Describe the habits of successful interface designers.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Although IT professionals have different views about interface design, most would agree that good design depends on seven basic principles:
Understand the Business: The interface designer must understand the underlying business functions and how the system supports individual, departmental, and enterprise goals.
Maximize Graphical Effectiveness: Studies show that people learn better visually. The immense popularity of Apple Mac OS and Microsoft Windows is largely the result of their graphical user interfaces that are easy to learn and use.
Think Like a User: A systems analyst should understand user experience, knowledge, and skill levels. If a wide range of capability exists, the interface should be flexible enough to accommodate novices as well as experienced users.
Use Models and Prototypes: From a user’s viewpoint, the interface is the most critical part of the system design because it is where he or she interacts with the system — perhaps for many hours each day. It is essential to construct models and prototypes for user approval. An interface designer should obtain as much feedback as possible, as early as possible.
Focus on Usability: The user interface should include all tasks, commands, and communications between users and the information system. The opening screen should show the main options Each screen option leads to another screen, with more options. The objective is to offer a reasonable number of choices that a user easily can comprehend. Too many options on one screen can confuse a user — but too few options increase the number of submenu levels and complicate the navigation process.
Invite Feedback: Even after the system is operational, it is important to monitor system usage and solicit user suggestions. You can determine if system features are being used as intended by observing and surveying users.
Document Everything: You should document all screen designs for later use by programmers. If you are using a CASE tool or screen generator, number the screen designs and save them in a hierarchy similar to a menu tree. User-approved sketches and storyboards also can be used to document the user interface.