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Usability plays a very important role in the design of a product that makes it easy to work with. This is because bad usability has the negative effect of ruining the experience of users of an application. It is interesting to note that most application developers ignore the role of usability design, as they are generally more algorithmical and less creative. “iMan of the moment” is an interesting and motivating article that reveals the intrigues about top application designers in the world. This article stands to serve the purpose of inspiration in the development of this essay because of three reasons. First, Jonathan Ive’s contribution to bringing designs into the lives of the people and influencing the way people relate to objects is astonishing.
Brought up in a humble background, I’ve has managed to achieve high levels of recognition in reward for his contribution to the way we handle applications. Secondly, this article demonstrates the positive role of usability design in the development of an application. Third and last, this article analyses the way we think of computers and demonstrate the way usability design has influenced the way we consume music. In addition to that, this paper goes ahead to expand on the usability issues such as testing and accessibility on products and applications developed by Apple such as the iPod. This essay seeks to analyze the usability issues raised in this paper (usability design and interface styles). This will involve a deep analysis of the various Apple applications mentioned in this article and the usability issues that make these applications stand out. In addition to the above, the significant role of Jonathan Ive will be highlighted and his contributions towards the turning over of Apple fortunes documented.
Usability Design
The first usability issues Jonathan Ive and his team have managed to change the design of computers that have made us change the ways we think about computers. In the achievement of a design that is effectively suitable, the Apple team has so many new workable ideas and innovations, applied wide-ranging materials, and suitable techniques that have significantly contributed to the overall likeness of computers. The sleek and beautiful design of computers has made them more homely and office-friendly. Furthermore, the purpose of any application is to enable people to achieve a specific task or objective. Apple positively and accurately identifies the users of its application and articulates what they want their users to accomplish before designing an application. The development of iMac transformed the outlook of a computer into an object of desire.
The second application is the development of iPod the hat has greatly revolutionized the way we consume music. The new design of the iPod is so slim but is capable of storing up to 30GB of musical data. It is well designed in a sense that enables it to slide easily into its rectangular dock which is then easily connected to another device.
Usability Interface
The ability to effectively interact with an application not only satisfies the demands of the user but is also an indicator that the designer’s goals and objectives in designing the application have been adequately achieved. The experience deduced from the evaluation of the usability interface reveals that even a small alteration in the general presentation and feedback has the capacity to greatly influence the quality of interactions. The basic principles of successful design in applications with interaction interface are well established within the design in Apple.
The Apple human Interface Guidelines lay a lot of emphasis on the critical importance on the ways in which application interface is employed in the design. Jonathan takes a deep analysis before the design of the application’s user interface and makes attempts at discovering the way an application and user’s mental model are related. This is emphasized in the development of iMac. A better illustration towards the achievement of this goal is the development of iMac that is a reflection of our mental models and how we respond to music. In a well-organized window, iTunes is developed to effectively display playlists and designed to play back and execute songs searches in a very unique order. It is arranged in a manner that the largest window displays a collection of songs that can be easily sorted into various groups depending on the artist or the title of the song. This enhances the ability to retrieve a song a user needs from the application is quick, simple, and fast procedures.
According to Jacko (2007), there should be a usability connection between the human mental design and the interface of the application. This enables the user to develop close interaction with the application. In addition to that, the application should have the capability to inform the user on the next step to execute while dealing with functionality panels. The development of the Apple iPod by Jonathan is a clear demonstration of the link between the user’s mental model and that of the iPod’s interface. The usability interface is well illustrated in the iPod’s sleek version which was controlled by a well-designed click wheel located at the front of the application. “ As a feat of engineering, it was breathtaking, but that’s not what you noticed as a consumer- what you noticed was what it could do, which allowed you to store huge amounts of music, access and play it quickly and easily” (Jacko, 2007).
Jonathan effectively achieves higher degrees of the support to user’s mental model by taking into consideration a number of factors when designing an application. In this regard, he works towards the incorporation of characteristics that include:
Familiarity: user’s mental model is a primary product of experience. Jonathan enhances high levels of interface components that aims to demonstrate at the intercalation and eventual display of the model’s unique terminologies. Jacko (2007) succinctly explains that:
“As described above, the iTunes application displays playback controls that use well-known symbols users associate with play, pause, and rewind. Then, to offer searching and help, for example, iTunes uses standard Aqua user interface components. A Mac OS X user automatically knows how to use such standard user interface elements, regardless of the application in which they appear”.
