← Back to team overview

unity-design team mailing list archive

Re: "Intuitive"

 

I actually agree. Which word ought we to use instead, to describe the ease
of understanding that a user has when interacting in a way that is familiar
through learned experience?

On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 3:57 AM, Thorsten Wilms <t_w_@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> On Fri, 2010-05-14 at 11:37 +0200, Jan-Christoph Borchardt wrote:
>
> > That is exactly why interaction needs to be intuitive and not require
> learning.
>
> This is totally unrealistic. Humans can't even walk or talk without
> learning.
>
> Some say the nipple would be the only intuitive interface. I've been
> told that not even breast feeding just works on first try ...
>
> Also see:
> http://www.uie.com/articles/design_intuitive/
>
> The thing that makes people think something would be "intuitive" is
> actually familiarity. It might be useful to think of familiarity coming
> from 3 sources:
>  * Physical, real world experience that can be leveraged with metaphors
> and pseudo-physical interface elements (or perhaps custom interface
> hardware).
>  * Experience with existing software.
>  * Concepts/thought-models from specific fields.
>
> I think the term "intuitive" should be avoided, banned even, from
> further discussion. It's a symptom of a lack of understanding in this
> field.
>
>
> --
> Thorsten Wilms
>
> thorwil's design for free software:
> http://thorwil.wordpress.com/
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ayatana
> Post to     : ayatana@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~ayatana
> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>

Follow ups

References