This link has been bookmarked by 123 people . It was first bookmarked on 26 May 2012, by paul winter.
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I outline a tool which may allow designers to create data-dependent graphics with no engineering assistance
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the principles of information software design will become critical as technology improves.
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A good graphic designer understands how to arrange information on the page so the reader can ask and answer questions, make comparisons, and draw conclusions
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he software designer can thus approach her art as a fusion of graphic design and industrial design.
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Good information software encourages the user to ask and answer questions, make comparisons, and draw conclusions.
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treat communication software as manipulation software and information software glued together
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The primary design challenge, just as with any industrial design, is to provide affordances that make these mechanical operations available, understandable, and comfortable.
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Most of the time, a person sits down at her personal computer not to create, but to read, observe, study, explore, make cognitive connections, and ultimately come to an understanding.
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The computer becomes a medium for asking questions, making comparisons, and drawing conclusions—that is, for learning.
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08 Jan 18
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A computational process is indeed much like a sorcerer’s idea of a spirit. It cannot be seen or touched.
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disbursing
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31 Dec 17
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15 Jul 17
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Inferring context from history
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People using this software do not care about these artificial objects; they care about seeing information and understanding choices—manipulating a model in their heads.
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Information software
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construct and manipulate a model that is internal to the mind
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Information software design is graphic design
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A well-designed information graphic can almost compel the viewer to ask and answer questions, make comparisons, and draw conclusions
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a graphic sidesteps human shortcomings: the one-dimensional, uncontrollable auditory system, the relatively sluggish motor system, the mind’s limited capacity to comprehend hidden mechanisms.
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construct and manipulate a model external to herself
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Communication software
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construct and manipulate an internal model that is shared with others
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Demonstration: Showing the data
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Text weight and color is used to emphasize important information and call it out when skimming.
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All critical information is contained in a column with the width of an eyespan,
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Demonstration: Arranging the data
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this redesign groups theaters by movie.** I assume that Yahoo! simply mimicked the newspapers, and newspapers arrange by theater for business reasons. The assumption is that the viewer would rather see a particular movie at any theater than any movie at a particular theater
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Context-sensitive information graphics
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three sources from which software can infer context:
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Inferring context from the environment
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Inferring context from history
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Chris Crawford defines interaction as a three-phase reciprocal process, isomorphic to a conversation: an interactant listens to her partner, thinks about what was said, and speaks a response.
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For information software, all interaction is essentially navigation around a data space.
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software navigation is nothing but excise:
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If all interaction is navigation, and navigation is the number-one software problem, interactivity is looking pretty bad already.
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The user has to know how to ask. That is, she must learn to manipulate a machine. Donald Norman’s concept of determining a user’s “mental model” has become widespread in the software usability community, and is now considered a core design challenge.** See Donald Norman’s book The Design of Everyday Things (2002), p9. However, Norman described this concept in the context of mechanical devices. It only applies to software if the software actually contains hidden mechanisms that the user must model. A low-interaction, non-mechanical information graphic relieves both user and designer from struggling with mental models
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For information software, the real issue is context-sensitivity. Interaction is merely one means of achieving that.
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Reducing interaction
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Graphical manipulation.
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Relative navigation
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Tight feedback loops.
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How did we get here?
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Every topic is nominated with a level of confidence.*
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Translators produce dilution of confidence
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The future will be context-sensitive. The future will not be interactive.
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01 Jul 17
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01 May 17
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ly. It mimics the experience of working with a physical tool.
#Information software, by contrast, mimics the experience of reading, not working. It is used for achieving an understanding—constructing a model within the
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The trip planner on the official BART website refuses to divulge any information whatsoever without a sequence of menu selections and a button-push.*
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Interaction is simplified to the point where a short, instructive sentence can describe each and every click.
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A learning predictor, capable of inferring that the user always spends the first Monday through Friday of the month in Baltimore and selecting that range on the calendar automatically, could eliminate all context-establishing interaction, leaving only the decision-conveying interaction of clicking ticket prices.
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05 Dec 15
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24 Jan 15
mfaras«If information software can’t present its data at least as well as a piece of paper, how have we progressed?» — http://t.co/Ve2UEvdacI
– Manuel Aristarán (manuelaristaran) http://twitter.com/manuelaristaran/status/558295974029066240 -
21 Dec 14
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—designers whose creations anticipate, not obey.
