1. Norman Chapter 1 Psychopathology
Jeff Offutt
SWE 205
Software Usability and Design

2. Psychopathology Huh ? Anybody know what that means?
the study of mental illness or mental distress
the manifestation of behaviors and experiences that may be indicative of mental illness or psychological impairment
12-Apr-19
© Jeff Offutt

3. Basic Concepts
Well designed objects are simple to interpret and understand
They match our expectations
Visibility : The correct parts to any object must be visible and must convey the correct message
Mapping : How what you want to do maps to what you can do
Affordance : The properties of a thing—especially the fundamental properties that determine how it can be used
A chair is for sitting, a classroom is for sleeping
12-Apr-19
© Jeff Offutt

4. A UI that requires a user manual has already failed
Basic Concepts (2)
Correlation : Two things happen at the same time
Causality : One thing causes the other
Humans naturally mix these
No, cold weather does not give us colds !
Conceptual model : A mental simulation of how something works
A UI that requires a user manual has already failed
12-Apr-19
© Jeff Offutt

5. Basic Concepts (3)
Mental model : How the user expects something to behave
If the UI does not match the mental model … fail
Natural mapping : Using physical analogies and cultural standards to map the UI to the implementation
Feedback : Telling the user that something happened, and what
12-Apr-19
© Jeff Offutt

6. Why is Designing UIs Hard ?
Good UIs take time to design
Many programmers are lazy
Designing a good UI requires thinking like the user instead of an engineer
Engineers often think they are users
Different users want different things
Engineers love features
They want to do everything the technology allows!
12-Apr-19
© Jeff Offutt