My theses aimes to research where UI pattern come from and if they are still the best solution. E.g. Desktop methapor as officetable.
Analysing current design pattern on their usefuleness.
Objectives
I will search in literature for the history of certain patterns. I will analyse the pattern and maybe show alternatives but i will most likely not create new patterns, as planed originally. I will put more effort in analysing and also testing the old pattern with users.
Literature research on history of pattern and kultural background of certain UI pattern/interaction pattern
Classify UI Pattern (like Mobile, Web, HMI)
Identify pattern that are no longer approbriate or pattern that could use a makeover
Context Analysis: Analyse what´s not good about this pattern
Make some user interview/testing what people think about this (maybe love/hate letters from other UX Designers and normal users.
Offer suggestions for a better solution (maybe)
Methods
Find information on that topic
Interview people how they experience a pattern
Analysing
Outcomes
Get an inside where changing a pattern might be useful.
Knowledge about where and when a pattern is outdated and should be renewed
When researching established workflows and user interface (UI) patterns, my assumptions are that familiarity often leads to same solutions. People often tend to stick to existing methods simply because they have become accustomed to them. The same appens with changing User Interfaces. This aversion to change something is a known phenomenon.
By investigating this further, I want to find out why certain approaches are been still used and if there are mor efficient alternatives. The basic questions that intersts me are: Why do we cling to established norms? Could there be a better way to accomplish tasks?
Moreover, this universal resistance to change, also in the context of UI modifications, adds another layer. The aversion to alterations in UIs and workflows might be a recognized aspect of human behavior. But, I think that this reluctance could bereduzed if the suggested changes are beneficial or more user-friendly. Similar to the adoption of innovations such as the social login feature.
My research is going to be mostly based on existing studies and will be pretty theoretical. Maybe I can have a more philosphical approach to it and approach and interviewing different types of users to understand what they think about specific UI patterns. To find out which patterns are known and what people think about them. To get some reliable data on a pattern it has to be tested and maybe compared with an alternative with a high amount of users to find out if the pattern is just useful because it is known or because it is realy intuitiv without explanation.
Recognizing that this study takes a highly theoretical stance, I plan to draw extensively from existing research while infusing a philosophical dimension to enrich the discourse. To gain a comprehensive understanding, I aim to conduct interviews with colleagues, power users, and individuals less experienced with the system. This approach should show the prevailing patterns, feelings and attitudes towards established UI norms.
To really understand a pattern, I’ll test it and maybe compare it to another approach with a lot of users. This will help me figure out if people like a pattern just because it’s familiar or if it’s genuinely easy to use without needing much explanation.
I’m not just interested in what UI patterns are out there, but I want to know why we use them and if there might be better ways of doing things. It’s all about understanding why things look the way they do on our screens and get a broader understanding of design pattern and user behavior.
The task of designing something means that the designer thinks about the thing he is designing and how it caters the user and about the impact the designed thing will have on human behavior. No design is bare of a reason. Design is not free from a certain reason for which it was conceived. Research on persuasive design highlights it´s potential benefits for behavioural change, if that is good for the receiver and environment or just for the company is an ethical question.
There are seven persuasive strategies defined bei Fogg: reduction, tunneling, tailoring, suggestion, self-monitoring, surveillance, and conditioning.
Speaking of ethical concerns, there are four key principles to consider:
Dual-privacy
Disclosure
Accuracy
The “golden” principle
UX design is not specifically driven by persuasive intent, however, persuasive intent must be recognised as inherent in all design activities. Consequently, dark patterns observed in UX practice may reflect these strategies but deviate from their original purpose and ethical standards.
Let´s recall types of Dark Patterns, to understand the differnce to persuasive and ethically correct pattern. The naming of the dark pattern already indicates that they are manipulative.
Bait and Switch: Misleading intentions leading to undesirable outcomes.
Disguised Ad: Ads masked as content or navigation.
Forced Continuity: Silent credit card charges post free trials without warning.
Friend Spam: Misuse of email or social permissions for spamming contacts.
Hidden Costs: Unexpected charges revealed late in the checkout process.
Misdirection: Diverting attention from one aspect to conceal another.
Price Comparison Prevention: Hindering price comparison for informed choices.
Privacy Zuckering: Tricking users into oversharing personal information.
Roach Motel: Easy access but difficult exit from a situation (e.g., subscriptions).
Sneak into Basket: Secretly adding items during the purchasing journey.
Trick Questions: Misleading questions requiring careful attention for clarity.
The difference between dark patterns and persuasive design strategies is mainly the intentions of the favoured outcome. Dark patterns are ignoring user rights and whats best for the human beeing but just a benefit for some stakeholders. The intention of the manipulation is that users are not able to understand or fully explore all options for action.They act “blindly”. The intented action is forced by nagging and empasising the desired action to lead the user to the desired outcome. The strategy of secrecy prevents to show all possible options and actions and forces users to react to the system rather than act conciously.
On the other hand, persuasive design strategies, as proposed by Fogg and others, aim to influence user behaviour, but with ethical considerations in mind.
Reduction and Tunneling: Guides users, but within the scope of their interests, similar to forced action and obstruction (Dark Pattern).
Tailoring and Suggestion: which aim to guide users on the basis of their preferences without forcing them to act against their interest. It is similar to interface interference (Dark Pattern).
Conditioning: This refers to strategies such as secrecy or nagging (dark patterns) that may influence behaviour, but for user interest reasons. [1]
Other studies have created guidelines for persuasive interfaces. The developed checklist was created with examination of 164 documents associated with technological persuasion (for document specifics, refer to Némery, 2012). With this reaserch they were able to identify and organize primary elements of persuasion. Those form the basis of the guidelines, declining eight persuasive criteria and 23 sub-criteria. The eight basic criteria, which are divided into static and dynamic aspects, are intended to improve the awareness and evaluation of persuasive elements in interfaces.
Interactions with computers are often combarable with human interactions. The computer can build trust in a similar way to interpersonal relationships. The interactive system can evoke emotional involvement in repeated interactions. Through the use of formal and polite language, computers can act as social support units or teammates, assuming roles such as coach, co-operation partner or symbiotic assistant, depending on the context (Nass, Fogg, & Moon, 1996). Therfore some static criteria, static means that they are basic and not lightly influenced by other factors, are the same like we like in a human beeing: credibility, privacy, personalization, and attractiveness.
Credibility is the most important criteria and is based on the information the interface provides. It is also influenced by a company or the reputation of a company. Example: Testimonials, or showing logos of partners and clients, which are global players.
Privacy refers to the protection of personal data, but also to integrity. It should be provided by detailed information on data protection and security, but not in formal words but easy to access content.
Personalisation means, users can adapt the interface to their preferences, which should increase loyalty to the product. That could mean addressing users by their name, eaven more personal and friendshiplike by using the first name.