Simplicity: the role of the mental model task is specifically geared towards achieving fundamental goals and objectives of specific tasks. In the understanding that there may a rise a number of tasks and associated details, the development of iMac and IPod is a clear demonstration that Jonathan has fused in the characteristic of simplicity in usability interface. This is because the basic components of these applications are not designed in a way that they come into conflict with the user’s organization but complete the user’s mind to achieve usability interface. In the iTunes application of the iPod, the basic components that provide the use of basic tasks such as searching songs, playing music, selecting music and repeating music form part of the application’s prominent features. However, these are special features are effectively are fitted by menus that are easy to spot. In addition to that, the controls fitted in these applications have the capacity to perform definite tasks such as taking the user through the playlist. (Darryn Gilbert & Malcolm, 1997).
Availability: in application design, simplicity and availability are always closely related. “Jonathan has developed an uncluttered user interface in iPod, which is very essential and has effectively made availability of certain features and settings more easily available” (Weiss, 2002). Availability of important features that remain critical to the option of the application should be at the top in his design process. In the development of the iPod, Jonathan and his team have effectively avoided hiding important components so deeply in the confusing sub-menus.
Discoverability: encouragement of the user to self-discovery of the critical interface elements and functionality of an application is important for the achievement of usability interface issues of an application design. It is obvious that if an element of an application is clickable, it should appear and perform its task in that manner lest it becomes dismissed by the user (Weiss, 2002). This involves the proper and effective use of aqua controls that aims at making them more visible to the users. The application developed by Jonathan and his team at Apple makes use of Aqua buttons that are designed to appeal to the user thus enhancing the user’s interest to explore the device. (Darryn Gilbert & Malcolm, 1997).
In addition to the above human interface usability consideration, Jonathan and his team have managed to include other usability interface characteristics in the design of Apple applications. “The ability to execute explicitly and implied actions that involve the manipulations of objects are adequately factored in” (Darryn Gilbert & Malcolm, 1997).
In iMac design, “the user can effectively manipulate an object through a variety of either explicit or implied actions” (Weiss, 2002). An action can be initiated by the application of a command from the menu or by the action of a pointing device. “The explicit actions clearly show the results of initiating an action on an object” (Weiss, 2002). Weiss (2002) continues to portray that “in iMac, menu commands are clearly designed in away that it clearly indicates the action and its current status”. Designed to either portray the state of dimmed or active, explicit actions do not demand that the user undergo the rigorous process of memorizing all the commands that an object can be initiated to perform.
The consideration of implied actions in the development of Apple applications by Ive refers to the fact that coming out with the expected results from an activity by the application of visual cues or context (Weiss, 2002). The most common operation in implied actions is the drag and drop actions on an object. Jonathan and his team have effectively simplified the drag and drop implied action in iMac computer design that has resulted in that exists between the user and the executed action on the application. An example involves using an icon to drag a file from one location to the other within the application must involve the positive identification of the action to be performed and its expected results (Darryn Gilbert & Malcolm, 1997). Jonathan, the iMan of the moment has also infused the direct manipulation of an object in the design of the computer. This is a form of implied action that gives the users the power to control an object in a computer.
According to Weiss (2002):
According to this principle, an onscreen object should remain visible while a user performs an action on it, and the impact of the action should be immediately visible. For example, with a drag-and-drop operation (the most common example of direct manipulation) users can move a file by dragging its icon from one location to another, or drag selected text directly into another document. Other examples of direct manipulation are the resizing of a graphic object in a drawing application and the positioning of an object or camera view in a three-dimensional scene.
Direct manipulation is extensively used by Jonathan and his team in achieving higher standards of usability rating in the design of the revolutionary iMac in 1999. The execution of direct manipulation of objects in the screen has been done to suit the demands of the user. iMac G5 is designed is a manner that it gives support to manipulation even when the users are not aware of the support advanced by the computer in object manipulation.
