HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION
PART 4 – DESIGN PRINCIPLES
February – April 2026
“The golden rule of design: Don’t do to others what
others have done to you. Remember the things you don’t
like in software interfaces you use. Then make sure you
don’t do the same things to users of interfaces you
design and develop.”
- Tracy Leonard (1996)
Overview
Design Rules
Usability Heuristics – the golden rules
Background
Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) have helped to eliminate many of the most
horrific interface problems
However, some interfaces are still
difficult to learn (e.g. labels of the fields not related to the items),
hard to use (e.g. require memorization on how to use),
confusing (e.g. logical ordering according to the task not there),
counterintuitive (e.g. use green to indicate stop instead of red, or using highlighting on the
least important aspects),
unforgiving (simple mistake with dire consequences), and
frustrating (not working as expected e.g. confusing feedback or delayed feedback)
User interface analysis and design has to do with the study of people and how
they relate to technology (interact with)
Design rules that increase usability of designed interfaces are of great
importance
Design Rules
Design rules (or usability rules) are rules that a designer can follow in order
to increase the usability of the system/product
They can be in the form of:
Principles
Standards
Guidelines
Design Rules
Design rules should be used early in the lifecycle
during the design; note that they can also be used to evaluate the usability
of the system
We will:
First look at abstract principles for supporting usability
Later on, we will look at the most well used and well known sets of heuristics
or 'golden rules'
User Interface Design Principles
Principle Description
User familiarity The interface should use terms and concepts which are drawn
from the experience of the people who will make most use
of the system.
Consistency The interface should be consistent in that, wherever possible,
comparable operations should be activated in the same way.
Minimal surprise Users should never be surprised by the behaviour of a
system.
Recoverability The interface should include mechanisms to allow users to
recover from errors.
User guidance The interface should provide meaningful feedback when
errors occur and provide context-sensitive user help facilities.
User diversity The interface should provide appropriate interaction
facilities for different types of system user.
Heuristics / 'Golden Rules'
The principles above are derived from different sources by different
experts in the field of Human Computer Interaction and User Interface
Design
Heuristics or 'golden rules‘ tend to provide a succinct summary of the
essential characteristics of good design
The specific design and usability principles are explained below and
categorized based on the expert who came up with them
Jakob Nielsen (Nielsen's heuristics)
◼ Nielsen Norman Group - [Link]
Theo Mandel (Mandel’s golden rules)
Ben Schneiderman (Shneiderman's golden rules )
Don Norman (Norman's principles)
Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics
1. Visibility of system status
2. Match between system and the real world
3. User control and freedom
4. Consistency and standards
5. Error prevention
6. Recognition rather than recall
7. Flexibility and efficiency of use
8. Aesthetic and minimalist design
9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
10. Help and documentation
1. Visibility of system status
The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback
within reasonable time.
Gmail loading a user’s mailbox. Tells the user to wait & Indicates the status of what’s going on and Proper
presentation of available seats and booked seats with price and other details
2. Match between system and the real world
The system should speak the users' language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather
than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and
logical order.
iBooks iPad application using the metaphor of wooden book shelf and Using real life metaphor in
computer application
image
3. User control and freedom
Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked "emergency exit" to leave
the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Support undo and redo.
Mozilla suggesting some security tips and handling exception and History in Photoshop helps user in
recovering previous steps
image
4. Consistency and standards
Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing.
Follow platform conventions.
image
image
5. Error prevention
Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the
first place.
image
6. Recognition rather than recall
Make objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the
dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.
image
7. Flexibility and efficiency of use
Accelerators -- unseen by the novice user -- may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such
that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent
actions.
image
image
8. Aesthetic and minimalist design
Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of
information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative
visibility.
image
9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from
errors
Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and
constructively suggest a solution.
image
10. Help and documentation
Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide
help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user's task, list
concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.