Attractiveness is created through an aesthetically pleasing and modern UI design. It should attract the users’ attention, involve them by evoking positive feelings and make it easier for them to take certain actions. It also means that the interface has nice images, animations and appropriate colours.
There are also four dynamic criteria. Dynamic means that those criteria are showing during an interactive process. They are not basic, they are temporarily.
Solicitation initiates relationship and dialogue with the user, making suggestions or special offers.
Priming encourages users to take the next step, like call-to action Buttons with the pressuring do something NOW. That also includes the distinction between primary and secondary buttons, which guides users through an interface.
Commitment involves and motivates users with rewards and positive feedback to encourage to repeat a certain action and shows achievements.
Ascendency has potential for addiction. It means suggestions for irresistible interaction and tension release, like last item available.
[1] Colin M. Gray, Yubo Kou, Bryan Battles, Joseph Hoggatt, and Austin L. Toombs. 2018. The Dark (Patterns) Side of UX Design. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’18). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Paper 534, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3174108
[2] Némery, Alexandra, and Eric Brangier. “Set of Guidelines for Persuasive Interfaces: Organization and Validation of the Criteria.” Journal of Usability Studies 9, no. 3 (2014).
The term gamification emerged around 2010. It serves as collective term for including game-based elements into non-game-based activities and applications. Using game elements should increase the engagment of users and enhances User Experience. Most importantly it make non-gmae-based tasks more interessting, engageing and the user is more motivated to finish those tasks. (656-657) [1]
It is worth to take a look at the concept of gamification pattern. There are certain pattern that are very successfully used within non-game apps and software. It is well reasearched that certain pattern can lead people to get addicted to games, so some of those pattern should also work in normal environments, and indeed it does. Still it is important to distinguish between motivational design patterns and game design patterns. While motivational pattern offer more autonomy and flexibility, they can be combined in parallel, Game design pattern are influencing each other. A motivational pattern must meet user needs to be successful. It is not neccessary for the user to understand the functionality. For successful implementation, a motivational design pattern must meet user needs, even if users aren’t consciously aware of its functionality. Whereas recognising a pattern is important for gamification makes it possible to find order in chaos and/or recognise connections between different types of information. Humans are used to recognize pattern, existing in concepts, behaviors, historical events. They are important or us to make the future more predictable and guide our decision-making across various fields. So it is also a part of the gamification pattern to find those patterns. Successfull and effective gamification relies on our motivational drivers rather than just on including game elements ike badges, points, or leaderboards. Yu-kai Chou is a researcher in the filed of games. He created the „Octalysis framework“, in which he outlines eight core drivers of motivation. Those are essential for successful games. While this is very interesting for games, it is not so neccessary for gamification. (665-667) [2]
Nadya Direkova is a known designer and User Experience Manager at Google Fitbit. She previously directed R&D at Airbnb and helped establishing Google’s Sprint Leader Academy. She is also very exerienced with game design pattern. [2] According to her, in gamified applications there are three critical aspects of user engagement: the first one is to encourage users to try, second is the social participation, and keeping the users commitment. Each one involves specific design patterns used for various stages of the user journey.
Direkova defines three gamifaction stages that are neccessary for successfull user engagement:
“Come and try the new gamified product or service,”
“Bringing Friends to try the new gamified product or service”
“Come back to retry the new gamified product or service (as frequent customers)”
These aspects are crucial for successful gamified applications and they rely on the implementation of various game mechanics. These can be categorized under each of the three stages:
Prize and Awards: This is used to attract user interest, often seen in gaming and non-gaming contexts.
Visual Storytelling: Integration of visual features to increase engagement and effectively communicate values
Visual Cues: Visual elements in software applications are specifically designed to ease user interaction.
Tutorials and Coaching: Those are designed to help users with navigation and specific features.
Reward Schedule: Rewaring user for tasks in moderate dosage to maintain motivation
Gated Trial-Form a team to start: This encourages social engagement by inviting users to work together.
Design Conversations: Easy social feedback and bondage through chat and comments.
Structured Social Feedback: Urges users to express opinions and preferences, allowing vital feedback.
Reputation: Establishes user status within a community or platform, fostering belonging and engagement.
Sharing Achievements: Allows users to showcase their achievements to others, boosting engagement.
“Come back to retry the new gamified product or service (as frequent customers)” patterns:
Create Scores: Monitoring and displaying scores that drive specific behavior or actions.
Throttle Actions: Gradually presents challenges after achieving scores, maintaining user interaction.
Advanced User Paths: Offers simple-to-complex tasks, such as assigning privileges based on user ranks, fostering continuous engagement.
These patterns are engaging users at different stages. Implementing those pattern is fundamental for successful gamification in software applications. [1] (667-671)
Those design patterns can be also be used in other environments, they can play a vital role in teaching and learning. Ivanov and Breuer colleced a set of 36 design patterns that can be used in the field of innovations.
These patterns are structured across four dimensions:
I. Domains of challenges: 12 domains linked to operational, strategic, and normative innovation management
II. Challenges tackled by gamification: Focused on typical innovation and entrepreneurship challenges
III. Flow patterns: These are reusable interactions among participants that address specific innovation or entrepreneurial challenges. There are 11 flow patterns such as Agile Retrospective, Ideation, and Workshop Facilitation.
IV. Component patterns: These are standalone game elements. There are 25 component patterns like Challenges, Rewards, Storytelling, and Voting.
The study focuses on innovation management, but also has potential for application in other areas. These patterns provide solutions for abstract concepts to translate them into working practices. Flow patterns get participants to understand values in different organisations. Gamification workshops raise awareness of new values and encourage experimentation with real-life tasks.
[1] Gamification Design Patterns for User Engagement, Serafeim A. TRIANTAFYLLOU1, Christos K. GEORGIADIS, Informatics in Education, 2022, Vol. 21, No. 4, 655–674
[3] Design Patterns to Teach and Learn About Gamification for Innovation, Kiril Ivanov, Henning Breuer, This paper was presented at The ISPIM Innovation Conference – Innovating Our Common Future, Berlin, Germany on 20–23 June 2021. Event Proceedings: LUT Scientific and Expertise Publications: ISB
Inclusive Design means for everyone and every situation. Accessibility enhences usability. Therefore good responsive design plays a crucial role in inclusive design practices. Following some responsive principles, ensures inclusive and user-friendly digital experiences across diverse devices and user preferences.
Content breakpoints or tweakpoints One crucial aspekt that springs in mind when talking about responsiveness are breakpoints. Creating fixed breakpoints however will not always lead to a good experience according to the diverse range of viewport variations available. Instead, designers should create flexible design from the beginning, implementing breakpoints where the content breaks the layout. This delievers successful layouts across various devices. As the content reaches a point of collision, overlap, or wrapping, when resizing the window, it becomes evident where breakpoints are needed.
