History of Interface Journal 01
At the first class, my definition of Interface is: “The thing with which we can interact/communicate with artificial tools.” And after discussion with others, a definition that combines everyone’s ideas is: “A bridge between users, agents or entities that enables feedback, communication, information exchange, or translation.”
After observing and taking notes of some daily used interfaces, I found that an interface should have various characters:
To show functionalities of the entity: What can it do?
To show instructions: How can I use it / interact with it?
For a screen-based product, there might be buttons, sliders or text information about how to interact with it. For a physical product, we can understand its operating mode by observing its appearance and match with our common sense.
To give feedbacks: What is it doing now? Did I operate it right?
For a digital product, there might be change of colors, patterns, lights, or sound to inform the users of its status. For some traditional physical products, maybe we have to try several times until it works successfully, such as the combination lock of school lockers.
E.g.1 Combination Lock
At first, I chose the lock of school locker as an example. When I got to know it for the first time, I had to ask a senior student to tell me how to operate. How can people understand its rules of “clockwise, anticlockwise and clockwise” without any instruction? After knowing the rules, I also have to try several times to figure out if I am doing right or wrong. I don’t know if I am at the right position of a number or not because there is not any feedbacks during the whole process. However, it might be an easy interface for someone who knows it well and uses it a lot before.
E.g.2 “Silent” App
Another example is an App called Silence. I like its interface because it has clear instructions and enough information for me to figure out what it can do and how I should interact with it. By using icons instead of texts, the App makes it possible for people from different countries and different age levels to understand it and use it.
E.g.3 SAMSUNG Wireless Charger
Then I documented the wireless charger for SAMSUNG cell phone. Although there is no instructions, we can know how to use it by observing its appearance, especially the shape and the angle of inclination. When I put my cell phone onto it, there will be a blue light on that tells me it is working. I can also get the same information by looking at the screen of the phone. In this case, two separate items/interfaces are put together to complete one task.
E.g.4 Path Ticket Machine
Path ticket machine is a combination of screen-based interaction and physical interaction. Its main method of information exporting is using text; and there are options in various languages. In some way, using text is one of the most effective interaction methods because it makes it clear for the users to understand what they can do and if they are doing it right or wrong. However, it causes some accessibility lost to people who cannot read or have visual impairment. What’s more, the fixed height of it maybe not suitable for children, people on wheelchairs, or people with other disabilities.