Homework 2: UI Critique
Bad Example #1
The picture to the left depicts a user interface for the microwave in my kitchen. It has the typical functions of a microwave, a digital screen to show the time, some buttons for specific food categories, numbers, and start and stop/reset button. The bad thing about microwaves is that you rarely find two microwaves with the same design. Buttons are always in different places and some have extra functions. Over time, simply heating something up becomes an automatic process because your hand presses the numbers and start button without much thought. Therefore, it's difficult for the user to adapt to a new microwave once they've grown accustomed to their old one. This violates one of Nielson's heuristics of consistency. Anytime I go back home to NJ and use my microwave, I always press the wrong button to start it since it's located in a different spot. In addition, this user interface fails to prevent errors. Regardless what I'm accustomed to, an interface shouldn't have the start and stop/rest buttons right next to each other. The first few weeks of using this microwave, I pressed the stop button each time I meant to start it. They're opposite functions, they should be located on opposite sides. The start should be placed where the clock button is so your hand isn't drawn towards the same location. There's so many different kinds of microwaves and companies that it would be hard to have a consistent design, which is why it varies so much.
Bad Example #2
The picture to the left depicts a user interface for the Northeastern University CBORD app. This specific interface opens up once the user clicks the "Choose" for them to choose which door they would like to open. There's many things I find bad about this interface. First of all, out of all the rooms listed, the user only has access to open one or two rooms. Your past rooms should be deleted once you lose access to it. Also, the room codes are unnecessary and don't provide much feedback/ description on what room you're trying to access. "My door" and "My Suite" is repetitive because if you look at the room codes listed several rows down, the same room codes appear with different descriptions. If you're trying to open a specific door in a building, it's difficult to tell which door corresponds to which code. It may have been designed this way because there's a bit of an overlap in access during move in/ move out. While the codes aren't relevant to the users, they may be relevant to the staff. It could be more clearly marked on how the user should navigate/ which door they should click on, however.
Good Example #1
This user interface showcases the weather app on the iPhone. Its purpose is to tell you the weather hourly and daily for the week for your current location or any location of your choosing. It's a good example of an interface because it has a simple design and isn't cluttered with information. It shows the user everything they would need to know at a quick glance with more information available when you scroll down. The dots at the bottom is a good example of feedback. It clearly lets the user know how many locations they have saved and to swipe right to navigate to those locations. The arrow depicts your current location and is a common symbol used to represent current location (which means it's easy for users to understand its meaning). The small pictures don't take up too much room and make it more appealing for the user to look at. Also, some people take in information better with pictures over words, so having both there is helpful to the greater population.
Good Example #2
The user interface to the left is for an application called "Shazam". This is the screen that appears when you first open the app. Its purpose is for users to discover what song is playing around them or nearby. For example, if you're in a store and a song you seem to really like is playing on the loudspeaker, you can use shazam to find the song name and artist. It also provides the user with iTunes links and playlists. It keeps track of songs you've shazamed, and you can even see what your friends shazam. My favorite aspect is the clearly marked navigation/ interaction on how to shazam. It's a big circle that lights up and appears to be a button so users know they can interact with it. It even says "Touch to Shazam" underneath to simply tell the user what to do. It speak's the user's language by using a common, short phrase. This makes it really easy to use. It's simple and showcases the main purpose of the app.