week 3: about face

Chapter 4

This chapter starts by addressing the concept of a persona in relation to the goals of an effective design. It’s important to create a story or scenario that represents the ideal user interactions of said design. The narrative is what brings everything together in the end. Scenarios, use cases, and user stories are all narrative forms of storytelling that can apply to and in turn elevate one’s design. The requirements definition is discussed for the rest of the chapter and consists of five steps: create problem/vision statements, explore/brainstorm, identify persona expectations, construct context scenarios, and identify design requirements. These steps are iterative and can be cycled through in varying order. For step 1, the problem statement defines the purpose of the design initiative while the vision statement is an inversion of the problem statement that acts as a high-level objective. Step 2, brainstorming, serves the purpose of eliminating as much preconception as possible, allowing designers to be open-minded and flexible when creating a scenario. Step 3, identifying persona expectations, is about identifying the user’s mental model when using an interface. Step 4, construct context scenarios, informs us of the more storytelling implications of a context scenario compared to other methods. It tells the story of a specific persona, with goals, needs, and motivations taken into context in relation to a finished design. Step 5, identifying design requirements, is the process of recognizing the persona’s needs and design requirements defined as the data, functional, and contextual requirements. 

Chapter 20

Chapter 20 talks about the most important conventions behind a design that users rely on when navigation an interface. Page-based interactions make up a majority of website interactions, and its applications are usually constructed in screens or views. The amount of navigation varies between a web-based design vs an application, as each has their own set of needs and complications. Top navigation is optimal, as side navigation can crowd the page. Persistent headers stick to the top of the screen, keeping the user oriented in where they are within a website. Secondary navigation is known as fat navigation, a list of sub-pages that expands when clicked on, revealing many more choices to pick from.The way content is organized is also important as images and videos need to be ordered in an organized fashion. With all of this information present on a desktop interface, it has to be squeezed into a mobile one as well. The hamburger icon, a series of three horizontal lines, is used on mobile devices and tucks away navigational information until tapped on. It’s commonly interpreted as a menu and functions similarly to one. Over all, this chapter provides useful information on how navigation is handled for desktop and mobile interfaces.