Avoid fixed width or heights
Another rule according to always deliver a good content is to avoid fixed widths or heights off elements. Instead use the innate flexibility of boxes to accommodate content across various spaces.
Pinch-to-zoom
Another pattern, a more technical one is the enabling of pinch-to-zoom via the viewport meta tag. It is essential for responsive design functionality. Disabling this feature can make user experience worse by making text too small to read, limiting the view of image details and making it utterly complicated to select text for copy/paste.
Responsive Font-size
A good practice for setting font-size in responsive design is setting the font size as a percentage on the root (<html>) element. For consistency when resizing font-size, padding, and margin, relative units like rem or em are to be preferred. These units ensure that scaling is proportionately on all pages, so it is also easy to use for consitency reasons.
Viewport units
Additionally, viewport units (vh and vw) can be used to create text that scales relative to the height or width of the viewport. Using viewport units enables responsive text without the use of extensive media queries. This guarantees a minimum font size and allows incremental scaling and proportionate adjustments relative to the viewport size.
Website Structur
The use of semantic HTML guarantees technical accuracy for users of assistive technologies and at the same time determines the interaction behaviour for predictability and efficiency.
Webfonts
Although there are special fonts for the web, webfonts can still become a major issue for readability. There is an effect called FOIT (flash of invisible text), which might leave users on a page without visible text if the font is not loaded. To avoid this a default font should be embedded in the stylesheet. This in turn, might show the text but might result in FOUT (flash of unstyled text). It causes a sudden transition and jumping of linies when the system fonts changes to web fonts. To avoid this select a fallback system fonts with similar intrinsic dimensions.
Skip Link
Skip links allow keyboard users to easily move through the page via keyboard and bypass the navigation and header content. They primarily help screen reader users, but are also helpful for those who rely on keyboards by providing efficient navigation.
Formating Text
Text can be a big pitfall when it comes to readability. Although it should be clear by nowadays that text must be formatted according to the medium and that different principles apply to the formatting of text on the web than in print design, it very often happens that texts on the web are difficult to read for all users because this has not been taken into account.
Text justification is almost never a good choice. It works in print because there you could manually break lines and avoid empty spaces but it will not work with flexible boxes. This diminishes readability due to uneven word spacing for all users, not only handicapped ones. Using the default text-alignment left provides better readability. Also adjusting the line height or leading of textblocks is neccessary. A bigger line-height makes ensure readability.
Content
When it comes to content, it is essential to be aware of the importance of creating engaging and accessible content. Writing content is often outperformed by the visual design. Nevertheless it is an essential aspect of designing a website that deserves equal attention. Content creation should not be postponed and must be integrated into the overall design strategy.(66) The readability of written content relates to comprehension. Tools such as the Flesch-Kincaid readability test can be used to assess content. Content is scored on a scale from 0 to 100, with a higher score indicating a more reader-friendly text. Similarly, the Flesch-Kincaid level test gives a US school grade indicating readability based on the age of the target audience. A higher grade indicates more complex content that is less accessible to younger readers. (88-89)
Videocontent
It is good practice to subtitle videos. Closed captions contribute greatly to inclusion. Subtitles should be available as a separate file rather than embedded so that users have the option to enable or disable them. Subtitles in videos are important, improving accessibility for a wider audience. They serve not only the hearing impaired, but anyone temporarily unable to hear audio, in public places for example. (97).
Links
Links should be labled. For screen reader and keyboard support, identifying links could be a challange. This additional text should not replace the existing link text, but rather be appended or prepended to it. The use of visually hidden text that is accessible to screen readers, such as “Current page”, is a suggested approach to improve link identification (135). Labelling interactive elements is fundamental to accessibility. Each interactive element should have an accessible name to facilitate interpretation and communication using assistive technologies. This is in line with WCAG criterion 4.1.2. Such considerations contribute significantly to the creation of an inclusive digital environment. [1]
One of the main ressourches or accessibility are W3C specifications for accessibility which offer implementation solutions aligned with the accessibility guidelines. This approach closes the gap between human-computer interaction and the development of accessible web applications.
Accessibel patterns are categorized according to three primary functions. The three categories are:
Web content: How the content is organized on the webpage
Navigation structures across all pages
User interaction components, such as CTA-Buttons
This pattern language presented at W3Cis a reference for web designers and accessibility tester. It presents a structured overview of design knowledge regarding accessibility. The classification of the patterns according to functions and the abstraction level makes it easy to pick the relevant patterns for each specific design issues. It is crucial to prioritize accessibility in structure and content for the web. [2]
2 Daniela Fogli, Loredana Parasiliti Provenza, and Cristian Bernareggi. 2010. A design pattern language for accessible web sites. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces (AVI ’10). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 307–310. https://doi.org/10.1145/1842993.1843048
At the WUC 2023, I participated in one of the workshop led by Sabina NB about “Design Declutter – a hands on guide” The workshop focused on the use of design methodes to soptimise our lives. Sabina, is an Human-Centered Design specialist. She told us how to analyzing our digital media habits to declutter our life from stressful habits with digital media.
Based on UX design research strategies, we tried to better understand our habits with dsmartphone and social media plattforms. Questioning ourslelfe we scrutinised our relationship with our everyday habits with the smartphone from waking up until the end of the day. We oberserved our daily routine to find out about where we could improve our habits. With this observation and self-interviewing, we should be able to identify stress-inducing patterns and inefficiencies in our digital consumption.
Using the principles of human-centred design, we tried to become more conscious about the use of digital media. We understood the importance of developing solutions that are specialy designed to our individual needs to ensure that our digital activities align with our goals and our lives. She also emphasized the importance of building a team of friends to sustain the changes. A team like family or friends is often a good supporter to help you keep up the strategies for a more balanced life with digital media.
Sabina’s workshop provided a holistic insight that used UX design methodologies to gain personal development. It encouraged us to reimagine and refine our digital lifestyles. The idea was that we as designers us the tools and strategies we already have to create a more mindful interaction with digital media in our daily lives.
Impulse II
How bad UX can lead to catastrophes
Usually UX problems are just annoying and can annoy and drive customers away but in some cases bad UX is fatal. That happens when boing devloped his new Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) for Boeing 737 Max for more aerodynamic stability. This system has major design flaws which led to critical problems. The system intended to prevent stalling by automatically adjusting the plane’s nose, but Boeing failed to communicate this addition to pilots effectively.
Two planes crashed due to this failure and shows the disastrous consequences of inadequate human-computer interaction in aviation. Neglecting UX design rules cost 346 lives and costs Boeing dearly.
