Look and Feel

Designing the look and feel of the program means defining:

The use of metaphors:

The with the advent of the graphical user interface of the Xerox Star, with its metaphorical use of desktop items, such as folders, documents, and in and out boxes. In the following years, there were many copies of the desktop interface, and a number of attempts to use other metaphors, such as notebooks, buildings and cities, card racks, and others.

Metaphor - definitions & examples
Metaphor n. the application of a word or phrase to an object or concept which it does not literally denote, in order to suggest comparison with another object or concept, as in "A mighty fortress is our God." (Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language)

Fundamental term, image, or concept that is easily recognised, understood, and remembered and is employed in a user interface to assist the user to understand and control a programme.

A metaphor is a special kind of image map which places images in a meaningful context by presenting information in terms of: an object (like a book) a location (like an office building) or a device (like a VCR) that people already use outside the computing environment.

When we talk about metaphors in the user interface design context, we really mean visual metaphors: a picture of something used to represent that thing. Users recognise the imagery of the metaphor and, by extension, can understand the purpose of the thing. The metaphor paradigm relies on intuitive connections in which there is no need to understand the mechanics of the software, so it is a step forward from the technology paradigm, but its power and usefulness has been inflated to unrealistic proportions. (Alan Cooper)

picture of book metaphor

room metaphor screen shot

 

Role of the metaphor

Navigational

A doctor’s office provides a familiar context to make the search for information less abstract.

Functional

Creates an environment in which objects perform the functions they depict. For example, the rubbish bin on the Macintosh desktop. (although this example is contentious!)

 

Basic considerations

go back one screen
forward to next page