Book Image

Learn Human-Computer Interaction

By : Christopher Reid Becker
Book Image

Learn Human-Computer Interaction

By: Christopher Reid Becker

Overview of this book

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is a field of study that researches, designs, and develops software solutions that solve human problems. This book will help you understand various aspects of the software development phase, from planning and data gathering through to the design and development of software solutions. The book guides you through implementing methodologies that will help you build robust software. You will perform data gathering, evaluate user data, and execute data analysis and interpretation techniques. You’ll also understand why human-centered methodologies are successful in software development, and learn how to build effective software solutions through practical research processes. The book will even show you how to translate your human understanding into software solutions through validation methods and rapid prototyping leading to usability testing. Later, you will understand how to use effective storytelling to convey the key aspects of your software to users. Throughout the book, you will learn the key concepts with the help of historical figures, best practices, and references to common challenges faced in the software industry. By the end of this book, you will be well-versed with HCI strategies and methodologies to design effective user interfaces.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
1
Section 1 - Learn Human-Computer Interaction
5
Section 2 - How to Build Human-Centered Software
11
Section 3 - When to Improve Software Systems

Summary

Congratulations, you are officially halfway through the book and there is still a bunch to learn and explore! Throughout this chapter, we started to get our hands on some skills and activities that an HCI designer can use to start designing software. A unique factor for any HCI designer is that a majority of the skills that we learn and the activities that we use are addictive. How we think and learn impacts future versions and iterations, and this is why we covered how to start learning and understanding from qualitative and quantitative research data. Great software solutions are rooted in solving a deep user insight, which is why we focused on and practiced formulating user insights of our own throughout this chapter. As discussed in this chapter, user insights are not surface-level; they require lots of digging and, hopefully, your insight is also a launching-off point that can be improved over time with practice. I will continue to bolster the point that practice is what...