en de
johannes p osterhoff
Seminar on Interface-Design
Merz Akademie, December 11th — 15th, 2006
WHAT YOU SEE IS ...
The gap between visual interfaces, the equivalents and correlations they use and what the computer actually is doing is widening. Nowadays the «How» of a task the computer has to fulfill very often only is reflected upon on the superficial level of the graphical user interface — what tools the user has to use, what settings have to be checked.
But what if What You See Is ... not true anymore?
And what if these transparent interfaces tend to lack a necessary reflection on themselves? «The mistake [often made], is to assume that the single goal of all design is to make the interface transparent, when in fact the goal is to establish an appropriate rhythm between being transparent and being reflective. This is a common error in Interface design and Human-Computer-Interaction today.»[2]
In the research of this seminar students should investigate the gap between interface and program logic and question the graphical user interface — what could happen if we trusted these responds of the machine entirely, and what if we couldn't trust them at all? The aim of the seminar is to question existing analogies and metaphors and to give students a verbal «toolbox» to reflect upon current developments in interface design.
Recommended Reading:
1] Cyrus Dominik Khazaeli: Systemisches Design, Intelligente Oberflächen für Information und Interaktion, Hamburg 2005
2] David J. Bolter and Diane Gromala: Windows and Mirrors — Interaction Design and the Myth of Transparency, Massachusetts 2003, here quoted from page 26
3] Neil Stephenson: Die Diktatur des Schönen Scheins, München 2002 (free english version)
4] Steven Johnson: Interface Culture, Stuttgart 1999