The design flaws in the MCAS system of the Boeing 737 Max can be understood through Jakob Nielsen’s usability heuristics to see the key issues:
Visibility of system status: Pilots were not informed about the MCAS activation or the erroneous data from the AoA sensor, lacking crucial warnings or indications. An optional AoA Disagree Alert could have aided pilots, but it wasn’t included.
Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors: Pilots faced the consequences of the system’s error without any clear error messages. They needed information on what was causing the plane to dive and how to counteract it.
User control and freedom: Pilots lacked a clear emergency exit from the situation caused by MCAS’s erroneous decision. They couldn’t easily override the system, leading to a struggle to regain control.
Help and documentation: The aircraft manual failed to offer timely help during critical moments, forcing pilots to juggle through it without finding any helpful information. The lack of a user-friendly manual compounded the crisis.
These problems could have been addressed with a cockpit warning light for MCAS status, proper scenario testing, and an easy-to-use manual providing real-time guidance. A more comprehensive testing approach and an AI-based system capable of offering instant guidance during emergencies could have averted these disasters.
Was Boeing 737 Max Lion Air Crash Caused by Poor UX Design? Greg Nudelman Oct 31, 2019 https://medium.com/@greg_2590/was-boeing-737-max-lion-air-crash-caused-by-poor-ux-design-aa04c7a7d285
Fatal UX — How a poorly designed feature led the Lion and Ethiopian Airplanes to Crash Raju Verma https://medium.com/@raju.vrm2/fatal-ux-how-a-poorly-designed-feature-led-the-lion-and-ethiopian-airplanes-to-crash-dae475564c4
Impuls III
Does AI kills jobs in creative industries?
People in the creative business are worried about AI taking over their jobs. AI can generate pictures, write Stories, create logos a lot faster than humans. Ashley Still, Adobe’s senior vice president of digital media, compares AI to the invention of the camera. She believes AI won’t eliminate graphic design roles. She said that the develpoment of digital cameras has not replaced professional photographers. Adobe recently introduced new AI features, like text-to-template capabilities, across its Creative Cloud tools. They emphasized the need for design-focused people to guide AI effectively. Despite fears among people in creative industries about AI job displacement there will always be humans neccessary to supervise AI and ensure proper system functionality. But the rise of generative AI will reshape creative jobs. And will these tools support or hinder our creative evolution? Can AI really be creative?
Creativity, as defined by Margaret Boden in “The Creative Mind,” encompasses two human types: psychological (p-type) and historical (h-type). The P-type is about thinking of something new, even if it has been thought of before, and synchronising thoughts with others, like a child recognising the adaptability of water. The H-type is about groundbreaking thoughts that have never been conceived, like Archimedes’ “eureka” moment. Extraordinary legacies, such as Wandjina’s petroglyphs or Einstein’s work, characterise thinking. Generative AI does not fit into either category. AI lacks the neccesary connection between mind and reality to work like human creativity. AI is based on statistical data. This limits its relevance in the real world and its ability to trigger “eureka” moments. To distinguish AI-driven creativity Boden coined the term “generic” (g-like) creativity, which recognises the innovation of AI within its data constraints. It is expected that the widespread use of AI will lead to an increase in generic creativity, resulting in less cognitive diversity and cultural rigidity. This could limit creativity and social flexibility and impact everything from our living spaces to shared environments. By incorporating more and more content into AI, the results are becoming generic. While AI is good use for specialised tasks, its omnipresence brings the danger of a generic spiral that could lead to an Orwellian-like political economy. To preserve human creativity, human creativity must be prioritised over artificial creativity. Legal frameworks, especially intellectual property laws, are crucial. If AI is restricted by rights such as “fair use” of copyrighted material can change further development of the creative system. The impact of artificial intelligence on jobs, whether for high-skilled or low-skilled jobs – have often proven wrong. Historical predictions, such as those about computers in the 1950s, underestimated the long-term impact and created new job categories instead. The rise of AI raises concerns about job displacement, but predicting the exact impact remains difficult. Human imagination and creativity are benefiting from the advances of AI, and our work life will continue to be defined by our human qualities.
UX Optimizations For Keyboard-Only And Assistive Technology Users with Aaron Pearlman
Aaron Pearlman´s speech is about the importance of optimizing designs for Keyboard-Only and Assistive Technology users in web applications. He introduces himself as the Principal User Experience Designer and proceeds to discuss the importance of optimizations on keyboard navigation or assistive technologies. The target users are people who use keyboards to navigate web systems. They might have problems with motoric skill or visual impairments. Therefore designers need to consider incorporating assistive technologies like screen readers or braille readers.
He explaines three major categories of optimizations:
skip links
modal enhancements
focus handling
Skip links menas to allow users to skip sections of a webpage, making it easier for Keyboard-Only and Assistive Technology users to reach the main content. There are different types of skip links like displacement, overlay, and multiple skip links.
Modal optimizations means that the focus is set within within modals. Some examples of modal behavior show where focus is not properly trapped explain the significance of focusing on modal content or headers for better accessibility.
He also talks about the UX design process, discussing its discovery phase and the importance of thinking about accessibility from the beginning to throughout the whole design process. He introduces Deque’s Trane, an accessible pattern library, and how it can help create accessible web applications.
Impulse V
User Needs/User Requirements vs. User Stories
Im Alltag, wenn agile Prozesse eingesetzt werden kommt es immer wieder zu einem grundlegenden Missverständnis zwischen Product Owner, Requirements Engineer und UX Designer. Ein Hauptproblem ist oft das fehlende Verständnis für Erforschung der Bedürfnisse der Nutzer. Projektleiter auf der Kundenseite und Product Owner auf der Seite der Entwicklung stellen ihre Schlussfolgerung und damit Lösung oft einfach über die Notwendigkeit mit dem Benutzer zu sprechen. Oft ist das einfach der Bequemlichkeit geschuldet und dem Umstand, dass User Stories ausreichend sind um ein Produkt zu umschreiben und zu erstellen. Eine User Story hilft aber nicht dabei eine benutzerorientierter Lösungen zu finden. Im Gegenteil verhindert eine übereilt erstellte User Story einen passenden Lösungsansatz.
Was ist im Umfeld des UX-Designs unter Benutzerbedürfnis zu verstehen? Formal ausgedrückt heißt das: Benutzerbedürnisse sind die Dinge, die Menschen von einem Produkt oder einer Dienstleistung brauchen, um eine Aufgabe ausführen zu können. Um die Bedürfnisse der Benutzer zu verstehen, muss man in die Erfahrung der Benutzer eintauchen und sich in ihre Probleme, Motivationen und Ziele einfühlen. Es geht darum, relevante Fragen zu stellen wie: Vor welchen Herausforderungen stehen die Nutzer? Was sind ihre Ziele? Was erwarten sie von dem Produkt oder der Dienstleistung?
