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

In summary, to reflect on this chapter, we started to extend and dive deeper into the software design ethos. The skills and tools used by small and large teams are rooted in doing work overtime and start with software teams applying a prototype. The ability to generate solutions from our previous research and user insights is not an arbitrary feat but rather a by-product of a design team that recognizes that they don't know the answer and need to understand their user to figure out a solution. We applied these practices throughout this chapter to allow you to practice your own ability to prototype, design a system diagram, and apply industry best practices through tools that produce prototypes first.

In the next chapter, we will focus on more skills in part 2 of the execution of software design through human-centered methods for user research.