Sketching Interfaces: Toward More Human Interface Design

  • Authors:
  • James A. Landay;Brad A. Myers

  • Affiliations:
  • -;-

  • Venue:
  • Computer
  • Year:
  • 2001

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Abstract

Today people expect computers to perform not only obvious computational tasks but also to assist in people-oriented tasks. This shift is causing user-interface (UI) researchers to explore methods that bend computers to people's way of interacting by supporting ambiguity, creativity, and informal communication that combines many of the benefits of paper-based sketching with the merits of current electronic tools.Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon University have designed, implemented, and evaluated an informal sketching tool, SILK (Sketching Interfaces Like Krazy). During the early phases of UI design, designers need the freedom to sketch design ideas quickly, the ability to test designs by interacting with them, and the flexibility to fill in design details as they make choices. Besides refining design details as graphic artists deliberate, SILK supports story-boards-sketches that illustrate how design elements behave, how a dialog box appears when the user activates a button. Designers can present story-boards to colleagues, customers, or end users to show how an interface will behave.A usability evaluation of the implemented SILK system demonstrated that it is an effective tool for early creative design and for communicating design ideas effectively to engineers.