Tutorial Week 2

User Interface vs. User Experience

    

What is a good or a bad interface design? Choose one good and one bad interface design and prepare a rational for why you think one is good and one is bad.

Important to keep in mind: Pick both good and bad examples from the same category and platform to make it easy for comparative analysis: For example, shopping list app for android mobile: Pick one shopping list app which you thinks is good and one that you think is bad. And, explain why.

Good Interface Design

  

Australian National University Website
While not at all innovative the ANU website is a sturdy reminder that not all websites need to break away from the norm or what is expected in order to achieve good UI Design. The ANU website is clean, easy to navigate and both the visual and textual heirachy is balanced - creating an overall pleasing aesthetic.
  

Bad Interface Design

        

University of Canberra Website
The UC website is opposite - it has tried to break away from these normal conventions and in doing so created a UI that is harder to navigate by nesting pages in areas that is difficult to find. The menus are overwhelming and the non-static images are distracting to the user. There are multiple elements trying to grab attention creating disharmony and a lack of balance to the page. The visual hierarchy needs attention.
  

Reflection

  

This tutorial had us looking at various interface designs, trying to decipher the bad from the good. My position during the exercise was to think like a designer not a user - this ability will allow me to fully understand and interpret good design from bad design. This is something I found difficult to do separating my experiences, preferences and emotion from the equation. In theory I understood the differences but in practice it was much harder to determine.

This difficulty forced me to reflect on the argument of UI vs. UX. They can't really be separated, one leads to the other and when designing they similarly cannot be separated. While it is entirely possible to pick out UI flaws these are therefore also flaws with UX. The experience and interface design should always be at the forefront of design strategy working cohesively to create a product that is well balanced and well received. This understanding of UI and UX design will be of great benefit to me moving forward with Graphic Design as it will allow me to design and better product.