Making the Web Work: Designing Effective Web Applications

Chapter 3. Deconstructing the Problem: Prioritizing and Categorizing Different Aspects of an Interface

“Model (n): a simplified version of something complex used, for example, to analyze and solve problems or make predictions.”

—The Microsoft Word Dictionary

Interface design is difficult. Inventing, describing, and constructing an interactive experience that reflects one’s core design values, harmonizes with users’ needs and abilities, and is practical to implement is one of the most challenging, complex problems in any field of design. A skilled interface designer brings together a print designer’s knowledge of visual communication, a movie director’s grasp of plot, an architect’s imagination for space, an anthropologist’s insight into human ...