About Face 3 by Alan Cooper & Robert Reimann & Dave Cronin

Author:Alan Cooper & Robert Reimann & Dave Cronin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2012-04-16T16:00:00+00:00

Art, Visual Interface Design, and Other Design Disciplines

Practitioners of fine art and practitioners of visual design share a visual medium. However, while both must be skilled and knowledgeable about that medium, their work serves different ends. The goal of the artist is to produce an observable artifact that provokes an aesthetic response. Art is a means of self-expression on topics of emotional or intellectual concern to the artist and, sometimes, to society at large. Few constraints are imposed on the artist; and the more singular and unique the product of the artist’s exertions, the more highly it is valued.

Designers, on the other hand, create artifacts for people other than themselves. Whereas the concern of contemporary artists is primarily self-expression, visual designers are concerned with clear communication. As Kevin Mullet and Darrell Sano note in their excellent book Designing Visual Interfaces, “design is concerned with finding the representation best suited to the communication of some specific information.” Visual interface designers are concerned with finding representations best suited to communicating the specific behavior of the interactive product that they are designing. In keeping with a Goal-Directed approach, they should endeavor to present behavior and information in such a way that it is understandable and useful, and supports the branding objectives of the organization as well as the experience goals of the personas.

To be clear, the design of user interfaces should not entirely exclude aesthetic concerns, but rather should place such concerns within a functional framework. While there is always some subjective judgment involved in visual communication, we endeavor to minimize questions of taste. We’ve found that clear articulation of user experience goals and business objectives is invaluable even when it comes to designing the aspects of a visual interface that support brand identity, user experience, and visceral response. (See Chapter 5 for more about visceral processing.)

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.