Cooper, Alan, David Cronin and Robert Reimann. About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, 2007. Print.

This book has to be the bible of user-centered design. Its comprehensive approach is both daunting and obvious, because of scientific approach. Where other books point out the gap between the IT developer and the end user, About Face offers solutions to bridge the gap. Cooper, et al, offer solutions beyond mere anecdotes or psychological tidbits designed to increase empathy for the novice, technologically challenged, on behalf of developers. Rather, they present a method for finding out exactly who the user are, their expectations, their habits, etc. that is grounded in solid ethnographic research methodology, used by an array of social sciences, and our own field's research on the writing process (where it exists).
After gathering real qualitative and quantitative data the author's put forth a process by which they create synthetic, representative personas engaging in simulated behavioral modeling scenarios. These approximations become the users for their design process. Though this audience is, like any audience, a necessary fiction, it is a reasoned, scientific, data produced fiction, not the imaginings of design team. Creating Cooper's personas, is an expensive (time/money) undertaking, but those who implement their plan have the advantage of user that pushes back against the process.

Two other things about this text. First, the end product Cooper's process creates seems to be a simplified, easier to use application. They continually stress simplification and refinement of design and implementation. An example that resonated with me is the advice to remove the computer from your concept of the product, think instead only of the application. The implication being the computer is a tool for the desires of the use, and not and imposing entity or limitation.

Second, though Cooper's process is aimed at simplification, it is not simple to implement. This book seems to be an exhaustive resource covering each step of the design phase in great detail. The one challenge I have from this is the need to scale down their process to my own limited resources and budget. That being said, even shadows of their process will help my design and end result.


Key Concepts:

Design
"The conscious and intuitive effort to impose meaningful order."  Victor Papanek

Human-oriented design activities

• Understanding users' desires, needs, motivations and contexts.
• Understand business, technical, and domain opportunities, requirements and constraints.
• Synthesize this knowledge as a foundation for creating products whose form, content, and behavior is useful, usable and desirable, as well as economically and technologically feasible.

Interaction Design
Design based on and understanding of users and cognitive principles, combined with aesthetic choice.

Goals
An expectation of an end condition achieved through organized activities and steps. Products should be designed to attain goals, not showcase features.

Goal Directed Design Process
Research (user and domain) > Modeling> Requirements (economic and technical) > Framework (define design structure and flow) > Refinement > Support.

Research Phase employs ethnographic field study techniques, to provide qualitative data about potential and/or actual users. Study will produce an emergent set of behavior patterns used during modelling phase to create persona helpful in establishing goals for product creation. (Chapter 4)

Modelling Phase is where behavior and work flow patterns discovered through research are synthesized into domain and user models that become test mules for measuring goal achievement during product development. These models are called personas, which are detailed composite archetypes representing groupings of behaviors, attitudes, aptitudes, goals and motivations observed through research. These represent users during the modelling phase. Mental modelling is also used to represent technical and business requirements. ( Chapter 5)

Requirements Definition Phase is a bridge between users (represented by personas), and the technical, business and functional (developed through mental models) are reconciled into a document that defines all of these needs.

Framework Definition Phase is where the overall product concept is placed into a framework for the product's behavior, visual design and physical form. An interaction framework definition is the end result of a designer's using interaction design principles to develop interaction design patterns containing general solutions to previously analyzed problems. The interaction framework definition becomes the template for testing input vectors and form factors. Also this definition will give rise to a visual framework and a visual language strategy.

Refinement Phase continues, from the Framework Definition phase, adding interaction details. User input is still included through persona interaction including key path and validation scenarios. Visual refinement continues. The end result of this phase is a form and behavior specification, a detailed documentation, in print or interactive media, of the actual design.

Development Support Phase is where the designers help solve unforeseen development issues, including helping prioritizing design solutions when deadlines/budgets encroach on original plans.

Krug, Steve. Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition. Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2011. Print.

Krug wrote a very accessible primer on the subject of usability. It is concise, easy to read and seems push only a few important themes and points. These begin with a generalized view of the internet user that doesn't read web pages as much as glaces over them. His web user is impatient and unwilling to give much energy toward figuring out how to use a site, "Don't Make Me Think." The entire book is about simplifying design, so this type of impatient user will find what they want, or what you are offering. This approach is probably essential in a commercial setting, where the user wants to find the product or service and the goal of the website is to create that transaction. I am not sure simplicity needs to be the overarching measure on all sites or applications, though complexity for its own sake is a mistake. Some sites/applications (including the one I am designing) are not about a commercial transaction, but an experience. Having the material well organized and navigable is important, but exploration of topics may be just as important as moving toward a preconceived transaction.

Still, Krug's advice is sound and these are important takeaways:

Obviousness. The designer should take care make the actions and choices available of the website obvious to the uninitiated user. If they end up on your site they should be able to engage your material without a tutorial.

Reading/Scanning. People do tend to scan web pages, though it is not true that people don't read on a computer screen. They are likely to read deeper content when they have select to do so, rather than when they are trying find that content. Use the design process to guide scanning eyes to my content, rather than resist the practice.

Billboards. Krug says websites should work like billboards that are readable at 60 mph, i.e. easily discerned messages and directions for glancing eyes. Elements include a clear visual hierarchy, use of conventions, pages divided into defined areas, lack of busyness, and making obvious what is clickable (31-39). Integrating these principles aids navigation, and simplifies a cluttered site.

Writing. Concise writing without needless words. Good advice, but there is more to creating content than Krug offers. In fact, his book is so concerned with not thinking it creates a problem for the implementation of certain, complex content.

Navigation. Krug's largest chapter is devoted to navigation, and I think it contained the most useful ideas. He explains how the web experience has no real form, no scale, no sense of direction, no sense of location. These are artificial constructs, and the responsibility of the designer:

"I think we talk about Web navigation because " figuring out where you are" is a much more pervasive problem on the Web that in physical spaces. We're inherently lost when we're on the web, and we can't peek over the aisles to see where we are. Web navigation compensates for this missing sense of place by embodying the site's hierarchy, creating a sense of there. Navigation isn't just a feature of a Web site; it is the Web site, in the same way that the building, the shelves, and the cash registers are Sears."(59)

The navigation creates a sense of place including:

• Something to hold on to when we feel lost.
• Tells us what the site contains.
• How to use the site.
• Instill confidence in the abilities of the persons who built the site.

Home page. An obvious point Krug makes is about the route people take onto a website. Because of search engines, many times a user will end up deep in the site, and not at the home page. This affects not only the navigation from any page but also should be considered when designing the home page. It should not be the central portal to the site, like a hub that all pages proceed from, rather it has specific purposes. The home page is the heart of the site, and the designer needs to make all of the site reflect (not duplicate) its purpose. Elements include:

• Site identity and mission.
• Site hierarchy.
• Search.
• Teases (Content promos and Feature promos).
• Timely content.
• Deals. 
• Shortcuts.
• Registration.
• What I am looking for...
• ...and what I am not looking for.
• Show me where to start.
• Establish credibility and trust.

Usabilty testing. Usability testing brings fresh eyes to the process, that can become too familiar, and therefore blind to content and flaws. Krug stresses testing at whatever level of sophistication/cost you can provide, and it should be done early and often in the process. It is not focus group testing, which is more concerned with content an meaning. Usability testing is about getting from point a to point b.

Krug stresses the need to do usability testing as a courtesy to the end user, and as away to build ethos and credibility.

Miscellaneous. Krug devotes a couple of short chapters to accessibility issues, Cascading style sheets and how to deal with clients who want to implement bad design. These were not useful, except to introduce the topics.