Das wichtigste ist: Die Bedürfnisse der Nutzer legen keine spezifische Lösung nahe! User Stories hingegen, wie sie im agilen Entwicklungsumfeld genutzt werden, bieten eine Lösungsperspektive. Sie bescheiben, wie ein Benutzer mit einem Produkt oder einer Dienstleistung interagiert, um ein bestimmtes Ziel zu erreichen. Diese Geschichten skizzieren das “Wer”, “Was”, “Warum” und “Wie” der Benutzerinteraktion.
In der agilen Entwicklung werden User Stories verwendet, um Funktionen und Features eines interaktiven Systems in verständlicher Sprache zu beschreiben und zu priorisieren. Die Lösung selbst ist bereits vorgegeben, ob eine vorherige UX-Phase durchlaufen wurde oder nicht.
Wikipedia: „A requirement is a formal description of a need, a user story is the informal description of a feature”
Eine User Story hat in der Regel das folgende Format: “Als [Benutzer] möchte ich [eine Aktion] durchführen, damit [ein Ergebnis] erzielt wird”. Diese Form klingt zwar nach einem Bedürfnis, wenn zuvor aber die eigentlichen Nutzerbedürfnisse nicht identifiziert werden, ist diese Formel nur eine leere Floskel. User Stories sind Beschreibungen von schon gefassten Lösungen, welche sich häufig nicht auf tatsächlich ermittelte Ziele oder Anforderungen der Benutzer im Nutzungskontext beziehen. Im Arbeitsalltag erschwert dieses Unverständnis die Zusammenarbeit zwischen PO, UI/UX Designer, Entwickler und trägt nicht zu einer benutzfreundlichen Lösung bei. Es geht bei der Entwicklung von digitalen Produkten nicht nur um die Erfüllung einer Liste an funktionalen Anforderungen, sondern darum, die Bedürfnisse des Benutzers zu verstehen um dann diese Bedürfnisse mit dem Produkt zu erfüllen. Wie diese Lösung aussieht soll im UX-Prozess und vom UX Designer ermittelt werden, erst danach formuliert man die User Story für die Umsetzung.
Aaron Walter’s Book “Design for Emotion” deals with the integration of emotional elements into the design to provide better user experiences. TIn his book, he writes about the important role that emotions play in the design of products, services and digital interfaces. He highlights the big part emotions hold in the interaction of individuals and technology. Emotions like joy, surprise, sadness, or fear should be used to create a connection between users and the product
To integrate emotions or evoke them with the design can have a huge impact tof the perception of a product. He explains that while usability and functionality are crucial, they alone might not be responible for customer loyalty and bond with the product.
Walters also presents approaches, methodologies, and real-life case studies. These are guiding principles for designers, and show how to embed emotion into the design process.
Human emotions intertwine with cognitive processes, leaving an imprint on the memory. Emotions, generated and stored within the limbic system of the brain, are very strong and determine our perceptions and responses for a product. By evoking positive emotions, designers can steer users to overlook imperfections and errors, provide guidance and lead them on to to things. There was a study that people tent to overlook bad usability when the UI is beautifully made. Still a lack of functionality, reliability, or usability, will damage the envisioned positive experience and could lead to user frustration.
Our perception of beauty often reflects our innate ability to extract meaning from forms. The human mind identifys patterns and shapes. If a design is flooded with elements it can overwhelm users and lead to cluttered design, lacking clarity and comprehension. Therefore design shoudn´t be merely ornamental. but neglecting aesthetics undermines the overall impact of functionality. Personal objects mean more to people and creates deeper connections. Therefore design should be able to adjust and better be adjustable. Personalisation is a good way to better user experience. Emotional design should help human-to-human communication. Its is not essential to create a good connection with the computer. Nevertheless the design needs to understand and follow real-life interactions. Emotional design isn’t only about aesthetics. It is about integrating emotions into the every part of the design, enriching user experiences through profound and engaging interactions.
As technology evolves and user behaviors changes, there are always new challenges for the UX industry. Some articles of UX designers claim UX is on the decline, but is that true? There are some arguments that might lead our perception into that direction:
The massiv interest and hype in UX design led to a market saturation and overcrowded market. The result is that there are fewer entry-level opportunities for newcomer. They often find it challanging to get a good position and start their UX career. This over-saturation represents a significant challenge. Bad circumstances, like economic stagnation or declinement can withhold technological or any investments and growth. That means that there are reduced budgets, layoffs, or a slowdown in innovative projects, which affects UX within the industry. With the opularity of UX careers, there came the self-learning and consulting businesses. Numerous educational programs and bootcamps evolved, but not all have high-quality standards, which produces underqualified professionals. People often struggle with real life circumstances like what they had been taught and what is needed in a project. A big thing is that for some jobs you need design skills. Making visually appealing interfaces with optimal functionality is a challenge. Providing that balance ensures a good user experience. Not every UX Designer is also a good UI Designer. Also meeting diverse user needs is a challenge. Accommodating various user groups requires a deeper understanding of diverse needs. This includes considerations for accessibility, cultural differences, and varying user expectations. And of course a good understanding of all stakeholders and keeping the budget in mind. Good teamwork with diverse stakeholders is crucial. It is a priority to keep good communication and relationship with all stakeholders.
Constant technological development makes it neccessary to know new devices, platforms, and interaction tools. Designers have to constantly keep up with this fast evolving tech landscape. Staying ahead of the changes and designing flexible experiences is key to success.An important part of UX is also the ROI and impact of UX improvements on the business which is always challenging. Demonstrating the value of UX in terms of user satisfaction and business success requires ongoing reasearch and analyses. This challenge is about effectively presenting the tangible results of UX efforts. Exept for the first problem with the market situation those are ongoing, problems but are there some real future challenges we are not aware of yet? Of course the evolution of technologies like AR, VR, AI, and IoT creates new challenges. To integrating and work with these technologies requires not just an understanding of the experience those technologies offer but also a technical understanding. Designers have to learn this new technologies. With globalization comes also challenges. We need to understand diverse user perspectives and cultural differences. As the world becomes more interconnected, knowing about cultural differences in design becomes a crucial factor for a product´s success. Designers are also very responsible for maintaining thical standards in design practices, privacy, accessibility, and responsible AI use.
And what about AI, will it be a helpful tool or replace designers? AI often raises questions and concerns about its impact on job roles and the future of designers. While AI definitly provides opportunities to enhance and make certain aspects of UX design more effitient, its will not replace the designers.AI can be a helpful tool by automating repetitive tasks such as data analysis, pattern recognition, and generating design iterations based on user feedback. It enables designers to focus on more creative and strategic aspects of their work. AI can help with personalization based on data-driven insights, predicting user preferences for bespoken experiences. Also it could assist with prototyping and design generation. What AI can not provide is the Human-centric aspect like understanding human emotions, motivations, and behaviors. AI is not able to solve complex problems, as it has to take different perspectives, cultural nuances and ethical considerations into account. These are areas where AI lacks contextual understanding. The technology will always struggle with ethical and moral decisions, also emotional design, creating experiences that deeply connect with users, remains a strength of human designers.
