Transcript Don Norman’s User-Centered Design

Don Norman’s
User-Centered Design
Applied to teaching
Final Cut Pro for Digital
Video Editing
Kent Golden
What is User Centered Design?
User-centered design is the process in which the
needs, wants, and limitations of the end user are
given priority during the phases of design.
Don Norman’s guidelines suggest optimizing the
user interface and experiences, based on how
people are able, and want to work, instead of
forcing them to adapt and change themselves to
work better with the system as designed.
“Darn these hooves! I hit the wrong switch again!
Who designs these instrument panels, raccoons?”
“The Fuel Light’s on, Frank! We’re all going to die!...
We’re all going to die!... Wait, wait…Oh, my
mistake – that’s the intercom light.”
Human Factors: Is the elevator stuck or is
the reactor about to melt-down?
Affordances: Door Quiz
Say out loud what action you should use
to open the door:
Push
 Pull
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Do These help solve the problem?
Norman’s “Seven Principles for Transforming
Difficult Tasks into Simple Ones” (Norman 1988):
Use both knowledge in the world and knowledge
in the head.
Simplify the structure of tasks.
Make things visible: bridge the gulfs of Execution
and Evaluation.
Get the mappings right.
Exploit the power of constraints, both natural
and artificial.
Design for error.
When all else fails, standardize.
Apple’s Final Cut Pro
Digital Video editing program
Expensive ($1,299)
Difficult to use (manuals)
The standard (especially in Apple circles)
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Education
Art
Very useful once you are familiar with it
Target Population
College undergraduates attending Yale
University
No prior experience with FCP, but some with
graphics programs
Workshops at the Yale Digital Media Center for
the Arts (DMCA)
Many art students (especially those in the fields
of Sculpture and Photography) have a need to
learn Final Cut Pro to:
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Record and showcase other art projects
Create a video project as a direct expression of art
Instructional Tasks
Encode digital video from a video deck to
a Mac workstation
Edit the video:
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Add titles
Video transitions
Music
Video effects
Export the video to a QuickTime file that
can be burned to a DVD.
Applying Theory to Instruction
Norman’s 7 User Centered Design
principles applied to FCP instruction.
Use both knowledge in the world
and knowledge in the head.
“Knowledge in the World” refers to information that exists
in the world that we don’t need to memorize to utilize.
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Don’t need to be able to recall every distinctive feature of a
penny to be able to identify one and use it.
Loose keyboard letters to professional typists. They were not
able to arrange them in the proper configuration.
Scaffolding from the world
“Knowledge in the Head” refers to memorization
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Info-processing theory STM / LTM / Attention (all limited)
Phone tech support with no visual
Utilize what KITH they do have – analogies, Photoshop layers
After workshop, info usually gone. Provide portable
“Knowledge in the World”
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Custom Handouts (screen shots, digital photos)
Keyboard shortcuts at top
Focus on project, not notes.
Simplify the structure of tasks.
Make tasks simple in structure
Minimize problem solving or planning required to
execute tasks.
Pay close attention to the psychology and limits
of the end-user
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Short-term memory
Long-term memory
Attention
Applied to FCP workshops
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Set specific project for all to work on
Limit scope of workshop
Make it entertaining and relevant to students
(Attention)
Make things visible: bridge the
gulfs of Execution and Evaluation.
Things should be visible so that people know what is
possible and how to do them.
People should know what is currently going on and what
to do next.
FCP shortcomings
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Encoding video – How find? Name?
Transcoding audio
Help – need to know what you don’t know
To overcome:
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Provide overall flow needed to accomplish end goal
Provide specific steps on how to do something
Class follows flow so that students know what is
currently going on (with instruction) and what is next.
Get the mappings right.
make sure that the user can determine the relationships:
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Between intentions and possible actions
Between actions and their effects on the system
Between actual system state and what is perceivable by sight,
sound, or feel
Between the perceived system state and the needs, intentions,
and expectations of the user.
FCP problems:
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Hidden commands
Error messages
Unrendered effects
Media Limit on V1
To overcome:
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Point out common problems in instruction and handouts
Point students to online webboards
Exploit the power of constraints,
both natural and artificial.
“Use constraints so that the user feels as if there
is only one possible thing to do – the right thing
of course” - Don Norman
Lego motorcycle policeman
FCP problems
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Thousands of actions possible
No work flow guidance
To overcome:
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Create constraints
Create guidelines
Design for error
“Assume that any error that can be made will be made. Plan for it. Think of each
action by the user as an attempt to step in the right direction; an error is simply an
action that is incompletely or improperly specified” – Don Norman
Error Messages
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Do not help determine what went wrong
Do not help to fix problem
Do not help avoid in the future
FCP Example: Linking of Audio and Video
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Very common
No error message
Audio/Video out of sync
To overcome:
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Assume it will happen
Warn of danger
Show how to fix if it happens
When covering CD audio – reiterate
Error when reading handouts
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carefully word certain things – location of buttons, show pictures with arrows
catch errors with iterative design trials
When all else fails, standardize
Standardization is a way to deal with things that cannot
be designed without arbitrary mappings.
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Keyboard layouts
Traffic signals
Units of measurement
Useful as long as
everyone uses the same
system
FCP Problem:
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Setting paths for FCP files
To overcome:
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Pick a standard – desktop “My FCP Project”
Across students and time – same file location
Related: Set all Macs to same file system view
Assessment
Content knowledge vs. user experience
Observe behaviors:
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Do people stare blankly at handouts?
Complete sample project?
Able to work on their own after workshops?
Feedback forms
Iterative design – use feedback to improve
future instruction.
Critics
Don Norman’s newer book, “Emotional Design”,
reflects on his own overly reductive approach in
POET, when more than just utility needs to be
considered.
Example: Standard vs. Automatic transmission
Constructivists:
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Complexity vs. Simplifying the structure of tasks
Encouraging problem solving vs. Reducing it
Can’t have Jasper Woodbury in every situation
Edward Tufte
Edward Tufte
My own thoughts
All had frustrating experiences with bad design,
especially with technology
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Audio/Video systems
Websites – is that a button?
Authoring programs
Tech support
Error messages
UCD offers solid guidelines for good design
Feedback forms about handouts
For more information:
www.jnd.org
Questions?