Metrics of �Perceptual Contributions� to Better Design

Jim Levin

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Education Studies, UC San Diego

jalevin@ucsd.edu

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Design Rendezvous - 25 November 2014

These presentation slides: http://tinyurl.com/design-25nov14

Conceptual

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and

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Perceptual

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Contributions to Design

Conceptual

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and

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Perceptual

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Contributions to Design

Conceptual

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and

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Perceptual

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Contributions to Design

Perceptual contributions

are specified by

Gestalt Principles.

Gestalt Principles & Web Design

http://pages.ucsd.edu/~jalevin/gp/

Example: Proximity

X X

X X

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Example: Proximity

X X

vs. X X

X X

X X

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Example: Proximity

X X

vs. X X

X X

X X

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Which group of 4 X’s do you see as two rows?

as two columns?

Color, size, shape, ...

X X

X X

X X X O

x x

X O

So What?

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So, Gestalt Principles describe some interesting ways that things are grouped perceptually.

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What does that have to do with design?

Here’s What:

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Gestalt Principles suggest �metrics of perceptual contributions�to better design.

A short literature review

• a lot of people say that Gestalt Principles should be used in design (Behrens, 1998; Chang, Dooley, & Touvinen, 2002; Lin, Stolterman, Jung, & Donaldson, 2007; Moore & Fitz, 1993a, 1993b; Siegel & Siegel, 1964; Yoo, Bolad, & Lyytinen, 2006)
• a few people have shown that Gestalt Principles can actually help improve design (Smith-Gratto & Fisher, 1999; Nesbitt & Friedrich, 2002; Chang & Nesbitt, 2006)
• a group has developed a “Gestalt-like perceptual measure for home page design”�(Hsiao & Chou, 2005)

A short literature review (updated)

Dr. Karen Schloss, recent Ph.D. from Steve Palmer’s Lab at UC Berkeley (another one of Don’s grand-students), currently an Assistant Professor of Research at Brown U.�“The Effects of Perceptual Organization on Memory, Search, and Aesthetic Judgment”

A good example of bad design

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The Pepper Canyon Hall

elevator control panel:

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Which button do you use

to get to the 4th floor?

A prototype that automatically computes and displays perceptual design metrics

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http://pages.ucsd.edu/~jalevin/perceptual-design-metrics.zip

Discussion points

Would providing perceptual design metrics be useful for designers or would it be distracting?

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Could a perceptual design metrics plug-in�be developed for a working design environment (Autodesk, Adobe Illustrator, etc.)?

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What are the implications for a science of design?

Thanks!

Jim Levin http://pages.ucsd.edu/~jalevin/

Department of Education Studies jalevin@ucsd.edu

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These presentation slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NUwIp3-RxVGX8Wuc60kLjdjK8xtQT5ToDIOORRWHXrI/edit?usp=sharing

or

http://tinyurl.com/design-25nov14

References

Behrens, R. R. (1998). Art, design and Gestalt Theory. Leonardo, 31(4), 299–303. doi:10.2307/1576669

Chang, D., Dooley, L., & Tuovinen, J. E. (2002). Gestalt Theory in visual screen design: A new look at an old subject. In Proceedings of the Seventh World Conference on Computers in Education Conference on Computers in Education: Australian Topics - Volume 8 (pp. 5–12). Darlinghurst, Australia, Australia: Australian Computer Society, Inc. Retrieved from http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=820060.820062

Chang, D., & Nesbitt, K. V. (2006). Developing Gestalt-based design guidelines for multi-sensory displays. In Proceedings of the 2005 NICTA-HCSNet Multimodal User Interaction Workshop - Volume 57 (pp. 9–16). Darlinghurst, Australia, Australia: Australian Computer Society, Inc. Retrieved from http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1151804.1151807

Hsiao, S.-W., & Chou, J.-R. (2006). A Gestalt-like perceptual measure for home page design using a fuzzy entropy approach. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 64(2), 137–156. doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2005.05.005

Lim, Y., Stolterman, E., Jung, H., & Donaldson, J. (2007). Interaction Gestalt and the design of aesthetic interactions. In Proceedings of the 2007 Conference on Designing Pleasurable Products and Interfaces (pp. 239–254). New York, NY, USA: ACM. doi:10.1145/1314161.1314183

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References

Moore, P., & Fitz, C. (1993a). Gestalt Theory and instructional design. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 23(2), 137-157. doi:10.2190/G748-BY68-L83T-X02J

Moore, P., & Fitz, C. (1993b). Using Gestalt theory to teach document design and graphics. Technical Communication Quarterly, 2(4), 389–410. doi:10.1080/10572259309364549

Nesbitt, K. V., & Friedrich, C. (2002). Applying Gestalt principles to animated visualizations of network data (pp. 737–743). IEEE Comput. Soc. doi:10.1109/IV.2002.1028859

Siegel, L., & Siegel, L. C. (1964). The instructional Gestalt: A conceptual framework and design for educational research. AV Communication Review, 12(1), 16–45. doi:10.1007/BF02768959

Smith-Gratto, K., & Fisher, M. M. (1999). Gestalt Theory: A foundation for instructional screen design. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 27(4), 361-371. doi:10.2190/KVVE-B0EL-B0CJ-92KM

Yoo, Y., Boland, R. J., & Lyytinen, K. (2006). From organization design to organization designing. Organization Science, 17(2), 215–229. doi:10.1287/orsc.1050.0168

A/B Testing => A/B- Testing