Jingyuan Gao – Interaction Design History Spring 2025

Interaction Designer Responsibility.

Jingyuan Gao — Sat, 10 May 2025 04:46:34 +0000

In a world where AI is deeply integrated into life, interaction designers must not only be aesthetically pleasing and practical, but also assume an ethical responsibility towards their users. Because we need to protect everyone’s privacy from being spread. When people use an app, they have to be authorized to use it, and this data is visible to us if we as developers, but we can’t spread it for anything else, even if the data can make money. Because design not only shapes experiences, it also shapes values. We need to design a future that people trust.

iPod/iPhone

Jingyuan Gao — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 05:33:14 +0000

The iPod and iPhone changed our relationship with technology, making it less of a cold tool and more of a portable, intimate companion. The iPhone’s technology allowed people for the first time to accomplish complex tasks by using their fingers to directly manipulate the screen; the iPod’s scroll wheel and simple interface allowed people to focus on the content rather than the process. These designs reduce physical distractions, serve people’s experiences more quietly, and inspire a connection with the device. As people begin to use electronic devices anywhere, anytime, interaction becomes more and more important because the simpler the interaction, the more people will use it, and I think most people are lazy and like things that are simple and don’t require a lot of brain power. Design nowadays needs to be “human-centered. Waiting for the next cross-generation product.

Web 2.0 vs New Web

Jingyuan Gao — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 05:23:03 +0000

Since the term “Web 2.0” was coined in 2004, it has changed the way we use the Internet. This is a key stage in the transformation of the Internet from “read-only” to “interactive”, allowing users to post content, like and comment on it, and participate in collaborations – an era of universal creativity.

In web 2.0 anyone could upload videos, write blogs, and post comments, like YouTube.

And people can also like and comment on other people’s work. Allowing creators to see feedback. These features have created a web ecosystem where everyone is involved and content is exploding.

As we move into the 2020s, the Web is becoming smarter and more diverse. There are a few notable changes:

content can be created using ai, or even completely ai. And the data is more in the hands of the creators. Previously, it was basically owned by the platform. And there are Btc, doge and other digital assets.

Web 2.0: you upload a video to a platform, then the platform recommends it to viewers and the ad revenue you get goes to the platform.

Today: you generate videos to upload to a chained or decentralized platform and then viewers can reward you with digital currency.

GUI and Personal Computer

Jingyuan Gao — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 03:23:26 +0000

Graphical user interfaces have come a long way since the early Macintosh and Windows days – they are now faster, simpler, and more intuitive, with a myriad of features such as touch, voice, and gesture control. Modern design trends favor clean interfaces that make technology feel smoother and easier to use. Despite these changes, the functionality of basic elements such as windows, icons, and file browsers remain the same.

Looking ahead, there is still room for improvement in interfaces, especially through artificial intelligence to make them more personalized and helpful. And AI can help us integrate all the designs in the world, which can allow us to see more of the world. Accessible design should also continue to advance so that everyone can benefit from it. With the increase in mobile apps, we need new ways to make the PC stand out again.

Lucy Suchman

Jingyuan Gao — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 07:58:34 +0000

Lucy Suchman’s research, particularly the book *Plans and Situated Actions*, has transformed our understanding of human interaction with technology, showing that people do not simply follow predetermined plans. Instead, her research shows that human behavior is inherently situational and contextually relevant, meaning that interactions with technology are adaptive to the environment and are often unpredictable. This insight has led designers and researchers to rethink traditional rigid models and consider how real-world environments affect the way technology is used.

Her contributions have led designers to evolve the idea that people will focus on being in real environments rather than hypothetical ones. Suchman’s work emphasizes that the success of a technology should be measured by its ability to support user complexity and changing environments.

How did the Xerox Star change the direction of computing?

Jingyuan Gao — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 07:46:57 +0000

The Xerox Star revolutionized computing by introducing the graphical user interface (GUI), which replaced the text-based command line with visual icons, windows, and menus. This desktop metaphor made computers much more accessible and laid the foundation for modern operating systems.

Additionally, the Star popularized the use of the mouse as a standard input device, paving the way for intuitive interactions like clicking and dragging. Its emphasis on object-oriented design and WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editing influenced later products, notably the Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows, ultimately changing how we work and interact with technology today.