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A design tool for dynamic graphics that infers behavior from mockups may allow for natural-feeling creative design with no engineering-related distractions.
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context-sensitive graphical forms
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21 Nov 14
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the ideal of the then-hypothetical personal computer was a brain supplement, enhancing human memory and amplifying human reasoning through data visualization and automated analysis.
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Meanwhile, a graphic sidesteps human shortcomings: the one-dimensional, uncontrollable auditory system, the relatively sluggish motor system, the mind’s limited capacity to comprehend hidden mechanisms. A graphic presents no mechanisms to comprehend or manipulate—it plugs directly into the mind’s spatial reasoning centers.
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20 Nov 14
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the long-standing focus on “interaction” may be misguided. For a majority subset of software, called “information software,” I argue that interactivity is actually a curse for users and a crutch for designers, and users’ goals can be better satisfied through other means.
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Information software design can be seen as the design of context-sensitive information graphics. I demonstrate the crucial role of information graphic design, and present three approaches to context-sensitivity, of which interactivity is the last resort.
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introduce a “unified theory” of information software design, and provide inspiration and direction for progressive designers who suspect that the world of software isn’t as flat as they’ve been told.
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A well-designed information graphic can almost compel the viewer to ask and answer questions, make comparisons, and draw conclusions.
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Meanwhile, a graphic sidesteps human shortcomings: the one-dimensional, uncontrollable auditory system, the relatively sluggish motor system, the mind’s limited capacity to comprehend hidden mechanism
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Their foremost concern is behavior—what the software does. They start by asking: What functions must the software perform? What commands must it accept? What parameters can be adjusted? (In the case of websites: What pages must there be? How are they linked together? What are the dynamic features?) These designers start by specifying functionality, but the essence of information software is the presentation.
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I suggest that the design of information software should be approached initially and primarily as a graphic design project
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Information software design, then, is the design of context-sensitive information graphics. Unlike conventional graphics, which must be suitable for any reader in any situation, a context-sensitive graphic incorporates who the user is and what exactly the user wants to learn at the moment
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Alan Cooper defines excise in this context as a cognitive or physical penalty for using a tool—effort demanded by the tool that is not directly in pursuit of a goal
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A second reason why modern software is dominated by mechanical metaphors is that, for the people who create software, the computer is a machine. The programmer lives in manipulation mode; she drives her computer as if it were a car. Thus, she inadvertently produces software that must be operated like a machine, even if it is used as a newspaper or boo
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mairead manifoldFound this the night or two before HCI exam and it looks great. Print it off and look at it again.
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Information software design
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ontext-sensitive information
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the design of c
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information graphic design
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crucial role
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graphics
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three approaches to context-
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sensitivity
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user-facing personal desktop software
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all appearance and behaviors visible to a user
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implements the design on a computer
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software must be interactive in the first place
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software is meant to be “used.”
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I suggest that the root of the software crisis is an identity crisis—an unclear understanding of what the medium actually is, and what it’s for
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art of conveying a message on a two-dimensional surface
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information design—the use of pictures to express knowledge of interest to the reader.*
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arranging and shaping a physical product
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primary design challenge
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available, understandable, and comfortable
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provide superb visualization
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the feedback loop that is critical for all creative activity
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Most of the time, a person sits down at her personal computer not to create, but to read, observe, study, explore, make cognitive connections, and ultimately come to an understanding. This person is not seeking to make her mark upon the world, but to rearrange her own neurons.
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12 Aug 07
nowherefastby Bret Victor. The ubiquity of frustrating, unhelpful software interfaces has motivated decades of research into “Human-Computer Interaction.” In this paper, I suggest that the long-standing focus on “interaction” may be misguided...
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09 May 07
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23 Apr 07
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03 Apr 07
viniciusjlThe ubiquity of frustrating, unhelpful software interfaces has motivated decades of research into “Human-Computer Interaction.” In this paper, I suggest that the long-standing focus on “interaction” may be misguided. For a majority subset of softw
article culture graphics gui information software interface usability design programming
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02 Apr 07
Jason MarottiAlthough this paper presents a number of concrete design and engineering ideas, the larger intent is to introduce a “unified theory” of information software design, and provide inspiration and direction for progressive designers.
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01 Apr 07
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31 Mar 07
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