describes tips and strategies to learn how to deal with prosopagnosia. This list has been compiled by people with this condition and it explicitly states that not all items will fit everyone, but each individual should find his or her own opinion and help. This list is intended to be a guide. (This list was not modified by me in any way)
Social strategies
Avoid referring to people by name or saying anything specific until you are sure you have identified them correctly.
At gatherings where there are some people you know, treat everyone in a friendly way. Smile and say hello to people in passing and this will prevent people thinking you are ignoring them.
When entering into conversation with people you can often work out their identity from what they say.
Look for signs of recognition in people’s body language.
Try to avoid meeting too many people at once.
Ask others to use people’s names when addressing them in your company.
When looking for someone in a group, ask someone you are sure is not the person you’re looking for, such as a person of the opposite sex.
Ask people to introduce themselves every time they see you with their names and how you know each other.
Be careful when visitors come to the door and don’t let people in until you are certain who they are. Other situations may also require caution.
Try to take an interest in people and remember personal details from previous conversations. This can make up for an initial lack of recognition and ensures people don’t think you just aren’t paying attention. This is very difficult if you have memory problems as well, in which case keeping notes on people can help.
Go to parties, meetings or other gatherings with a friend or colleague. Ask the other person to help you identify people before you talk to them.
Get people to wear name tags if appropriate.
Observational strategies
Look at the rings on people’s fingers. A lot of people wear their rings all the time so it can be a reliable way of identifying people in some circumstances, especially if the rings are distinctive.
Look for other jewellery (such as necklaces and bracelets) and distinctive shoes.
Hairstyles are one way of identifying people. This can work well when people have distinctive haircuts, but is less effective for conventional styles. Men are particularly difficult to tell apart by this method.
Walking gaits are very individual, so some people can learn to recognise them effectively.
With practise, people can be easily identifiable by the unique aspects of their accent, speech patterns and turns of phrase.
Look out for distinctive mannerisms, nervous ticks, etc.
Look at body shape and height.
Regular acquaintances can be recognised by their car, bags, or pushchair, etc.
Memory strategies
Invent a mnemonic for remembering someone’s distinctive features, e.g., Dave’s dimples; Pam’s perm. You could even invent ways of remembering people by really mentally exaggerating particular features in the style of a caricature.
Make diagrams and notes of where people are sitting in meetings.
At meetings or parties write down what clothes people are wearing.
Keep a notebook and make notes of people’s identifiable characteristics and features.
Preparation strategies
School teachers can create a seating plan for their classes so they know exactly where everybody is.
You could ask if you can take pictures of people you know so you can study them. Alternatively, facebook and twitter profiles can be very useful. You could add people as friends on facebook and study their profile pictures.
Some photography programmes and computer applications have face recognition technology which can suggest other pictures a person appears in. This can actually help to train you to notice things about a person’s face.
Navigation strategies
Smartphone applications, such as Google Maps, can be invaluable for avoiding getting lost.
Purchase a satellite navigation aid for car journeys.
Learn how to read maps effectively for occasions when Google Maps and satellite navigation aids aren’t available.
Watching movies
Watch TV shows and movies with a friend who can help you identify characters. This also enhances the viewing experience by making it more of a social activity.
Watch films with small casts of characters or one distinctive central character.
The survey also addressed whether disclosure could be of help. In some cases this could be the case, but most would only disclose their condition to people with whom they are in frequent contact. Especially in the workplace, few would disclose their condition because they fear for their personal career security. One point everyone agreed on is that it should be made much more publicly known to the general population as well as to relevant medical professionals in particular, that the condition exists and what consequences it carries with it. Due to the lack of awareness or knowledge of the population, affected people are often portrayed as rude or lazy which can have retroactive negative consequences for the affected people.
All the people involved in this survey were aware of the consequences of this condition. Because there is little information and there are only a few competent and specialized professionals who are trained enough in this field, those affected often get very late, never or a false diagnosis such as autism. Some stated that it would have been much more helpful in dealing with the disorder if they had received a diagnosis earlier. Because of their situation, many were and are not able to understand what is going on with them. By raising awareness and education around said condition, many would have a sense of relief. One other thing that would also help is to create a risk analysis that would record any effective and helpful compensatory strategies. In the end, they often use different methods or strategies depending on the situation they are in and if they have additional help from other people or technology or not.