The masterclass is from Mia Guo, a Senior UX Designer at Magic Leap and a Harvard alumna. She is crafting immersive experiences in Extended Reality (XR). Mia explains how to build compelling XR experiences, emphasizing three design principles that define the user experience: Information Hierarchy & Density, Context, and Usability.
Understanding the context off an XR product is very important. You have to understand the setting in which the product will be used and how various factors might impact the UX. Mia categorizes XR applications into four main pillars: XR Training and Simulations, XR Gaming, XR Workspace, and XR Communication and Social Interaction. Each of these areas presents unique challenges and requirements. For instance, in XR Training, replicating real-world scenarios for professionals like firefighters. They need the most authentic environment to improve real-life skills. XR Gaming requires considerations of gameplay mechanics that make use of the interactive capabilities of the XR technology. In XR Workspaces, enhancing efficiency while ensuring security and integrating the app with existing systems is crucial. Safety measures in noisy or hazardous environments, such as manufacturing facilities, have to be consider. In XR Communication and Social Interaction, it is important that users can personalize the app and to offer emotional feedback and expressions within the XR environment.
Usability is a very important factor for a good immersive experience. XR apps can be very complex and hard to learn, therefore the onboarding process becomes a critical aspect. Users need guidance on navigating XR interfaces, including learning how to use controllers and accessing tutorials easily within the app.
Information Hierarchy & Density is also an important point for user navigation and the overall user experience. Designers need to reduce the cognitive load, improve task efficiency, and enhance safety and contextual awareness. This means prioritizing important elements in the XR interface through size, color, positioning, and effectively organizing information to minimize visual clutter. In XR this is even more important than in normal UI/UX Design.
There are also some other things to consider like technical limitations, including motion sickness, tracking accuracy, and glitches. Overcoming these problems is essential, because the user retention rate because of discomfort and complexity is very high.
Kristina Heidinger, BSc, Faculty of Informatics, TU Wien, Advisor: Ao.Univ.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.techn. Peter Purgathofer
Gestaltungshöhe
Die Arbeit ist für eine Diplomarbeit nett gestaltet. Der Text bzw. die These wird mit Bildern erläutert, das lockert die Arbeit schon ein wenig auf. Die Bilder wurden in den Text eingebunden. Überschriften und Titel sind gesondert gestaltet und die Gliederung im Text ist auch durchdacht.
Innovationsgrad
Die in der Dissertation vorgestellten Methoden sind alle bekannt und weisen daher einen mäßig hohen Innovationsgrad auf. Die Generative Walkthroughs verwenden soziotechnischer Prinzipien und stellen daher einen neuen Ansatz zur Entwicklung von Designalternativen dar. Während das Konzept des szenariobasierten Designs nicht neu ist, sind die Anwendung von Prinzipien wie “Situated Action”, “Rhythms & Routines” zur kreativen Ideenfindung für die Neugestaltung eine Neuerung. Die Methode GWIDO (Game with Interaction Design Objective) bietet die Möglichkeit, große Gruppen von Benutzern zu befragen, um die beste Wahl für ein UI-Element zu treffen. Während es nicht neu ist für Design-Feedback mit Benutzern zu sprechen, ist in der Anwendung von GWIDO in einem interaktiven, spielerischen Rahmen innovativ.
Selbstständigkeit
Die Arbeit stützt sich stark auf bestehende Methodiken und Literatur. Die Autorinn greift auf vorhandene Theorien und Forschungsergebnisse zurück, um ihre Arbeit zu untermauern. Die Arbeit verwendet eigene Untersuchungsmethoden wie eine vergleichende Analyse anderer Studenteninformationssysteme an anderen Universitäten. Auch der vergleichenden Experten-Workshops ist eine eigene Untersuchungsmethode. Die Arbeit beschreibt bereits vorhandenes Wissen über das TISS-System sowie vorangegangene Arbeiten zur Problemanalyse aus der Sicht der Student:innen. Durch diese Eigenständig. Vor allem die Anwendung von vergleichenden Analysen und Expertenworkshops, um das Verständnis für das Problemfeld zu erweitern, machen die Arbeit eigenständig und innovativ.
Gliederung und Struktur
Struktur und Gliederung wirken konsitent und gut geordnet. Die einzelnen Kapitel und Unterkapitel sind klar benannt und behandeln verschiedene Aspekte des Redesign-Prozesses von Informationssystemen. Darüber hinaus wird in der Einleitung erklärt, wie in der Arbeit vorgegangen wird und welche Ziele verfolgt werden. Die klare Struktur und Gliederung der Arbeit erleichtern das Verständnis und die Orientierung.
Kommunikationsgrad
Die Arbeit vermittelt den Sinn und die Relevanz der Arbeit gut, angefangen mit der Zielsetzung, der Erörterung von Theorien und Literatur, einer detaillierten Beschreibung des Prozesses und Präsentation des Vorschlags für die Neugestaltung. Am Ende gibt es eine abschließenden Empfehlungen für zukünftige Bemühungen. Der Text ist klar und schlüssig und vermittelt die Erkenntnisse und Ergebnisse der Forschung in verständlicher Sprache.
Umfang der Arbeit
Der Umfang der Arbeit ist ausreichend. Es wurde ausführlich hergeleitet wie die Ergebnisse zu Stande kommen, es gibt ausreichend Bildmaterial, die Arbeit ist mit etwa 60 Seiten aber nicht zu ausufernd.
Orthographie sowie Sorgfalt und Genauigkeit
Der Text enthält keine offensichtlichen Rechtschreibfehler oder grammatikalischen Ungenauigkeiten, soweit ich das beurteilen kann. Fachausdrücke werden angemessen verwendet und tragen zur Klarheit und Präzision des Textes bei. Informationen werden präszise und klar beschrieben. Einige Details werden erklärt (z.b. Mockups) und das trägt zum Verständnis bei.
Literatur
Die Literaturliste enthält viele unterschiedliche Quellen, darunter Websites, Blogposts, technische Artikel, Konferenzpapiere, Berichte, Thesenarbeiten und Bücher. Das weist auf eine umfassende Recherche hin. Viele der Quellen sind aktuell. Einige ältere Referenzen, die sich mit grundlegenden Theorien vefassen sind aus den frühen 90er Jahre, ansonsten sind alle Quellen aktuell. Die verwendete Literatur enthält auch Fallstudien, Evaluationsmethoden, Theorien des Designs und praktische Leitfäden.