Forerunners

Jingyuan Gao — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 10:34:57 +0000

In 1968, Douglas Engelbart and his team at SRI changed the future of computing with a groundbreaking 90-minute presentation that became known as the “Mother of All Presentations.” They introduced revolutionary innovations such as the computer mouse, graphical user interfaces, and software at a time when computers were primarily viewed as number crunching machines. These innovations redefined the computer, defining it as a tool for improving human productivity.
And Engelbart’s demonstration breaks the mold by showing how these technologies can simplify tasks, increase people’s creativity, and also foster collaboration. His ideas blazed the trail for modern computing and the Internet, and are the cornerstones of ours. That’s why they’re the forerunners of our generation .

Twitter and Egyptian hieroglyphs

Jingyuan Gao — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 10:14:49 +0000

Twitter Little Blue Bird is a global social networking platform, “Little Blue Bird” represents the concept of “instant messaging”:

And the Eagle in Egyptian Hieroglyphics
– In ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, the word “eagle” was often used to express concepts such as power, sky, and was also associated with divinity or kingship.
– In Egyptian hieroglyphics, as part of the writing system, hieroglyphic symbols are strongly expressed. 2.

Media and cultural context for this motif and Egyptian hieroglyphics
– Modern signs use digital media to spread and survive in social networks;
– Ancient hieroglyphics were inscribed on stone walls or papyrus as a tool for recording language and a motif for manifesting power.

I think for the significance created by these two motifs. Neither Twitter nor the Egyptian hieroglyphic eagle can be separated from the imagery of flight: the Twitter bird, for example, symbolizes free communication and the rapid transmission of ideas. The ancient Egyptian eagle: often symbolizing divine power, it also represents the mystical majesty of being high above and close to the gods of the sky. The sound of the little bluebird also represents the Twitter Tweet, in order to show the rapid spread of information. The call of the eagle in Ancient Egypt may have been seen as a symbol of kingship or divinity.

From Egyptian hieroglyphics to Twitter’s little bluebird, these two images are from very different times, but both convey information and meanings through the word “bird”.

Gestalt principles & Fitts Law

Jingyuan Gao — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 09:27:58 +0000

Gestalt Principles & Fitts’s Law

When designing interactive interfaces, there are two aspects that can help improve the user experience:
– Gestalt Principles, which tell us how to design a page effectively.
– Fitts’s Law: tells us how to design touchable elements to make users operate more easily.

I. Gestalt (Gestalt) principle
1. Proximity
– Put related functions together. 2.
2. Similarity
– Use the same color, shape or style to represent buttons with the same function.
3. Continuity
– Ensure a sense of flow.
4. Closure
– Simplify the interface to make it look like a whole.
5. Figure-Ground
– The design should not be too similar to the background.

Second, Fitts’s Law (Fitts’s Law)
1. Target Size
– Manipulation area to be large enough, which can reduce the user error.
2. Distance
– Frequently used functions should be placed in the user’s most convenient position
3. Space and Hierarchy
– Different priority buttons can be differentiated by size and color.
4. Avoid Crowding
-The design should leave enough space to prevent accidental touch. 5.
5. close to the principle (Contextual Placement)
– Buttons that need to be clicked frequently need to be placed in the most convenient position for the user.

Lovelace and Gilbreth

Jingyuan Gao — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 08:57:51 +0000

When looking back at the evolution of interaction design, we tend to focus on designs such as digital products and software. However, it was the thinking of the pioneers that started this path. In the context of the 19th and 20th centuries, Ada Lovelace and Lillian Gilbreth pushed the boundaries of their respective fields. They opened people’s minds and left a foundation for future generations.
The core of modern interaction design is to serve people.
Lovelace always believed that computers should be more than just calculators. She pointed out that computers can handle most things. And computers can interact with people, resonating with their creativity and ideas. Her ideas set the stage for thinking about the “diversity of human-computer interactions”.
Gilbreth, on the other hand, thought about the human body, the needs of users, and other perspectives, combining psychology and other sociology with design, and laying down the concept of “human-centeredness” for later interaction design.
Their success was groundbreaking. Their success was groundbreaking, as women were often overlooked in the male-dominated industrial age, but their accomplishments made a huge impact on people.