Sources
Coping Strategies for Developmental Prosopagnosia, Armanda Adams, Peter Hills, Rachel Bennetts, Sarah Bate (06.2019), https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333616235_Coping_strategies_for_developmental_prosopagnosia
Prosopagnosia: face blindness after brain injury, o.A. (2013), https://www.headway.org.uk/media/2816/prosopagnosia-face-blindness-after-brain-injury-factsheet.pdf
Mittlerweile kennen die meisten von uns TikTok. TikTok ist eine App aus China die 2016 erschienen ist. Angelehnt an die Vorgänger-Apps wie musical.ly und Vine ist es ebenfalls eine App in der man kurze Videos mit Lippensynchronisation posten kann. Während des Corona Lockdowns ist die App sozusagen explodiert und hat sehr viel Aufmerksamkeit erregt. Vor allem die junge Generation ist vorwiegend auf dieser Plattform vertreten und, dass neue und unbekannte Profile von TikTok gepusht werden, ist für die Nutzer attraktiv und das Erfolgsrezept der App.
Diese App hat Druck auf Instagram ausgeübt und zwang die App und deren Entwickler zu neuen Mitteln. Im August 2020 erschienen somit Reels auf Instagram, die durch ihre Benutzung und Art sehr extrem an die Videos auf TikTok angelehnt sind. Teilweise werden sogar Videos von TikTok auf Instagram gepostet und umgekehrt. Obwohl TikTok bei der jungen Generation immer populärer als Instagram ist, ist vor allem bei den über 18 jährigen Instagram wieder bzw noch immer im Trend.
Instagram ist dafür bekannt neue Features ihrer App sehr zu pushen. Das bedeutet für die Benutzer der App, dass das Erstellen der Reels ihnen erhebliche Vorteile bringt z.b. dass sie auf der Explore Page angezeigt werden und schnell neue Follower und Aufrufe durch das Erstellen von Reels erhalten.
Der größte Unterschied zwischen TikTok und Instagram ist wohl die Ästhetik. Instagram ist immer noch ein sehr auf Ästhetik basierende App und man sollte vor allem bei der Kreation seiner Reels immer auf das Aussehen, die Ästhetik und die Einbindung von Emotionen achten. Die Einbindung von Emotionen erfolgt vor allem durch das Verwenden der richtigen Musik und der richtigen Stimmung (Licht).
Die Erstellung
Das ist der inderwies ist relativ einfach. Entweder man dreht die Videos direkt in der App oder man ladet Videomaterial schon extern übers Handy hoch. Musik kann zusätzlich über Instagram hinzugefügt werden, ebenso kann die Geschwindigkeit des Videos und weitere Sachen bearbeitet werden. Z.b. kann Text ziemlich framegenau auf das Video platziert werden.
Despite the fact that the terms Usability and User Experience (UX) have been defined for a lot of years already, they are still often confused with each other. To understand their meaning even better and be able to distinguish them more clearly, it’s necessary to take a closer look at the definition of these terms.
Usability
According to the ISO 9241-11 standard, usability is defined as “extent to which a system, product or service can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use
Note 1 to entry: The ‘specified’ users, goals and context of use refer to the particular combination of users, goals and context of use for which usability is being considered.
Note 2 to entry: The word ‘usability’ is also used as a qualifier to refer to the design knowledge, competencies, activities and design attributes that contribute to usability, such as usability expertise, usability professional, usability engineering, usability method, usability evaluation, usability heuristic.”
Usability is often also used interchangeably with ease-of-use, but according to its definition, it is about much more than that. It also deals with the overall satisfaction of the user. Usability also refers to methods for improving the ease of use during the design process.
“Usability is about human behavior. It recognizes that humans are lazy, get emotional, are not interested in putting a lot of effort into, say, getting a credit card and generally prefer things that are easy to do vs. those that are hard to do.”
– David McQuillen
User Experience (UX)
According to the ISO 9241-210 standard, user experience is defined as “combination of user’s perceptions and responses that result from the use and/or anticipated use of a system, product or service
Note 1 to entry: Users’ perceptions and responses include the users’ emotions, beliefs, preferences, perceptions, comfort, behaviours, and accomplishments that occur before, during and after use.