Zu regeneratives Design gehört auch die Wiederverwendung von bereits bestehenden Produkten und Materialien. Wir müssen unser Konsumverhalten zu überdenken und Wege zu finden, wie wir bereits vorhandene Ressourcen besser nutzen können. Ein entscheidender Schritt ist das Bewusstsein für die für die Vorteile der Wiederverwendung zu schaffen. Wenn wir verstehen, wie die Wiederverwendung von Gegenständen die Umweltbelastung reduzieren kann und auch sonst von Vorteil sein kann, sind wir eher bereit, unser Verhalten zu ändern. Dabei spielen Second-Hand-Märkte und Plattformen für den Tausch und Verkauf gebrauchter Gegenstände eine entscheidende Rolle. Außerdem sollten Reparaturzentren und -diensten gefördert und beworben werden. In Reparaturcafés und Workshops, können Menschen lernen Gegenstände reparieren und so Abfall vermeiden. Letztlich geht es aber darum, dass Design und Produktion von Gegenständen auf Langlebigkeit und Wiederverwendung ausgerichtet werden. Die Förderung einer Kreislaufwirtschaft die auf Wiederverwendung ausgelegt ist erfordert eine kollektive Anstrengung von Regierungen, Unternehmen und der Gesellschaft. In einer Kreislaufwirtschaft, die auf die Wiederverwendung oder Ausleihe von Produkten setzt, gibt es verschiedene Stakeholder, die an diesem Prozess beteiligt sind.
Stakeholder-Map:
Designer: Diese Stakeholder haben eine Schlüsselrolle. Sie sind für die Gestaltung von Produkten zuständig, die für die Wiederverwendung oder Reperatur geeignet sind. Sie müssen Designs entwickeln, die langlebig, reparierbar und wiederverwendbar sind.
Produzenten und Hersteller: Unternehmen müssen Produkte aus hochwertigen Materialien herstellen und müssen diese so herstellen, dass Teile ausgetauscht und repariert wrden kann.
Verbraucher / Nutzer: Als Teil des Prozesses der Kreislaufwirtschaft sind die Verbraucher entscheidend. Sie leihen oder verwenden Produkte, anstatt sie zu kaufen und wegzuwerfen.
Wiederverkaufs- und Leihplattformen: Unternehmen, die Plattformen für den Verkauf von gebrauchten Produkten oder für die Ausleihe betreiben.
Reparaturdienstleister: Dienstleister, die Reparatur- und Wartungsarbeiten an Produkten durchführen.
Politik und Regierung: Die Regierung kann durch Förderung von Kreislaufwirtschaft, Schaffung von Anreizen und Gesetzgebung zur Abfallvermeidung eine entscheidende Rolle spielen.
Logistik- und Transportunternehmen: Post und Transportunternehmen werden für die einfache Lieferung und Rückgabe der Produkte gebraucht.
Bildung und Forschung: Universitäten und Fachhochschulen die neue Methoden zur Förderung der Wiederverwendung lehren.
Den meisten Einfluss sehe ich bei den Designern. Bei Ideenfindung und Gestaltung, auswahl von Materialien können Designer entscheidend Einfluss nehmen.
Design Kit
Kitchentable (used):
What is it for? It serves as a functional and social space to support everyday activities like writing, reading, eating.
How did it get here? We took it over from the previous tenant because we were too lazy to look for a suitable table.
Who uses it? We use the table every day to eat, place things on it, sit and read or write
What does it do? It provides a stable surface for meals, work, or other tasks.
What is it made of? Spanplatten
Who made it? I don´t know.
Why does it exist? Because people need flat surfaces on which they can do things so that they don’t have to sit on the floor
Titel: Die Rolle von Pattern im UI-/UX-Design: Erforschung innovativer Alternativen zur Verbesserung des Nutzererlebnisses und die kritische Auseinandersetzung mit bestehenden Designmustern.
Problemstellung: Die aktuelle gängige Praxis der Erstellung von UI-/UX Designs konzentriert sich auf die Verwendung von Designmustern. Diese sollen die Benutzerinteraktion passend unterstützen und erleichtern. Allerdings gibt es eine wenig Forschung darüber, ob abweichende oder Nicht-Patterns eine innovative Alternative darstellen könnten, die den Alltag interessanter gestalten und Nutzer vor manipulativem Design schützen könnten. Wären UI-/Ux Designer besser beraten die Benutzeroberfläche nach innovativen Lösungen zu gestalten oder den Designmustern zu folgen?
Stand der Forschung: Bisherige Forschung im Bereich des UI-/UX-Designs hat sich vorrangig auf bewährte Designmuster konzentriert, die aufgrund ihrer intuitiven Natur und einfachen Handhabung bevorzugt werden. Es gibt jedoch begrenzte Erkenntnisse darüber, ob die Verwendung von Nicht-Patterns oder abweichende Designmuster das Nutzererlebnis positiv beeinflussen könnten.
Fragestellung der Thesis: Die vorliegende Arbeit zielt darauf ab, die Rolle von Nicht-Patterns im UI-/UX-Design zu untersuchen und zu ergründen, ob sie innovative Alternativen bieten können, um das Benutzererlebnis zu verbessern und die Interaktion mit digitalen Produkten zu verbessern.
Hypothese bzw. Zielsetzung: Die Hypothese für die Arbeit ist, dass durch die Verwendung von Nicht-Patterns für Benutzeroberflächen, das Benutzererlebnis passender gestaltet werden könnte. Das Ziel besteht darin, die Auswirkungen von neuen Pattern, die nicht den gängigen Designpattrn folgen, auf die Benutzerinteraktion zu erforschen. Es gilt herauszufinden, ob sie eine positive Alternative zu etablierten Designmustern darstellen können. Obwohl sich UI-Pattern nach menschlicher Wahrnehmung und kognitiven Fähigkeiten richten, können sie in verschiedenen Kulturen unterschiedlich sein, da sie oft von kulturellen Normen, Gewohnheiten und Erwartungen der Benutzer beeinflusst werden. Daher möchte ich untersuchen, welches Geschlecht von welchem Designpattern mehr überzeugt ist. Gibt es hier signifikante Unterschiede, außer in Designfragen, die oft stereotyp als “männlich” betrachtet werden, wie dunkle Farbpaletten oder männlich konnotierte Bilder? Haben Benutzer des jeweils anderen Geschlechts Schwierigkeiten bei der Interaktion mit bestimmten Elementen der Benutzeroberfläche? Wie stark ist das Designpattern von der männlich dominierten Welt der Technologie beeinflusst? Natürlich sollten bei der Gestaltung von Benutzeroberflächen Geschlechterklischees vermieden werden, aber leiten sich Pattern möglicherweise auch von männlichen Denkweisen ab? Dazu möchte ich untersuchen, woher das Muster ursprünglich stammt und welche Vorschläge Frauen und Männer für ein neues Design haben. Es wäre auch interessant zu erfahren, welche Muster den Testpersonen selbst einfallen oder welches Design sie als sinnvoll erachten. Mein Ansatz zielt darauf ab herauszufinden, ob Designmuster von Designern geprägt sind oder ob sie tatsächlich unserer Wahrnehmung entsprechen. Wie verändert sich unser Verhalten, wenn sich das Muster ändert?
