Graphic Design and Visual Interface Design

Design of user interfaces does not entirely exclude aesthetic concerns, but rather it places such concerns within the constraints of a functional framework. Visual design in an interface context thus requires several related skills, depending on the scope of the interface in question. Any designer working on interfaces needs to understand the basics: color, typography, form, and composition. However, designers working on interfaces also need some understanding of interaction, the behavior of the software, as well. It is rare to find visual designers with an even balance of these skills, although both types of visual perspectives are required for a truly successful interactive design.

Graphic design and user interfaces

Graphic design is a discipline that has, until the last twenty years or so, been dominated by the medium of print, as applied to packaging, advertising, and document design. Old-school graphic designers are uncomfortable designing in a digital medium and are unused to dealing with graphics at the pixel level, a requirement for most interface-design issues. However, a new breed of graphic designers has been trained in digital media and quite successfully applies the concepts of graphic design to the new, pixilated medium.

Graphic designers typically have a strong understanding of visual principles and a weaker understanding of concepts surrounding software behavior and interaction over time. Talented, digitally-fluent graphic designers excel at providing the sort of rich, clean, visually consistent, aesthetically pleasing, and exciting interfaces we see in Windows XP, Mac OS X, and some of the more visually sophisticated computer-game interfaces and consumer-oriented applications. These designers excel at creating beautiful and appropriate surfaces of the interface and are also responsible for the interweaving of corporate branding into software look and feel. For them, design is first about legibility and readability of information, then about tone, style, and framework that communicate a brand, and finally about communicating behavior through affordances (see Chapter 20).

Visual interface design and visual information design

Visual interface designers share some of the skills of graphic designers, but they focus more on the organizational aspects of the design and the way in which affordances communicate behavior to users. Although graphic designers are more adept at defining the syntax of the visual design—what it looks like—visual interface designers are more knowledgeable about principles of interaction. Typically, they focus on how to match the visual structure of the interface to the logical structure of both the user's and the program's behavior. Visual interface designers are also concerned with communication of program states to the user and with cognitive issues surrounding user perception of functions (layout, grids, figure-ground issues, and so on).

Visual information designers fulfill a similar role regarding content and navigation rather than more interactive functions. Their role is particularly important in Web design, where content often outweighs function. Their primary focus tends to be on controlling information hierarchy through the use of visual language. Visual information designers work closely with information architects, just as visual interface designers work closely with interaction designers.

Industrial design

Although it is beyond the scope of this book to discuss industrial design issues in any depth, as interactive appliances and handheld devices become widespread, industrial design is playing an ever-growing role in the creation of new interactive products. Much like the difference in skills between graphic designers and visual interface and information designers, there is a similar split among the ranks of industrial designers. Some are more adept at the creation of arresting and appropriate shapes and skins of objects, whereas others' talents lie more in the logical and ergonomic mapping of physical controls in a manner that matches user behaviors and communicates device behaviors. As more physical artifacts become software-enabled and sport sophisticated visual displays, it will become more important that interaction designers, industrial designers, and visual designers of all flavors work closely together to produce usable products.




About Face 2.0(c) The Essentials of Interaction Design
About Face 2.0(c) The Essentials of Interaction Design
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2006
Pages: 263

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net