Human Computer Interaction

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." by Albert Einstein

The two theories that I have found very useful in the analysis and design of interactive system are

Halverson(1) compared the theories underpinning analysis techniques to pairs of dark glasses that when used, bring some objects into focus and obscure others. The difference is that while when you add glasses on top of each other, you get an 'and' effect, that is you start seeing only features that can pass through both glasses, combining theories gives an 'or' effect and helps in widening one's perspective.

Recommended reading

Among the books I have found most inspirational and fun to read are those by Donald Norman. The ones I have read are:

  • Things That Make Us Smart (1993)
  • The Invisible Computer (1999)
  • Emotional Design (2004)
  • The design of future things (The most recent book, but not nearly as good as the previous ones).

Another great read is 'Where the the action is' by Paul Dourish, a summary of which can be found at the following blog post

(1) Christine A. Halverson. Activity theory and distributed cognition: or what does CSCW need to do with theories? Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 11(1-2):243–267, 2002.