Bezug zur Theorie: Die Arbeit stützt sich auf bestehende Theorien des UI-/UX-Designs, kognitiver Psychologie und menschlicher Wahrnehmung, um die Auswirkungen von abweichenden Designmustern auf das Nutzerverhalten zu analysieren. Sowie etablierte Methoden zum Test von Userexperience wie A/B Tests.
Methodik: Die Forschung wird durch eine Kombination aus qualitativen und quantitativen Methoden durchgeführt. Es werden A/B-Tests durchgeführt, in denen Probanden verschiedene Designvarianten, präsentiert werden, um deren Präferenzen und Nutzererfahrungen zu bewerten. Darüber hinaus werden Beobachtungen, Interviews und Fragebögen genutzt, um das Nutzerverhalten und ihre Wahrnehmungen zu erfassen.
Mit Hilfe des Prototyps soll die Frage beantwortet werden, ob Designpattern der beste Weg sind, Benutzererlebnisse zu gestalten. Ein bestehendes Pattern soll mit einem vollkommen neuen und abweichenden Pattern verglichen werden. Die Vorteile von Design Patterns sind unbestritten, aber ein größerer Mut zum Unkonventionellen wäre für Benutzer:innen eventuell interessant.
Eine der Herausforderungen bei intuitiven Innovationen ist, dass Menschen nur ungern von vertrauten Mustern und Verhaltensweisen abweichen. Neue Muster haben daher oft Schwierigkeiten, sich zu etablieren. Wenn diese jedoch klare Vorteile gegenüber den alten Mustern aufweisen, sollte die Nutzerakzeptanz steigen. Deshalb sollen bestehende Websites und Apps getestet werden, indem innovative Designmuster mit bestehenden verglichen werden. Sowie fiktive User-Flows ohne sinnvollen Content, um Benutzer für neue Vorschläge zu öffnen.
Material: Als Material werden lediglich bestehende digitale Produkte und Benutzeroberflächen, wie Websites, Apps verwendet. Außerdem ein eigens entwickelte Prototype mit unterschiedlichen Designmustern und Nicht-Patterns. Ein weiterer Schritt besteht in der Implementierung eines Designmuster-Baukastens. Dieser soll es den Testern ermöglichen, das Layout selbst zu verändern und kreativ zu sein. Mit Figma sollte es fast jedem möglich sein, vorgefertigte Elemente anzuordnen, ohne sich intensiv mit dem Programm beschäftigen zu müssen.
Gliederung:
Einleitung
Theoretischer Hintergrund: UI-/UX-Design und Designmuster
Die Rolle von Designpattern im UI/UX Design: Theoretische Konzepte und Hypothesen
Methodik: A/B Testing und Testen mit Testpersonen
Analyse und Ergebnisse der Tests
Fazit: Auswirkungen der Pattern und Alternativen zu Designpatter
Schlussfolgerung und Ausblick
English:
he role of patterns in UI/UX design: exploring innovative alternatives to improve the user experience and critically analysing existing design patterns.
Problem: The current common practice of creating UI/UX designs is centred on the use of design patterns. These are intended to appropriately support and facilitate user interaction. However, there is little research on whether deviant or non-patterns could be an innovative alternative that could make everyday life more interesting and protect users from manipulative design. Would UI/Ux designers be better advised to design the user interface according to innovative solutions or to follow the design patterns? State of research: Previous research in the field of UI/UX design has primarily focused on proven design patterns that are favoured for their intuitive nature and ease of use. However, there is limited evidence on whether the use of non-patterns or deviating design patterns could positively influence the user experience. Thesis question: This thesis aims to investigate the role of non-patterns in UI/UX design and whether they can provide innovative alternatives to enhance the user experience and improve interaction with digital products.
Hypothesis or objective: The hypothesis for the thesis is that by using non-patterns for user interfaces, the user experience could be designed more appropriately. The aim is to explore the effects of new patterns that do not follow the established design patterns on user interaction. The aim is to find out whether they can represent a positive alternative to established design patterns. Although UI patterns are based on human perception and cognitive abilities, they can be different in different cultures as they are often influenced by cultural norms, habits and user expectations. Therefore, I would like to investigate which gender is more convinced of which design pattern. Are there significant differences here, except in design issues that are often stereotypically considered “masculine”, such as dark colour palettes or images with a masculine connotation? Do users of the other gender have difficulties interacting with certain elements of the user interface? How strongly is the design pattern influenced by the male-dominated world of technology? Of course, gender stereotypes should be avoided when designing user interfaces, but are patterns possibly also derived from male mindsets? I would like to investigate where the pattern originally came from and what suggestions women and men have for a new design. It would also be interesting to find out which patterns occur to the test subjects themselves or which design they consider useful. My approach aims to find out whether design patterns are characterised by designers or whether they actually correspond to our perception. How does our behaviour change when the pattern changes?
Relation to theory: The work draws on existing theories of UI/UX design, cognitive psychology and human perception to analyse the effects of deviating design patterns on user behaviour. As well as established methods for testing user experience such as A/B tests.
Methodology: The research is carried out using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. A/B tests are carried out in which test persons are presented with different design variants in order to evaluate their preferences and user experiences. In addition, observations, interviews and questionnaires are used to record user behaviour and their perceptions. The prototype will be used to answer the question of whether design patterns are the best way to design user experiences. An existing pattern is to be compared with a completely new and different pattern. The advantages of design patterns are undisputed, but a greater courage to be unconventional might be interesting for users. One of the challenges of intuitive innovation is that people are reluctant to deviate from familiar patterns and behaviours. New patterns therefore often find it difficult to establish themselves. However, if they have clear advantages over the old patterns, user acceptance should increase. Existing websites and apps should therefore be tested by comparing innovative design patterns with existing ones. As well as fictitious user flows without meaningful content to open users up to new suggestions.
Material: Only existing digital products and user interfaces, such as websites and apps, are used as material. In addition, a specially developed prototype with different design patterns and non-patterns. A further step is the implementation of a design pattern construction kit. This should enable testers to change the layout themselves and be creative. With Figma, it should be possible for almost anyone to arrange prefabricated elements without having to work intensively with the programme.
Structure:
1. introduction
2 Theoretical background: UI/UX design and design patterns
3. the role of design patterns in UI/UX design: theoretical concepts and hypotheses
4 Methodology: A/B testing and testing with test persons
5. analysis and results of the tests
6 Conclusion: Effects of the patterns and alternatives to design patterns
