Designing with the Mind in Mind: Simple Guide to Understanding User Interface Design Rules

Early user interface (UI) practitioners were trained in cognitive psychology, from which UI design rules were based. But as the field evolves, designers enter the field from many disciplines. Practitioners today have enough experience in UI design that they have been exposed to design rules, but it is essential that they understand the psychology behind the rules in order to effectively apply them. In "Designing with the Mind in Mind", Jeff Johnson, author of the best selling GUI Bloopers, provides designers with just enough background in perceptual and cognitive psychology that UI design guidelines make intuitive sense rather than being just a list of rules to follow. This is the first practical, all-in-one source for practitioners on user interface design rules and why, when and how to apply them. It provides just enough background into the reasoning behind interface design rules that practitioners can make informed decisions in every project. It gives practitioners the insight they need to make educated design decisions when confronted with tradeoffs, including competing design rules, time constrictions, or limited resources.

Author Biography

Jeff Johnson is president and principal consultant at UI Wizards, Inc., a product usability consulting firm (www.uiwizards.com). He has worked in the field of Human-Computer Interaction since 1978--as software designer and implementer, usability tester, manager, researcher at several computer and telecommunications companies, and consultant. In the course of his career, he has written many articles, cowritten several books, and given numerous presentations on a variety of topics in Human-Computer Interaction.