Individual Assignment #2
For this assignment we were to find 2 examples of good user interface design and 2 examples of bad user interface design.
My first example of good design was the Korg Pitchblack Chromatic Tuner. It's designed to help you tune both electric guitars and basses. It displays the note that you are currently playing and shows how far off you are from the proper pitch. I think the whole device is excellently designed. It's very simple, since it's designed with only one task in mind.
Visibility of system status: Keeps the user informed of changes in pitch through the use of moving light bars
Match Between System and Real World: Speaks the Users Language with Regards to Note Names
Consistency and Standards: Green light represents the correct pitch. We associate green with good and red with bad
Aesthetic and Minimalist Design: Puts all focus on the note being played and the direction it should be tuned. No extraneous information
For this assignment we were to find 2 examples of good user interface design and 2 examples of bad user interface design.
My first example of good design was the Korg Pitchblack Chromatic Tuner. It's designed to help you tune both electric guitars and basses. It displays the note that you are currently playing and shows how far off you are from the proper pitch. I think the whole device is excellently designed. It's very simple, since it's designed with only one task in mind.
Visibility of system status: Keeps the user informed of changes in pitch through the use of moving light bars
Match Between System and Real World: Speaks the Users Language with Regards to Note Names
Consistency and Standards: Green light represents the correct pitch. We associate green with good and red with bad
Aesthetic and Minimalist Design: Puts all focus on the note being played and the direction it should be tuned. No extraneous information
My second example of good design is a media player called Media Player Classic - Home Cinema. MPC supports a variety of file types and plays them all with ease. It's another interface that I like because of it's simplicity and ease of use. All of it's features are simple yet effective.
Visibility of System status: There is a bar along the bottom that shows the current location in the file
Consistency and Standards: Uses the standard icons for buttons such as play and pause.
Flexibility and Efficiency of Use: Includes accelerators. You can use the spacebar instead of pressing play to start and stop videos. Volume can be changed using the scroll wheel. Also supports chapters for videos. In the screenshot, the video file has chapters that can be jumped to, which allows you to skip things such as openings and credits for TV shows.
Aesthetic and Minimalist Design: Avoids clutter. Only includes necessary buttons on the main page. Additional features are included through the menus at the top.
Visibility of System status: There is a bar along the bottom that shows the current location in the file
Consistency and Standards: Uses the standard icons for buttons such as play and pause.
Flexibility and Efficiency of Use: Includes accelerators. You can use the spacebar instead of pressing play to start and stop videos. Volume can be changed using the scroll wheel. Also supports chapters for videos. In the screenshot, the video file has chapters that can be jumped to, which allows you to skip things such as openings and credits for TV shows.
Aesthetic and Minimalist Design: Avoids clutter. Only includes necessary buttons on the main page. Additional features are included through the menus at the top.
My First Example of Bad UI comes from the Blizzard video game Hearthstone. My critique is regarding the way that they organize the menus for changing settings within the game. My issue is with the positioning of the buttons and how it changes based on whether you are currently in a match or not. When you are on the main menu, the top menu option is "Options," but when you are in a match the top menu option is "Concede." There have been multiple times when I've went to change the volume of the game and accidentally conceded.
Consistency and Standards: The two menus are not consistent. The buttons are in different places.
Error Prevention: When you click concede, there is no confirmation dialog asking if you are sure. If a user makes a slip error and clicks the button, they instantly lose the game when they just wanted to change their settings.
I'm assuming they just tacked the concede button to the top to make the menu symmetrical, as the concede button sort of matches the resume button. Designing it this way, they should have included a confirmation dialog, as this organization makes it easier to make slip errors (and it's good design anyways).
Consistency and Standards: The two menus are not consistent. The buttons are in different places.
Error Prevention: When you click concede, there is no confirmation dialog asking if you are sure. If a user makes a slip error and clicks the button, they instantly lose the game when they just wanted to change their settings.
I'm assuming they just tacked the concede button to the top to make the menu symmetrical, as the concede button sort of matches the resume button. Designing it this way, they should have included a confirmation dialog, as this organization makes it easier to make slip errors (and it's good design anyways).
My second example of bad UI is the UI for my Onkyo Reciever. My main complaint is with the volume and how it's represented. On this reciever, the highest volume is +18 db and the lowest is -61 db. In normal operation, you never even reach 0 db, though, as that volume level is incredibly loud. Basically it just feels off to change your volume from -35 to -30. The "-" sign is very small and from far away it isn't noticable, so it looks as though you are reducing the volume but you are actually increasing it.
This is really inconsistent with what most people are accustomed to. Televisions and other devices always have 0 as no sound and 100 as the loudest. As the number goes up, so does the volume. For this receiver, as the number goes down, the volume goes up.
It was designed this way because the volume is relative to a reference level which is the 0 db volume setting. I prefer how my newer receiver handles volume. The volume knob on it goes from one endpoint (no sound) to full volume when you turn it clockwise. It has a fixed range of motion, whereas on this reciever, the knob turns indefinitely.
This is really inconsistent with what most people are accustomed to. Televisions and other devices always have 0 as no sound and 100 as the loudest. As the number goes up, so does the volume. For this receiver, as the number goes down, the volume goes up.
It was designed this way because the volume is relative to a reference level which is the 0 db volume setting. I prefer how my newer receiver handles volume. The volume knob on it goes from one endpoint (no sound) to full volume when you turn it clockwise. It has a fixed range of motion, whereas on this reciever, the knob turns indefinitely.