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 APPEN DIX A: Design Principles 655 APPEN DIX B: Bibliography 661 Index 667