In the final paragraph of the chapter, Hoekman states that: "while applications should really be designed for intermediate users, experts are the people who have invested the most time and energy into learning and using our application". Applied to 'help-systems' this idea can help us to differentiate between types of help, as well as understand how they should be used. Help techniques seem to be divided between contextual and non-contextual. Non-contextual help can include welcome screens, up to speed aids (tutorials), and traditional help documentation, which takes the user away from the situation of use. Contextual help appears as the user is using the application and can be divided between permanent (instructive design), which is useful to all users (default values) and subtle enough to not be bothersome, and initial which helps beginners become intermediates, but becomes cumbersome afterwords. Good design should try to minimize the need for initial contextual help by following design patterns and the users mental model, as well as maximizing on subtle inline contextual help such as default values to get the user started quickly. While this makes it seem like all help should be minimized, non-contextual help, such as customization and detailed help is a great way to maintain the loyalty of expert users and can be added without impacting the usability of the product.
For our Project #5, we are developing an item for the Flash. In doing so, we are designing for the fans of our superhero and we want to create an item which will keep with the ethos and tradition of the character -in order to please the hardcore fans-, while also appealing to a younger audience and taking the character in a 'new' or 'modern' direction. While a hardcore-fan persona would be useful in ensuring that we don't stray to far from the 'mythology', I think that focusing on a younger target audience of movie-goers and toy-buyers is an economically viable solution, and will produce the best design for our clients.
I like the way you described the contexts of the many different aids. It makes it clear where it will help the users understand what they're looking for. Keeping people involved in any design is very important for the longevity and existence of the app. It allows the emergence of new aspects and versions.
ReplyDeleteI like how you described the persona for project 5. The target audience should be a broad mixture of people so a design can be found interesting to a larger demographic. Finding the sweet spot in the audience allows for a better understanding of what the design should be like.
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