About Face

The essential interaction design guide, fully revised and updated for the mobile age
About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design, Fourth Edition is the latest update to the book that shaped and evolved the landscape of interaction design. This comprehensive guide takes the worldwide shift to smartphones and tablets into account. New information includes discussions on mobile apps, touch interfaces, screen size considerations, and more. The new full-color interior and unique layout better illustrate modern design concepts.

The interaction design profession is blooming with the success of design-intensive companies, priming customers to expect "design" as a critical ingredient of marketplace success. Consumers have little tolerance for websites, apps, and devices that don't live up to their expectations, and the responding shift in business philosophy has become widespread. About Face is the book that brought interaction design out of the research labs and into the everyday lexicon, and the updated Fourth Edition continues to lead the way with ideas and methods relevant to today's design practitioners and developers.

Updated information includes:
* Contemporary interface, interaction, and product design methods
* Design for mobile platforms and consumer electronics
* State-of-the-art interface recommendations and up-to-date examples
* Updated Goal-Directed Design methodology

Designers and developers looking to remain relevant through the current shift in consumer technology habits will find About Face to be a comprehensive, essential resource.

Foreword xv
Introduction xix
Part I: Goal-Directed Design 1
Ch 1: A Design Process for Digital Products 3
The Consequences of Poor Product Behavior 4
Why Digital Products Fail 6
Planning and Designing Product Behavior 10
Recognizing User Goals 13
Implementation Models and Mental Models 16
An Overview of Goal-Directed Design 21
Ch 2: Understanding the Problem: Design Research 31
Qualitative versus Quantitative Data in Design Research 32
Goal-Directed Design Research 36
Interviewing and Observing Users 44
Other Types of Qualitative Research 56
Research is Critical to Good Design 59
Ch 3: Modeling Users: Personas and Goals 61
Why Model? 61
The Power of Personas 62
Why Personas Are Effective 66
Understanding Goals 72
Constructing Personas 81
Personas in Practice 93
Other Design Models 98
Ch 4: Setting the Vision: Scenarios and Design Requirements 101
Bridging the Research-Design Gap 101
Scenarios: Narrative as a Design Tool 102
Design Requirements: The "What" of Interaction 106
The Requirements Definition Process 109
Ch 5: Designing the Product: Framework and Refinement 119
Creating the Design Framework 119
Refining the Form and Behavior 137
Validating and Testing the Design 139
Ch 6: Creative Teamwork 145
Small, Focused Teams 146
Thinking Better, Together 146
Working across Design Disciplines 153
The Extended Team 155
Establishing a Creative Culture 161
Identifying Skill Levels in Designers 162
Collaboration is the Key 163
Part II: Making Well-Behaved Products 165
Ch 7: A Basis for Good Product Behavior 167
Design Values 167
Interaction Design Principles 173
Interaction Design Patterns 174
Ch 8: Digital Etiquette 179
Designing Considerate Products 180
Designing Smart Products 190
Designing Social Products 199
Ch 9: Platform and Posture 205
Product Platforms 205
Product Postures 206
Postures for the Desktop 207
Postures for the Web 218
Postures for Mobile Devices 225
Postures for Other Platforms 230
Give Your Apps Good Posture 235
Ch 10: Optimizing for Intermediates 237
Perpetual Intermediates 238
Inflecting the Interface 240
Designing for Three Levels of Experience 243
Ch 11: Orchestration and Flow 249
Flow and Transparency 249
Orchestration 250
Harmonious Interactions 251
Motion, Timing, and Transitions 266
The Ideal of Effortlessness 269
Ch 12: Reducing Work and Eliminating Excise 271
Goal-Directed Tasks versus Excise Tasks 272
Types of Excise 273
Excise is Contextual 285
Eliminating Excise 285
Other Common Excise Traps 297
Ch 13: Metaphors, Idioms, and Affordances 299
Interface Paradigms 300
Building Idioms 310
Manual Affordances 312
Direct Manipulation and Pliancy 315
Escape the Grip of Metaphor 322
Ch 14: Rethinking Data Entry, Storage, and Retrieval 325
Rethinking Data Entry 326
Rethinking Data Storage 332
Rethinking Data Retrieval 345
Ch 15: Preventing Errors and Informing Decisions 357
Using Rich Modeless Feedback 358
Undo, Redo, and Reversible Histories 363
What If: Compare and Preview 376
Ch 16: Designing for Different Needs 379
Learnability and Help 379
Customizability 395
Localization and Globalization 398
Accessibility 399
Ch 17: Integrating Visual Design 405
Visual Art and Visual Design 405
The Elements of Visual Interface Design 406
Visual Interface Design Principles 411
Visual Information Design Principles 425
Consistency and Standards 428
Part III: Interaction Details 433
Ch 18: Designing for the Desktop 435
Anatomy of a Desktop App 436
Windows on the Desktop 439
Menus 448
Toolbars, Palettes, and Sidebars 455
Pointing, Selection, and Direct Manipulation 465
Ch 19: Designing for Mobile and Other Devices 507
Anatomy of a Mobile App 508
Mobile Navigation, Content, and Control Idioms 518
Multi-Touch Gestures 550
Inter-App Integration 553
Other Devices 555
Ch 20: Designing for the Web 569
Page-Based interactions 571
The Mobile Web 585
The Future 587
Ch 21: Design Details: Controls and Dialogs 589
Controls 589
Dialogs 625
Eliminating Errors, Alerts, and Confirmations 641
The Devil is in the Details 653
Appendix A: Design Principles 655
Appendix B: Bibliography 661
Index 667