An example of great gamification in the real world is FitBit’s exercise app. Using their FitBit devices which monitor your physical activity and steps, it allows you to “compete” with friends, family or strangers to exercise more. Attempting to “beat” someone else motivates you to work out harder and more consistently that attempting to...

Error prevention and recovery: One principle of design we discussed in class was that error prevention is always better than error recovery. But when an error does occur, it should be easy for the user to remedy the situation. The Good: Google Search Google Search incorporates this heuristic very well. By providing suggestions as the...

One good example of this concept is this bottle of ibuprofen. Because the industry standard is to have a child-proof cap that must be pushed down and rotated at the same time, we know exactly what to do with it. We also see the tamper seal and labelling. Because everything about this product is...

Error prevention is one of the most important and frequently bungled design heuristics. Above: good error prevention in Reddit’s registration interface. Rather than surprising the user with an error when he tries to submit an invalid form, Reddit tells the user up-front what is wrong with the inputs. This may not seem like a...

Liquid Gold The design concept I am looking at is affordances.  The Hand Sanitizer Machine very clearly demonstrates what you are supposed to do and how you are supposed to get the hand sanitizer. The image below where it says “Hand Sanitizer” shows that if you place your hand in that opening, then you...

Design principle: recognition rather than recall   Good example: Subway system in Beijing In Beijing and many subway systems, a rider is kept updated of where the next stop is by this progress bar above each door. Unlike in Boston or New York, I don’t need to strain my ears for the announcement when...

One of the cleanest and most efficient examples of good Visibility of System Status designs is the light switch. Obviously, in the case of most lights, the system is either off or it’s on and there’s no in between (ignoring dimming lights). Now, despite the binary of the system, not all light switches are...

Visibility of system status is an especially important design heuristic, as it serves as the fundamental process through which the product creator can give feedback to and dictate user/interface interaction.  The Mac OSX dock, shown below, exemplifies this principle well. Upon turning on an Apple computer, users tend to instinctively move the mouse towards...

1. Pick a design principle or a heuristic that we have discussed in class. Visibility of system status 2. Find a real‐world artifact (software or physical) that exemplifies well the principle/heuristic you have picked. Include an image (screenshot, photograph) illustrating your point and include a couple of sentences of explanation The status bar on...

Design Principle(s): Consistency and Match between System and Real World Poor Design: The sign reads “CAREFUL – To release the door stop, push, DON’T pull!” and the smaller yellow one says “please PUSH OPEN TO RELEASE DOORSTOP. DO NOT FORCE DOOR CLOSED! (you’ll damage the stop)” The door clearly lacks a match between the...