Interface design is a field I am interested in pursuing after graduation, so this week’s readings struck close to home. In his article “‘So the Colors Cover the Wires’: Interface, Aesthetics, and Usability,” Matthew G. Kirschenbaum describes the role of interface in past, present, and future (digital) humanities work. I have always looked at interfaces from a designer’s point of view so it was interesting to read about their applications in the context of digital humanities scholarship.
According to Kirschenbaum, one of the biggest challenges of interface design is that it’s under-appreciated. “Donald A. Norman writes: ‘The real problem with interface is that it is an interface. Interfaces get in the way. I don’t want to focus my energies on interface. I want to focus on the job’ (2002: 210). Nicholas Negroponte holds that the ‘secret’ of interface design is to ‘make it go away’ (1995: 93)” (Kirschenbaum). I agree that the best interface fades into the background. Interfaces mediate between content and user; the best interfaces simply this process and make it easy for the user to access content, navigate through it, and interact.
One of my favorite interfaces in recent memory is the site UI for Designspiration ( http://designspiration.net ). The content of the site (images) are stacked in a grid. They are displayed by date. Typing anywhere on the screen opens a large search box that fills the display window. The user can also search by up to 5 colors. The site navigation (and ad banner) is pushed to the left side of the display window, out of the way of the main content. The interface doesn’t distract from the content flow; instead, it aids the user’s search and directs to other less important elements of the site. The white space also works to unify the diverse range of colors and forms present in the images.
However, Designspiration’s UI is not perfect. There are several instances when the interface bends and breaks to reveal it’s clunky skeleton. Responsive web design is a growing trend that allows site content to flex to fit a variety of screen sizes (desktop and mobile being the two biggest categories). Designspiration’s grid is not responsive. When I try viewing the content in a smaller screen, the content is cropped and gives way to the chrome of the browser. The site is at it’s weakest point when the interface draws attention to itself or competes with the content/user goals.