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To find something using the Google search engine, or a location using Google Maps, we simply type in a few words and then browse the results. This is so much better than what was available before that it has made Google one of the richest corporations in the history of the world. However, many programs’ […]

If the point of contact between the product and the people becomes a point of friction, then the Industrial Designer has failed. –Henry Dreyfuss, Designing for People, 1955 Mental Models In the first edition of About Face, one of the first design/usability texts (and a great read, much more personal, personable and readable than subsequent, […]

Icons and Pedagogic Vectors We all have trouble remembering a program’s graphical icons. The International Standards Organisation (ISO) has a standard for icons – an icon must be interpreted correctly by 2/3 of  test subjects. In usability and error-prevention terms, a 1/3 error rate is poor, but reality is even worse – an experimental study […]

A good principle for medical software is to design for the ED as a worst-case scenario. If it works there, it will work anywhere.No clinicians are as time-pressured as those in a busy Emergency Department. There, distractions – even seemingly minor ones like presenting a complete CBC instead of an abstract – slow the clinician […]

In past articles, we discussed human-illiterate computers, usability, memorability, learnability, Tognazzini’s Paradox, design integrity, simplicity, abstraction, discount usability testing, and personas. Now, we will discuss goals and tasks. These are similar terms, and sometimes used almost interchangeably. But using the terms task and goal sloppily is, according to expert software designers, an error that leads […]