Designing Connected Products by Rowland Claire

Author:Rowland, Claire...
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-06-15T18:25:50.650000+00:00

Consistency

Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions.

—JAKOB NIELSEN, 1994[131]

Consistency is well known as a general UI design heuristic. It’s a simple concept to grasp. But deciding what needs to be consistent, and what does not, can be tricky. You may have to trade off one type of consistency for another. Do you make all the buttons look the same so they are easy to identify as buttons? Or does that cause confusion by implying that certain functions are similar, when in fact they are not? Too much consistency, or consistency between the wrong things, can be as damaging as too little.

In the case of cross-platform systems, designers also need to consider consistency across different devices. Consistency works to create a sense of coherence of the overall system.

Words, data, and actions that are the same across devices should be understood to be the same. Words, data, and actions that are different should be understood to be different. This helps users form a clear mental model of the system and its capabilities. Knowledge that users have gained about the system from one device can be transferred to help them learn how to use other devices.

Other elements that may need to be consistent to some degree across devices include the following:

Aesthetic/visual design (to make the devices look, feel, and sound like a family)

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