This week was focused on reading physical books, mainly selections of three: Laws of Simplicity, Emotional Design, and Don’t Make Me Think.
From reading Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda, I have learned that there needs to be a balance of complexity and simplicity. What this means is that when thinking about a solution to the problem at hand, I cannot make the simplest solution that comes to mind. There needs to some type of complexity, i.e. different sections or new concepts, with the design that can balance out the simpler decisions that could be implemented when designing.
Within Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things by Don Norman, talks about how the three-level of emotional design: Visceral (appearance), Behavioral (usability), and Reflective (rationality). Each can be used separately, but when combined correctly, can help design a beautiful user experience. For my purpose, this will help guide me when I am analyzing the collected data to uncover a possible “umbrella problem” that might be causing the failures of hidden navigation. This can also help when designing new concepts by giving new insights to help with ideation.
Finally, Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug. This focused on web design and how to ensure your website is user-friendly. It goes in-depth on how people navigate the web today and some helpful tips to ensure the discoverability and pagination are intuitive. This book will help to set some guidelines when it comes to auditing and designing new concepts.
Overall, these books will help throughout my process, from research to designing, to keep both the scope and end goal in check.