Note 2 to entry: User experience is a consequence of brand image, presentation, functionality, system performance, interactive behaviour, and assistive capabilities of a system, product or service. It also results from the user’s internal and physical state resulting from prior experiences, attitudes, skills, abilities and personality; and from the context of use.
Note 3 to entry: The term ‘user experience’ can also be used to refer to competence or processes such as user experience professional, user experience design, user experience method, user experience evaluation, user experience research, user experience department.
Note 4 to entry: Human-centred design can only manage those aspects of user experience that result from designed aspects of the interactive system.”
Because this may be hard to understand, Dan Norman and Jakob Nielsen, the inventors of the term User Experience, also have an easier explanation about what UX is about.
“No product is an island. A product is more than the product. It is a cohesive, integrated set of experiences. Think through all of the stages of a product or service – from initial intentions through final reflections, from first usage to help, service, and maintenance. Make them all work together seamlessly.”
– Dan Norman
“User experience encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products.”
– Nielsen Norman Group
When talking about a website, for example, usability is to make the website easy to use and help the users accomplish their goals efficiently. User Experience (UX) aims to make the user happy before, while, and after using the website. Therefore, User Experience Design deals with creating products that provide meaningful experiences to users.
Disciplines of UX
There are a lot of different models out there that try to explain the different disciplines of User Experience (UX) and how they are connected to each other. Since all of them do include similar disciplines and topics they are all relevant and everybody has to find his/her preferred model. The most popular models are:
But you cannot only divide User Experience into different disciplines. Peter Morville explained the different qualities of User Experience with his honeycomb created in 2004.
As you can see here, usability is just one of the qualities of the user experience – but a really important one.
The Importance of X (Experience Design)
The letter x normally represents a variable in math that needs to be solved. If we are talking about a business the x usually stands for the experience we want our customers to have. This concept of delivering outstanding experiences to customers is not new. B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore were already talking about “The Experience Economy” in an article on Harvard Business Review back in 1998.
But according to recent studies, this concept is getting more and more attention. According to recent studies, 3 out of 4 customers say that their experience is crucial for their purchasing decision. Nearly half of them are even willing to pay more for products that deliver a great experience.
“Good experiences grab customers, bad experiences push customers away”
– Brians Solis, 2015
Resources
Books
X: the experience when business meets design Brian Solis 2015
User Experience is Brand Experience, The Psychology Behind Successful Digital Products and Services Felix van den Sand, Anna-Katharina Frison, Pamela Zotz, Andrea Riener, Katharina Holl 2020
Articles
The Elements of Successful UX Design, Best Practises for Meaningful Products UXPin 2015
In one of my former blog entries, I talked about the potential strengths and weaknesses of Neumorphism, also called soft UI. The most significant issue was obviously the accessibility. Also due to the skeuomorphic elements, it was not as flexible in its design style as for example a flat design approach. It has to be used restricted, in order to obtain a nice accessible und understandable interface. It works best with a simple UI and a strict limited hierarchy.
Say Hello to Glassmorphism In comparison to the extruding/intruding optically plastic effect of neumorphism, a more vertical trend Glassmorphism has evolved. It’s most defining characteristics are:
Light thin outline: visibility of the borders of transparent object
One of the strengths of this design trend is, that the user can identify the hierarchy of the elements quickly. It is very easy to detect, which layer is in the front, middle and back because of the see-through objects. Just as with neumorphism, this style shines especially bright when it’s used on just one element. The right amount will ensure, that also people with vision problems will be able to still understand the user interface. With over-usage, such as integrating it as a default material design for the background, card elements and Icons, it restricts the accessibility and also can lead to a boring and unoriginal design.
Neumorphism is best used for buttons, sliders and toggles, whereas this should be avoided Glassmorphism. Glassmorphic elements work best as (floating) cards and overlays, which we know is problem for neumorphism, because all elements attach themselves to the background. As with all UI designs, it is important to visually group all elements on the cards and define a hierarchy for this as well.
History and Future The system behind Glassmorphism is not as new as one might think, the panel blur is being used in several ways since 2007, where it was first introduced by Windows vista with Windows Aero and later integrated by Apple in iOS 7 in 2013.
