Horde User Interface Design

Notes and potential procedures for good design. Currently all from http://www.lukew.com/ff/

Design Consideration

http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?754

• Pattern Recognition: allows us to identify relationships within information. (the data).
  • Story Telling: gives us a way to organize data into something meaningful by focusing on a big idea and supporting messages (the synthesis).
  • Visual Hierarchy: gives us a way to tell the story effectively (the means).
  • Empathy: allows us to make the story memorable and impactful (the meaning).
  • Visually associate dependent elements: http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?764

Local factors

http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?752

• Connection speed (broadband penetration)
  • Index size (scale of local language content available)
  • Task behaviors (bargaining in shopping)
  • Infrastructure (transportation, electricity)
  • Language characteristics (left to right, right to left, alphabetic vs. non, length)
  • Desktop penetration
  • Mobile penetration
  • Literacy rates
  • Demographics (age skew)
  • Cultural symbols (icon semiotics)
  • Visual conventions (color associations)
  • Work conventions
  • Cultural dimensions
  • Expected visual density

Sketches

http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?747

1. In some organization, developers are doing design. How can we deal with this?
   1. Parallel design: have several developers attempt to solve the problem at the same time. Parallel design means we get to hear from everybody
   2. 5 Sketches: saturate the design space, mash up the ideas, get to a pretty good solution, analyze it, and deliver a written statement

http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?749

1. We are taught to think that drawing is about making things look realistic.
   1. But drawing is really about getting ideas down on a page. Think of it as another vocabulary that enables discussion.

http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?748

1. Clients want great experiences and they want them fast
   1. Traditionally designers use wireframes to explore designs but they only focus on a single page of the experience at a time.
   2. We need a process to explore ideas without getting bogged down in unnecessary detail. It needs to reveal the best of multiple options and gets everyone’s input and buy-in.
   3. Sketching: explore and find lots of ideas (exploratory sketching) or gain convergence (refinement sketching).

http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?750

• Use quick sketches in the early stages of a project
  • Ensure you do lots of sketches so many ideas come forward
  • Discuss and edit the sketches collaboratively
  • Build consensus and buy-in through this process

Swimlanes

http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?745

1. UX swimlanes outline a bird’s eye view of a story, scenario, or component for sponsors, designers, businesses, and engineers.