Tutorial 15

Metaphor Design In User Interfaces

Aaron Marcus, Aaron Marcus Associates

Sunday, May 7

Objective

This tutorial will introduce terminology, theory, case studies, and design process and provide practical guidance for research and commercial product development.

Content

Advanced user interfaces of all kinds (graphical, pen- based, virtual-reality based) will require rethinking the fundamental concepts, images, and terms that underlie effective human-computer communication. These elements are embodied in the metaphors and mental models of products. As computers become absorbed into consumer products intended for diverse, international user communities, new metaphors will be developed that go beyond the popular and successful desktop metaphor. This tutorial gives developers, graphic designers, and users insight into key metaphor design issues and shows how to achieve effective visual communi- cation. This tutorial introduces terminology, principles, guidelines, and heuristics for using information- oriented, systematic, graphic design to develop new metaphors and mental models for future products. Participants will observe and analyze techniques for making products more intelligible, functional, aesthetic, and marketable. Perceptual, conceptual, and communication issues are addressed. The principles, guidelines, and case studies are relevant for existing GUI paradigms as well as possible future paradigms. The tutorial emphasizes analyzing and designing metaphors and high-level mental models based on logical paradigms, task analysis, and cultural stereotypes.

Audience

This intermediate-level tutorial is intended for researchers and developers in the design of personal information products, multimedia applications, CD-ROM databases or interactive television.

Presentation

Lecture, video

Instructor

Aaron Marcus is an internationally recognized authority on user interface design and information visualization. Since 1980, he has given user interface, knowledge visualization, and document design tutorials at SIGCHI and SIGGRAPH conferences in addition to satellite and on-site tutorials at companies and conferences all over the world.

Keith Instone / instone@acm.org / 95-01-05