Pulling down notifications and see the icons fade out behind a panel is nowadays integrated in the standard UI. Microsoft’s Fluent design system goes heavy on this effect as well. They call this particular element The Acrylic and showcase it as an integral part of their design system. Apple has since greatly reduced the blurry-glass effect in their mobile OS, but recently brought transparent-blurs back with Mac OS Big Sur. However, on Dribbble – a platform for discovering and connecting with designers, Glassmorphism is used for desktop applications as well as mobile devices and seems to be not at all limited to a specific device. But also Dribbble is more about the design being pretty instead of accessible, therefore there are also lots of examples where Glassmorphism is definitely overused and also the designs are not restricted to an operating system.
Since Glassmorphism is used in the current Mac OS version Big Sure and also on Microsoft Fluent Design, I would predict the trend will definitely become more popular and rise, to also be more present on our mobile devices.
In this entry and following entries I want to find out which tools and methods can enhance the effectiveness of online interaction. Due to the ongoing lockdown we are still dependent on managing nearly all of our communication and interactive activities online. Recently I observed that some of those online meetings took a lot longer than I expected (based on previous experiences with presence group work). On the other hand, I have heard from some lecturers that they do not have enough time in online lectures for their content in comparison to presence lectures. So what is the matter with timing in online interaction? As I examined in a previous entry, every online interaction is based on a different occasion, context, and goal. Therefore I assume that the effectiveness of each meeting is influenced by different factors. Regarding my role as an interaction designer I want to find out what are the influencing factors, how they are related and most important: How to improve them in order to enhance the online interactions? To achieve that I am going to examine different scenarios that are based on my own experience, go on with observing similar situations, find out more about theoretical background through secondary research and also do interviews and testings with users.
In order to use common methods I wanted to do an experience map. An experience map helps to see the big picture of the customer journey without going too much into detail. It helps to uncover needs and pain points before having a look at a too specific product. As a persona I choose the following person: Sophie, female, 25 years old, is currently studying for her master’s degree in “Translation and Dialogue Interpreting”. She is really social, loves to cook and bake and lives in a shared flat in Graz. Due to the pandemic she has to follow her lectures at home for one year now. Because translating and interpreting needs a lot of training, practical experiences and good equipement studying online is giving her a really hard time.
Own visualization, Marie Kunzmann, 14.05.2021
I found out that Sophie has a few difficulties which are surely transferable to other students’ experiences. With the recommendation section I could collect some ideas on how to improve her situation. Every experience is based on individual characteristics and the context. Having that in mind I want to go on with methods like the experience map to find out more about other use groups.
The story begins with Marc Benioff, the chief executive of the cloud computing company Salesforce, watching the MTV Video Music Awards last summer.
To be specific, he was watching Will.i.am, the rapper, entrepreneur and founding member of the Black Eyed Peas, cavorting around wearing what appeared to be a cross between a gas mask and an alien space helmet. So he called Will.i.am, whose full name is William Adams and who has been a regular at Salesforce’s Dreamforce tech conference since 2010, and asked what in the world he had on his face.
Will.i.am said it was an idea he had been noodling. So Mr. Benioff told Will.i.am that he really ought to talk to Darius Adamczyk, the chief executive of Honeywell, the multinational conglomerate that happened to be responsible for making millions of N95 face masks over the last year. Mr. Benioff made the introduction, and on April 8 the results of that conversation are coming to market.
After the surgical mask and the do-it-yourself mask and the fashion mask: the smart mask.
This ergonomic mask has a silicone face seal and an adjustable elastic strap, allowing it to adapt to different face shapes while being highly durable, which in turn allows year-round use of the mask in all climates.
XUPERMASK is equipped with two 3-speed fans and HEPA filters, as well as built-in wireless (Bluetooth 5.0) active noise canceling headphones with microphone, LED lighting, magnetic headphone dock, etc.
The declared operating time of the XUPERMASK mask is 7 hours. It will go on sale in two sizes and in two colors – black and white. All options will be priced at $ 299.
For the above price, in addition to the mask itself, buyers will also receive a special carrying case, a three-month supply of HEPA filters, earplugs for headphones of various sizes, a USB Type-C charging cable and a regular sheet mask.
