Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is the study of how humans and computers interact. Mainly through the analysis of the hardware, software, and interfaces the human uses. The most important of these being the interface.
Interfaces
Interfaces are where all of the moving parts of a computer come together to allow a user to use it. This makes interface an integral part of Human-Computer Interaction and usability. If the interface isn’t created properly it can cause a breakdown between the user and the computer. I see this as a common argument in the never-ending “Samsung vs. Apple” debate. Many people shy away from Samsung phones because they claim they are hard to use and too complicated, the reasoning for Apple phones is because their interfaces are simpler and more easy to use. The Apple user interface is my reasoning for owning an iPhone because I do believe they are more refined, but this is a perfect example of how a good interface makes all the difference.
I can relate this to video games as well. As I mentioned in an earlier post, video games have a loosely similar control scheme (i.e. “A” to jump etc.). When a game strays from that control scheme it generally is less enjoyable to play. There is a game called “Medal of Honor” which is a “first person shooter” and has a great campaign and fun missions. Unlike other popular shooters at the time, they had a very different control scheme than what players were used to, because of this I found myself losing interest very early on since I had to fight muscle memory in order to play it. The more complicated the control scheme is or the more complicated the interface, the less usability the product would have.
Photo by Budka Damdinsuren on Unsplash
Leave a Reply