These complicated, coordinated and exquisite levels of usability interface are achieved by a combination of unique design features that lay emphasis on the design of one unit to fit the unique features of the other. For example, According to (Weiss, 2002), an application that has the capacity to execute orders in a virtual library supports best the coordination between the mental model of a user and the design of an application.
User control, feedback, and communication also form part of the unique designs of Apple applications and products by Jonathan. These usability issues are well captured in the design of the iPod and the iMac. User control gives all the powers of material and object control in the computer to the user, not the computer. There are a number of small applications that are designed to assist the user to accomplish the tasks by offering suggestions or assisting the user in making complex decisions. According to (Weiss, 2002), the application of this approach is effective in that it gives the user the command of all the activities.
Feedback and communication in Apple computers designed by Jonathan do not simply mean the display of alerts when things go wrong in the process of manipulation of the computer or device. In the iPod and iMac G5, there is that much-enhanced support in that feedback and communication involve the process of adequately informing users on the exact activity taking place and providing timely feedback that defines a complete and fast communication with the application. In iPod, when action is initiated by the user, there is a response that the application has been received the action and is in the process of providing feedback.
It is normal that users are always in need of staying informed that their command is being executed. In the event that command is rejected and cannot be effectively executed, they demand to have answers as to why that is happening and other options that can be applied to arrive at the specific solution. Apple products are designed to effectively communicate with the user on the process of their command requests. Computers and iPods designed by Jonathan and his team in Apple make wide-ranging solutions to the provision of user feedback. These involve the use of animations. (Aucella, 1997) portrays that when animation is best put into practice, it has the capacity to demonstrate to the user that his request is being processed and will be executed within a definite time interval.
Apple application developed by Jonathan and his team that make makes use of animation to relay the process of the user request is the Mac OS X. When a user minimizes the window he or she was previously working on, the process does not just disappear but moves into the dock section and in the process clearly indicating to the user where to locate it. The application of subtle animation in the provision of user feedback is an effective way that Apple has applied in its application to enhance feedback in the user interface.
Because users do not usually have the knowledge on how long the execution processes of their commands are likely to take, it is appropriate that they receive an estimate. Aucella (1997) and other articles abide in one conclusion that Apple products have achieved higher levels in user feedback and communication and thus have enhanced the process of user feedback usability interface. “For example, Mac OS X uses statements such as; about a minute remains, to indicate an approximate time frame which can also be helpful to communicate the total number of steps needed to complete a task—for example; then inclusion move texts that say-Copying 30 of 850 files” (Aucella, 1997).
Conclusion
The processes of evaluations of usability issues, information systems and interactive technology lay focus on both small and big issues that surround the design of an application. The pivotal role in taking an analysis of the usability issues of an application or a company’s level of usability consideration cannot be undermined. In conclusion, Jonathan Ive stands to remain a source of inspiration to many. His influence in the way we interact with objects is worth giving due recognition. Noting that there is always room for improvement on the existing applications, improved designs of iPod and computers are expected to revolutionize our world.
The beauty, simplicity, and ease of operation of applications from Apple will definitely define how we interact with objects of our desire. The evaluations of usability issues of design and interface on the part of Apple products developed by Jonathan Ive and his team form the fundamental reason for the improved fortunes of Apple products. While Jonathan describes the pace of change in the design industry as brutal, the production of shockingly new but also strangely familiar products will definitely see that Apple retains its position in the production of application devices that have the capacity to greatly influence not only our lifestyles but also the way we interact with objects.
References
Aucella,A,F, 1997. Ensuring success with usability, Engineering interactions. V.4. no. 3. P 19-22.
Crowder, R, Willis, G, Hall, W, 2003. Evaluation of hypermedia maintenance support applications, computer in industry. V 51. No. 3. p 327-344.
Darryn, L, Gilbert, C, and Malcolm P, 1997. Comparison of evaluation methods using structured usability problem reports. Behavior and Information Technology Database, Volume 16, Numbers 4-5, 246-266(21). Taylor and Francis Ltd.
Jacko, J.A, 2007. Human-computer Interaction: Interaction design and usability Part 1 of Human-computer Interaction: 12th International Conference, HCI International, Beijing, China, Proceedings, Springer.
Weiss, S, 2002 handheld usability, Wiley.
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