Principles of Art

The principles are balance, contrast, proportion, pattern, rhythm, emphasis, unity, and variety.

http://www.alifetimeofcolor.com/study/g_art_principles.html

The elements are color, value, line, shape, form, texture and space.

http://www.alifetimeofcolor.com/study/g_art_elements.html

The 8 Golden RulesOf Interface Design

http://interarchdesign.wordpress.com/2007/11/04/schneiderman-plaisant-designing-the-user-interface-chapt-2/

1. Consistency (strive for consistency)
2. Provide informative Feedback for actions
3. Strive for universal usability
4. Dialog boxes to yield Closure
5. Prevent Errors
6. Allow for Reversability of actions
7. Support Internal Locus of Control
8. Reduce short term Memory Load

Laws Of Action

http://www.almaden.ibm.com/u/zhai/topics/LawsOfAction.htm

“Laws of Action” is a research attempt to carry the spirit of Fitts' law forward. Beyond "Law of Pointing", it explores "Law of Steering" and "Law of crossing".

Power Law of Practice

The Power Law of Practice states that the logarithm of the reaction time for a particular task decreases linearly with the logarithm of the number of practice trials taken. It is an example of the learning curve effect on performance.

Steering Law

The steering law is a predictive model of how quickly one may navigate, or steer, through a 2-dimensional tunnel.

where T is the average time to navigate through the path, C is the path parameterized by s, W(s) is the width of the path at s, and a and b are experimentally fitted constants. In general, the path may have a complicated curvilinear shape (such as a spiral) with variable thickness W(s).

from

Fitt's Law

In ergonomics, Fitts's law (often cited as Fitts' law) is a model of human movement which predicts the time required to rapidly move to a target area, as a function of the distance to the target and the size of the target.

Shanon formulation for movement along a single dimension:

where

• T is the average time taken to complete the movement. (Traditionally, researchers have used the symbol MT for this, to mean movement time.)
• a and b are empirical constants, and can be determined by fitting a straight line to measured data.
• D is the distance from the starting point to the center of the target. (Traditionally, researchers have used the symbol A for this, to mean the amplitude of the movement.)
• W is the width of the target measured along the axis of motion. W can also be thought of as the allowed error tolerance in the final position, since the final point of the motion must fall within ± W/2 of the target's centre.

from

Hick's law

Hick-Hyman law, is a human-computer interaction model that describes the time it takes for a user to make a decision as a function of the possible choices he or she has. Given n equally probable choices, the average reaction time T required to choose among them is approximately

T = blog₂(n + 1)

where b is a constant that can be determined empirically by fitting a line to measured data.

from

Five Principles to Design By - Joshua Porter

From here

Also watch Jonathan Ive, iPod Designer's interview at youtube

Technology Serves Humans.

Design is not Art.
(Art is about personal expression. Design, on the other hand, is about use. Unlike Art, Design is always contextual.)

The Experience Belongs to the User.

Great Design is Invisible.
(Bad design is obvious because it hurts to use. It is awkward, difficult, and complex. In a great irony of the world, bad design is much easier to see than good design. It raps us on the head like a bully. Because of its success, great design is often invisible.)

Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication.

Summary of Principles for User-Interface Design

Here is the main post.

1. The principle of user profiling -- Know who your user is.
2. The principle of metaphor -- Borrow behaviors from systems familiar to your users.
3. The principle of feature exposure -- Let the user see clearly what functions are available
4. The principle of coherence -- The behavior of the program should be internally and externally consistent
5. The principle of state visualization -- Changes in behavior should be reflected in the appearance of the program
6. The principle of shortcuts -- Provide both concrete and abstract ways of getting a task done
7. The principle of focus -- Some aspects of the UI attract attention more than others do
8. The principle of grammar -- A user interface is a kind of language -- know what the rules are
9. The principle of help -- Understand the different kinds of help a user needs

* 1. Goal-oriented: "What kinds of things can I do with this program?"
* 2. Descriptive: "What is this? What does this do?"
* 3. Procedural: "How do I do this?"
* 4. Interpretive: "Why did this happen?"
* 5. Navigational: "Where am I?"

10. The principle of safety -- Let the user develop confidence by providing a safety net
11. The principle of context -- Limit user activity to one well-defined context unless there's a good reason not to
12. The principle of aesthetics -- Create a program of beauty
13. The principle of user testing -- Recruit help in spotting the inevitable defects in your design
14. The principle of humility -- Listen to what ordinary people have to say

The Principles Of Beautiful Web Design

If you wonder how can you create nice websites, read introduction to a book by this name on this blog.

Design Principles of Online Communities: Kollock

This is dated 1996.

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/design.htm

• Axelrod's (1984) requirements for the possibility of cooperation:
  • Arrange that individuals will meet each other again
  • They must be able to recognize each other
  • They must have information about how the other has behaved until now

• Ostrom's (1990) design principles of successful communities:
  • Group boundaries are clearly defined
  • Rules governing the use of collective goods are well matched to local needs and conditions
  • Most individuals affected by these rules can participate in modifying the rules
  • The right of community members to devise their own rules is respected by external authorities
  • A system for monitoring members' behavior exists; this monitoring is undertaken by the community members themselves
  • A graduated system of sanctions is used
  • Community members have access to low-cost conflict resolution mechanisms

• Godwin's (1994) principles for making virtual communities work:
  • Use software that promotes good discussion
  • Don't impose a length limitation on postings
  • Front-load your system with talkative, diverse people
  • Let the users resolve their own disputes
  • Provide institutional memory
  • Promote continuity
  • Be host to a particular interest group
  • Provide places for children
  • Confront the users with a crisis

Rule of least surprise

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_least_astonishment

A user interface may have the behaviour that pressing Control-Q causes the program to quit. The same user interface may have a facility for recording macros, a sequence of keystrokes to be played back later, intended to be able to control all aspects of the program. The user may want to record a keystroke sequence that includes Control-Q as part (most likely the last part) of the macro. The principle says that pressing Control-Q while recording a macro should not quit the program (which would surprise the user), but rather should record the keystroke.

GNOME Humain Interafce Guidelines - Principles

From http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/2.0/

1. Usability Principles

Design for People

Don't Limit Your User Base

Accessibility

Internationalization and Localization

Create a Match Between Your Application and the Real World

Make Your Application Consistent

Keep the User Informed

Keep It Simple and Pretty

Put the User in Control

Forgive the User

Provide Direct Manipulation

Usability principles

From http://www.redhat.com/magazine/002dec04/features/usability/

User Knowledge Principle:

Figure out who your user is, what they do, and what they need.

Feature Bloat Principle:

Recognize the cost of each feature you add and each exceptional use case you accommodate.

Focus Principle:

Good design requires editing. Focus the design on one principle class of users.

Abstraction Principle:

Keep track of the “conceptual model” your software requires, and work at making it simpler. Reduce cognitive friction.

Direct Manipulation Principle:

Enable the illusion of direct manipulation when there is a reasonable physical metaphor.

Google's priniciples

Installation : Software should not trick you into installing it

Upfront disclosure : When an application is installed or enabled, it should inform you of its principal and significant functions

Simple Removal : It should be easy for you to figure out how to disable or delete an application.

Clear behavior: Applications that affect or change your user experience should make clear they are the reason for those changes.

Snooping: If an application collects or transmits your personal information such as your address, you should know.

Keeping good company: Application providers should not allow their products to be bundled with applications that do not meet these guidelines.

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