Se você entrar em uma empresa de design e todos os funcionários estiverem lá, sentados em suas mesas, grudados na tela dos seus computadores, desconfie!

Muitas horas dos projetos de design são passadas na frente de um computador, isto é óbvio, mas muitas outras horas devem (ou deveriam) ser passadas em campo, observando as pessoas que, em última instância, serão beneficiadas com o projeto no qual se está trabalhando.

A única maneira de entender o usuário é indo lá onde ele vive, onde ele trabalha, onde ele desempenha a atividade para a qual se está produzindo um novo design.

Todo projeto de design deve (ou deveria) contar com uma quantidade muito grande de observação. Deve-se observar o que as pessoas fazem (e o que elas não fazem), o que elas dizem (e o que elas não dizem).

Observação se baseia em qualidade e não em quantidade.

Não é nada simples determinar quem será observado, que técnica será empregada, como identificar informações realmente úteis do que foi observado e como definir quando é hora de transformar estas observações em soluções para os problemas identificados, mas uma coisa é certa: Observação se baseia em qualidade e não em quantidade.

Lembre-se: Definir quem e o que será observado é chave para os resultados do design!

Recomendo a leitura do livro: Change dy design de Tim Brown

When it comes to navigation performance, there are many theories stating what is right and what is wrong. But before we make any decisions regarding navigation performance in digital interfaces, it is important to understand how our brain works when the issue at hand is spatial localization.

We have a complex cognitive system which employs 3 basic strategies to guide us in space

Human beings possess the ability to situate themselves in space. It works like a biological positioning device – a GPS (Global Positioning System) – except it features a capital advantage: our ability does not stop working in case part of the direction system fails because of the several tasks it performs.

We possess a complex cognitive system which employs three basic strategies to guide us in space: orientation, trajectory integration and course follow-up. They may be used at the same time or not.

Orientation

“Look over there. Do you see that gray building with blue windows? Go that way; the Post Office is on the ground floor”. According to neurologists, “orientation” is the strategy people use to guide themselves via an easily noticeable point of reference.

Trajectory Integration

“Do you remember how you got here? Then go back to the bakery and turn right. Walk two blocks to the Post Office”. In the strategy called “trajectory integration”, the brain recreates individual stretches of the way in a cumulative progress report which takes into consideration the recollection of our own movements.

In trajectory integration, the cognitive memory is the one utilized the least. It deals only with some general instructions and with the so-called direction vector. Trajectory integration works because it is based primarily on the knowledge of the movement’s general direction.

Course Follow-up

“Go ahead on Bourbon Street; turn left on Toulouse, then right on Chartres and walk up to the middle of the block”. This strategy, called “course follow-up”, employs references such as names of streets and buildings, besides instructions on how to get to in-between points.

It is much more accurate than orientation or trajectory integration, but in course follow-up, any detail you forget might give you problems in getting to your destination. All the points of reference and midway directions must be remembered. It is the most thorough system and, therefore, the most reliable, but it may fail due to ordinary memory lapses. Course follow-up is usually a challenge to the brain.

As you move along a graphic interface, your the brain gathers information in order to determine the route taken.

Our cognitive system’s three basic strategies above are also put to use in virtual environments. As you move along (navigate) a website or graphic interface, the brain gathers information on such environment – colors, shapes, sounds, lighting, movements, sensations of time going by, etc. – in order to determine the route taken.

The part of our brain controlling direction is called by neurobiologists “cognitive map”. That map is essentially metaphorical, and looks more like a hierarchical frame of connections, in which positions and distances are relative, than like an actual map. That is so because we tend to memorize only what is necessary.

The cognitive maps we use are similar to a graph, a set of dots and connections – much like a subway map. The dots represent the several references, and the connections between them correspond to the actions that take us from one point to the next. Like a subway map, accurate distances and precise angles are unnecessary. Our mental map provides only the approximate proportions between individual stretches and directions, and displays the dots according to the connection between them.

For a website’s good navigation performance, it is essential to provide several forms of localization – navigation bars, menus, breadcrumbs, site maps, descriptive links, and so on – and let the users themselves choose which strategy to use when creating their mental maps.