Contextual help is the best way to help! Also, telling users about the consequences of their actions is also
very helpful image
Theo Mandel’s Three Golden Rules
Three golden rules of user interface design coined by Theo Mandel
are
1. Place the User in Control
2. Reduce the User's Memory Load
3. Make the Interface Consistent
[Link] the User in Control
Define interaction modes in a way that does not force a user into unnecessary or
undesired actions
The user shall be able to enter and exit a mode with little or no effort (e.g., spell
check → edit text → spell check)
Provide for flexible interaction
E.g. the user shall be able to perform the same action via keyboard commands, mouse
movement, or voice recognition
Allow user interaction to be interruptible and "undo" able
The user shall be able to easily interrupt a sequence of actions to do something else
(without losing the work that has been done so far)
The user shall be able to "undo" any action
Place the User in Control…
Streamline interaction as skill levels advance and allow the interaction to be customized
E.g. the user shall be able to use a macro mechanism (automation) to perform a sequence of
repeated interactions and to customize the interface
Hide technical internals from the casual user
The user shall not be required to directly use operating system, file management, networking. etc.,
commands to perform any actions. Instead, these operations shall be hidden from the user and
performed "behind the scenes" in the form of a real-world abstraction
Design for direct interaction with objects that appear on the screen
The user shall be able to manipulate objects on the screen in a manner similar to what would occur
if the object were a physical thing (e.g., stretch a rectangle, press a button, move a slider)
2. Reduce the User's Memory Load
Reduce demand on short-term memory
The interface shall reduce the user's requirement to remember past actions and results
by providing visual cues of such actions
Establish meaningful defaults
The system shall provide the user with default values that make sense to the average
user but allow the user to change these defaults
The user shall be able to easily reset any value to its original default value
Define shortcuts that are intuitive
The user shall be provided with mnemonics (i.e., control or alt combinations) that tie
easily to the action in a way that is easy to remember such as the first letter
Reduce the User's Memory Load…
The visual layout of the interface should be based on a real world metaphor
The screen layout of the user interface shall contain well-understood visual cues that
the user can relate to real-world actions
Disclose information in a progressive fashion
When interacting with a task, an object or some behavior, the interface shall be
organized hierarchically by moving the user progressively in a step-wise fashion from
an abstract concept to a concrete action (e.g., text format options → format dialog
box)
The more a user has to remember, the more
error-prone interaction with the system will be
3. Make the Interface Consistent
The interface should present and acquire information in a consistent fashion
All visual information shall be organized according to a design standard that is
maintained throughout all screen displays
Input mechanisms shall be constrained to a limited set that is used consistently
throughout the application
Mechanisms for navigating from task to task shall be consistently defined and
implemented
Allow the user to put the current task into a meaningful context
The interface shall provide indicators (e.g., window titles, consistent color coding) that
enable the user to know the context of the work at hand
The user shall be able to determine where he has come from and what alternatives
exist for a transition to a new task
Make the Interface Consistent…
Maintain consistency across a family of applications
A set of applications performing complimentary functionality shall all implement the
same design rules so that consistency is maintained for all interaction
If past interactive models have created user expectations, do not make changes
unless there is a compelling reason to do so
Once a particular interactive sequence has become a de facto standard (e.g., alt-S to
save a file), the application shall continue this expectation in every part of its
functionality
Ben Shneiderman's 8 Golden Rules
1. Strive for consistency: layout, use of colours, terminology, command usage, etc.
2. Cater for universal usability: recognize the requirements of diverse users and technology. For
instance add features for novices e.g. explanations, support expert users e.g. shortcuts.
3. Offer informative feedback: for every user action, offer relevant feedback and information, keep the
user appropriately informed, human-computer interaction.
4. Design dialogs to yield closure: help the user know when they have completed a task.
5. Offer error prevention and simple error handling: prevention and (clear and informative guidance
to) recovery; error management.
6. Permit easy reversal of actions: to relieve anxiety and encourage exploration, because the user
knows s/he can always go back to previous states.
7. Support internal locus of control: make the user feel that s/he is in control of the system, which
responds to his/her instructions/commands.
8. Reduce short-term memory load: make menus and UI elements/items visible, easily
available/retrievable, ..
Donald Norman's 7 Principles
Use both knowledge in the world and knowledge in the head.
Simplify the structure of tasks.
Make things visible: bridge the gulfs of Execution and Evaluation.
Get the mappings right.
Exploit the power of constraints, both natural and artificial.
Design for error.
When all else fails, standardize
Reading Assignment
Read further on
Donald Norman's 7 Principles of User Interface Design
Ben Schneiderman’s 8 Golden Rules of User Interface Design