LBL-12733
Lawrence
Berkeley
LaboratQty
LAWRENCE
UN IVERSITY OF CALI FORN IA
8ERKF.'.~-v
1_.~",r;9.nnRY
Physics,
Computer
Science _
UUf-?ARY
AND
Mathematics 0 ivision OOCUMENTSSECT1001
Presented
at
the
National
Computer
Graphics
Association
Conference,
Baltimore,
MD,
June
15,
1981;
and
to
be
published
in
the
proceedings,
IEEE
Computer
Graphics
and
Applications,
pp.
207-215,
January
1982
DESIGNING
THE
FACE
OF
AN
INTERFACE
Aaron
Marcus
January
1981
TWO-WEEK
LOAN
COpy
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6782
Prepared
for
the U.S. Department
of
Energy under Contract W-7405-ENG-48
DISCLAIMER
This document was prepared
as
an account of work sponsored by the United States
Government. While this document is believed
to
contain correct information, neither the
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States Government nor any agency thereof, nor the Regents
of
the University of
California, nor any
of
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assumes any legal responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness
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of
the
University
of
California.
tr
ABSTRACT
DESIGNING
THE
FACE
OF
AN
INTERFACE
Aaron
Marcus
Computer
Science
and
Mathematics
Department
Lawrence
Berkeley
Laboratory
University
of
California
.
Berkeley,
CA
94720
LBL-12733
Graphic
design
can
assist
in
creating'
more
effective
communi-
cation
at
the
human-computer
interface
for
computer
graphics
systems.
Graphic
design
principles
concern
the
selection
of
visual
symbols,
their
arrangement
and
sequencing~
their
relationship
to
the
functions
of
a
computer
system,
and
their
relationship
to
a
user's
expectations
and
needs.
This
paper
presents
a
set
of
principles
and
discusses
an
exampl~
of
their
application
to
a
large
information
management
system's
interface.
INTRODUCTION
As
computer
systems
have
developed
over
the
last
quarter
century,
the'
number and
complexity-of
interfaces
have
also
evolved.
Of
particular
note
is
the
increasing
sophistication
of
the
graphic
quality
of
human-computer
interfaces
for
computer
systems.
High
resolution
and/or
color
display
screens
are
beginning
to
display
symbols,
words,
and
diagrams
in
complex
layouts
ard
sequences
of
frames.
In
the
early
days
of
computer
technology,
little
consideration
was
given
to
the
precise
selection
of
words
and
.
symbols,
or
their
layout
and
sequencing.
These
facets
of
interface
design
increasingly
have
come
to
the
attention
of
computer
technology
in
its
search
for
"friendly",
user-oriented
computer
systems.
As more
care
is
given
to
the
visual
form
of
the
human-computer
interface,
this
graphic
communication
entity
will
become a
significant
feature
of
computer
systems.
Unfortunately,
there
is
currently
a
lack
of
specific
guidelines
for
designing
interfaces.
Some
compilations
have
appeared
[Engel
and
Granda,
Smithl:
however,
they
tend
to
be
at
too
fine
a
level
'of
d,etaii.
They
'concernthemselve's
wi
th
factors
of
legibili
ty
and
·er'gonomi:ce££ici:e'ncy,
They
do
'not
address
the
over-all
strategies
of
the
.gr,aphic
design
of
major
components
of
an
interface.
The
Thisw.orkwassupportedby
the
Applied
Mathematics
Sciences
Re'search'Programof
the
O.ffice
of
Energy
Research,
olf
the
tLS
.•
Departmentro·fEnergy
under
Contract
NumberW-7405-ENG-48.
2
greatest
lack
is
in
dealing
with
matters
of
readability,
i.eo,
what
aspects
of
interfaces
encourage
users
who
may
have
limited
abilities,
failing
interest,
antipathy
towards
computer
systems,
etc.
As
computer
systems
reach
out
to
ever
wider
audiences,
the
notion
of
attracting
and
holding
a
user's
interests
and
emotions
will
not
seem
so
foreign
a
goal.
In
order
to
create
and
organize
interfaces
which
have
a
high
degree
of
efficiency,
sophistication,
and
attractiveness,
it
is
useful
to
consider
the
discipline
of
graphic
design
which
has
traditionally
been
concerned
with
the
effective
clothing
of
words,
concepts,
structures,
and
processes
in
visible
form.
It
is
the
aim
of
this
article
to
acquaint
the
computer
graphics
community
with
graphic
design,
some
of
its
relevant
literature,
and
to
describe
experimental
changes
made
in
one
information
management
system
on
the
basis
of
these
principlesc
GRAPHIC
DESIGN
Graphic
design
is
a
discipline
concerned
with
creating
effective
visible
languages
in
which
to
communicate
facts,
concepts,
and
emotions.
Traditionally
the
media
employed
have
been
typography,
cartography,
photography,
etc.,
in
the
context
of
printed
books,
posters,
maps,
diagrams,
etc.
There
exists
extensive
literature
concerned
with
typographic
legibility,
composition,
sequencing,
color,
etc.,
which
have
a
bearing
upon
the
emerging
forms
of
visual
communication
in
computer
graphics
systems.
In
an
earlier
article
[Marcus]
we
dealt
with
the
relationship
of
graphic
design
to
the
images
of
information
created
by
computer
graphics
systems,
i.e.,
to
charts,
diagrams,
maps,
etc.
This
present
article
extends
the
relevance
of
graphic
design
to
the
design
of
human-computer
interfaces.
Because
interfaces
can
vary
so
greatly
in
their
visual
form,
this
article
will
focus
on
relatively
simple
text-oriented
interfaces
with
fixed-width
characters.
One
advantage
of
this
approach
is
.
that
these
interfaces
are
curr~ntly
the
most
widely
used.
In
order
to
emphasize
graphic
designpr.inciples
from
traditional
book
design
·thatare
immediately
.relevant
to
the
design
of
interfaces,
most
,ofthefoll:owing
dl-sca:s'sion
'will
concentrate
on
display
of
information
rather
than
the
user's
entry
of
information
from
akeyboa-reor
o'therdeviee.
In
t-er_fac-e
des.iqn
i'JNolves
se:l-ectilono;f~ols
:and
~or:mats
for
thes:tand'ar:d
,f'unction:a,l.components
:0£
iasys·tem:
'menu's
,prompts,
help
11lessa.9-e-s,status
,rev.i'ew;s"
'etc
.~n:te:r,fac.e
d-esign
Also
:i-nvolves
-'the
ue;t:ail.£ea~spe·ci·fieation
cf'st-andard's
a't
al-owe:r
1ev-ei-;:
tile
'tieterlDina'ti;on
.:of
,a
iaycut:gria"sel:e.cti:on
'of
:typogr:aphi-c,st.y:les"si%ing"
';spacing." ,and
:,mean's
'of
,emphasis"
the
st'anda:ra
'treatment
zor
cOilxinuQus
prose"
:int-:e:r1'~p·teap:r;o:se
o
