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Display design

When a computer operates in a manner that is not intended, humans often


demonstrate their disgust by striking the monitor. This monitor, or visual
display, is simply the portal that allows one to interact with the technology.
The display (be it visual, auditory, tactile, etc.) is an artifact designed to
support the perception of relevant system variables and to facilitate further
processing of that information. Before a display is designed, the task that the
display is intended to support must be defined (e.g. navigating, controlling,
decision making, learning, entertaining, etc.). A user or operator must be
able to process whatever information that a system generates and displays;
therefore, the information must be displayed according to principles in a
manner that will support perception, situation awareness, and
understanding.
Engineering psychologist Christopher Wickens has placed these principles
into four categories as depicted in the chart below. .

Perceptual
Principles

1. Make displays
legible (or
audible)
2. Avoid absolute
judgment
limits
3. Similarity
causes
confusion: Use
discriminable
elements

Principles
Based on
Attention
6. Minimizing
information
access cost
7. Principle of
multiple
resources
8. Proximity
compatibility
principle

Memory
Principles

Mental Model
Principles

9. Principle of
consistency

12. Principle of
pictorial
realism
13. Principle of
the moving
part

10. Principle of
predictive
aiding
11. Replace
memory with
visual
information:
knowledge in
the world

4. Top-down
processing
5. Redundancy
gain

THIRTEEN PRINCIPLES OF DISPLAY DESIGN

These principles of human perception and information processing can be


utilized to create an effective display design. A reduction in errors, a
reduction in required training time, an increase in efficiency, and an increase
in user satisfaction are a few of the many potential benefits that can be
achieved through the proper application of these principles.
Certain principles may not be applicable to different displays or situations.
Some principles may seem to be conflicting, and there is no simple solution
to say that one principle is more important than another.
The principles may be tailored to a specific design or situation. Achieving a
functional balance among the principles is critical for an effective design.
Perceptual Principles
1. Make displays legible (or audible)
If the characters, objects or sounds being displayed are not discernible, then
the operator cannot effectively make use of them. From bad handwriting to
small pitch font or even faint buzzers and bells, if something cannot enter
the consciousness from the very beginning, then the chances of it reaching
the intended user or consumer for use is extremely low. If a display is difficult
to use in perfect situations (good lighting and quiet), it probably wont work
well at all in a noisy high tempo environment that routinely make perception
more difficult.
Small pitch font and some none standard fonts are hard to read.
Light or faint text is often difficult to read.
Can you hear me now? Cell phones often become problematic in loud
outdoors situations and in poor communication provider coverage areas.
2. Avoid absolute judgment limits
Avoid making the operator or user judge the represented variable level on
the basis of a single sensory dimension (color, size, pitch, etc.) If a judgment
is required, set the user up for success. Limit the number of possible levels or
differentiations required to no more than 5 to 7.
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- There are 6 different dashed lines with six
different saturation levels on the left or beginning of this paragraph. Using
the single variable of saturation, a human could probably only reliably
differentiate between the second one, the third one and the sixth one, and
probably could only do this in ideal environmental conditions.

Use multiple parameters to code something (shape, size, tone, loudness, etc)
and be careful with pushing the edges of humans ability to differentiate
similar qualities.
3. Similarity causes confusion: Use discriminable elements
Similar appearing signals are likely to be confused. The ratio of similar
features to different features is what causes signals to be noted as similar.
For example, JLM456 is more similar to JLM457 than 56 is to 57. Unnecessary
similar features should be removed and dissimilar features should be
highlighted.
Looking at the switches below, the only differentiation is 1A and 7A, and
depending on where you are standing and looking up to read, the differences
might not be noticeable at all.

4. Top-down processing
Signals are routinely perceived and interpreted based on an operators past
experience. Humans see and hear what they expect. If the presentation of a
signal is contrary to expectations, or is the result of some unlikely or rare
event, then more physical evidence of that signal must be presented to
ensure that it is interpreted correctly.
Relay or line trips during a thunderstorm will usually immediately drive an
operator to perceive things that are related to impacts associated with that
weather phenomena (such as lightening strikes). Signals that can be
associated with certain phenomena will drive that type of decision making
even if the signal might not be associated with that impact. The context that

the operator is in always matters, as ones expectations can drive


perception.
5. Redundancy gain
Presenting a signal in more than one way increases the likelihood it will be
interpreted correctly. This can be done by presenting the signal in alternative
physical forms (e.g. color and shape, voice and print, etc.), as redundancy
does not imply repetition. One of the most striking examples of this is a
traffic light, as color and position are redundant. A person that is red and
green color blind can simply use the position of the light to discern the
meaning of the signal, thus if one portion of the signal fails to effectively
penetrate the signal, the other may prevail. When both signals are
successfully received, the confluence of the two signals, particularly if the
signals are from different modalities (sight and sound), can actually produce
a greater impact at the human physiological level, resulting in greater
chances of the signal being received. However, if the signals are not
congruent, meaning the sound says one thing and the visual signals says
something else, perception and comprehension will suffer both in latency (or
time) and accuracy (increased misperception). An example of this
incongruent pairing of modalities of sight and sound can be experienced in
watching an old martial arts movie where the voice and lip movements are
not in synch.

