Interface Design

Layout and interface design is vitally important within interactive media. The interface is the means through which the user controls and operates the interactive media. Because of this, the interface should be easy to understand and easy to operate.

Whether an interface is easy to understand and operate is down to the following things:

• Usability
• Language and terminology
• Design
  - Colour
  - Images
  - Consistency
  - Typography (use of type)
• Effective use of layouts
• Identification of users
• Use of navigation
  - Navigation types

You need to investigate good and bad interface design in other's work so that you can apply good interface design in your own work.

Starting Points for Theory Research

Jakob Nielsen - Usability Guru
It should be noted that while Jakob Nielsen has become well known, in web design circles, for being outspoken about web site usability - not everyone agrees with him. Jakob is not a graphic designer, but he does hold a Ph.D in Human-Computer Interaction. Jakob is concerned with making it easy to use interactive media, not with making it look pretty. What you need to learn about is getting the balance right, making it look good without compromising on ease of use.
http://www.useit.com/

Articles by Jakob Nielsen include:

• Make it Useable - http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,33821,00.asp
• Usability on the Web is Not a Luxury - http://www.informationweek.com/773/web.htm
• Bad User Interface Design Can Be Deadly - http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2005/04/17/bad_user_interface_design_can.htm

Articles by other authors include:

• User Interface Design Tips, Techniques and Principles - http://www.ambysoft.com/essays/userInterfaceDesign.html
• User Interface Flow Diagrams - http://www.agilemodeling.com/artifacts/uiFlowDiagram.htm
• User Interface Design - Taking the Good with the Bad - http://www.digital-web.com/articles/user_interface_design_taking_the_good_with_the_bad/
• Golden Rules for Bad User Interfaces - http://www.sapdesignguild.org/community/design/golden_rules.asp

Examples of Bad Interface Design

• http://homepage.mac.com/bradster/iarchitect/shame.htm
• http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/
• http://www.pixelcentric.net/x-shame/
• http://www.userinterfacehallofshame.com/