Principles Based on Attention


6. Minimize information access cost
Frequently accessed sources of information should be readily available.
There is a cost of time and effort when a users attention must be moved
from display to display in order to gather information. Computer menus are
sometimes deep and cumbersome as the user tries to figure out the

appropriate steps or processes. Visible menus, strategies to keep mode


awareness and efficient place keeping functions all help in this endeavor. An
example of this principle is the right mouse button on a computer will often
bring up a menu of common commands.
Certain information is always important and should not require anything but
minimal effort to access (e.g. speedometer on a car). When the users
attention is diverted from one location to another to access necessary
information, there is usually an associated cost in time or effort. A display
design should minimize this cost by allowing for frequently accessed sources
to be located at the nearest possible position. However, adequate legibility
should not be sacrificed to reduce this cost.
7. Principle of multiple resources
A user can more easily process information across different resources. For
example, visual and auditory information can be presented simultaneously
rather than presenting all visual or all auditory information. This principle
supports information or signals that are not necessarily the same, as was
discussed in the concept of redundancy gain. Certain signals are better for
directing attention, like a localized or directional auditory alarm, while other
signals are better for providing information in depth, such as an error
message or warning sent in a visual text message. By using multiple
resources, a trained operator can receive information simultaneously through
the different modalities.
8. Proximity compatibility principle
Often, two or more sources of information are related to the same task.
These sources must be mentally integrated and are defined to have close
mental proximity. Divided attention between two information sources may
be necessary for the completion of one task. Information access costs should
be low, which can be achieved in many ways (e.g., close proximity, linkage
by common colors, patterns, shapes (e.g., see Gestalt Principles). Care must
be taken when applying this principle as close display proximity can be
harmful by causing too much clutter. Close spatial proximity increases the
likelihood to parallel processing, which is critical for integrated tasks.
Principles Based on Memory
9. Principle of consistency
A users long-term memory will trigger actions that are expected to be
appropriate. Familiar icons, actions and procedures from other displays will
easily transfer to support processing of new displays if they are designed in a
consistent manner. A design must accept this fact and utilize consistency

among different displays. Microsoft programs are a good example of this


principle, as most of their products share standard main menu functionality.
MS Word

MS Power Point

10.

Principle of predictive aiding

Proactive presentations of information are usually more effective than


reactive actions. A display should attempt to eliminate resource-demanding
cognitive tasks and replace them with simpler perceptual tasks to reduce the
use of the users mental resources. This will allow the user to not only focus
on current conditions, but also think about possible future conditions. An
example of a predictive aid is a road sign displaying the distance from a
certain destination. Predictive aiding anticipates what information people will
need to remember in order to execute tasks they intend. The verbal and
visual warning that the GPS gives before a directional event, prepares the
user or sets the conditions for successful future execution (e.g., lane
change, speed reduction, etc).

The above sign examples are useful when driving if they are presented in
advance of the actual required action, allowing a driver to anticipate or
prepare.
11.

Replace memory with visual information: knowledge in the world

A user should not need to retain important information solely in working


memory (what one is currently thinking about) or to retrieve it from longterm memory (ones permanent storage of memories). A menu, checklist, or
another display can aid the user by easing the use of their memory.
However, the use of memory may sometimes benefit the user by eliminating

the need to reference some type of knowledge in the world (e.g. an expert
computer operator would rather use direct commands from memory than
refer to a manual). The use of knowledge in a users head and knowledge in
the world must be balanced for an effective design.
Principles Based on Mental Models
12.

Principle of pictorial realism

A display should look like the variable that it represents (e.g. high
temperature on a thermometer shown as a higher vertical level). If there are
multiple elements, they can be configured in a manner that looks like it
would in the represented environment.
13.

. Principle of the moving part

Moving elements should move in a pattern and direction compatible with the
users mental model of how it actually moves in the system. For example,
the moving element on an altimeter should move upward with increasing
altitude.

Reference:
Wickens, Christopher D., John D. Lee, Yili Liu, and Sallie E. Gordon Becker. An
Introduction to Human Factors Engineering. Second ed,. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004. 185193.

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