Cognitive Dimensions of Notations
What are the Cognitive Dimensions of Notations?
The Cognitive Dimensions of Notations framework provides a set of 14 cognitive dimensions that are important to consider when designing user experiences. These dimensions define the trade-offs designers must make when deciding how to present information, and highlight the need to pay attention to user activity and context. By understanding these dimensions, UX designers can create usable designs that are tailored specifically for their intended audience. The 14 cognitive dimensions include Visibility, Affordance, Natural Mapping, Feedback, Constraints & Rules, Structure/Hierarchy/Patterns Recognition & Redundancy, Error Management & Prevention/Recovery Strategies; Visceral Appeal; Spatial Layout; Memory Load; Control & Flexibility; Semantic Clarity; Consistency & Compatibility and Transferability.
What is the purpose of Cognitive Dimensions of Notations?
The Cognitive Dimensions of Notations framework is an important tool for designers to understand how users think and work. It provides a vocabulary with which to discuss the properties of notations that are cognitively relevant. This framework has been used to help designers create and evaluate notational systems, information artifacts, and the impact their designs have on users. The Cognitive Dimensions framework has applications in the field of Cognitive Technology, making it an invaluable asset to UX designers.
What are the 14 cognitive dimensions of notations?
1. Viscosity
Viscosity is an important factor in determining the usability and commitment of UX designs. It refers to the amount of work required to effect a change, and how easily users are able to understand and use the system. Viscosity affects how likely users are to make mistakes when using a notation, as well as the cognitive demand it places on them. Additionally, viscosity influences visibility of dependencies between elements in the notation, which helps users compare them side by side more easily. The three types of viscosity—knock-on, repetition, and scope—are also important for helping ensure that necessary components of a notation are accessible and visible. Understanding this concept is essential for developing successful UX designs that are both usable and committed for end user satisfaction.
2. Visibility
The visibility of an element is critical when it comes to the 14 cognitive dimensions of notations. If a feature or piece of information is not easily visible, users may have difficulty in finding and using it, which would reduce its usability and readability. Poor visibility can also limit the number of elements a person can comprehend at once, as per The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two theory. To ensure that users are able to quickly understand and use a notation, designers should take care to create features that are highly visible and make their program more homogeneous.
3. Premature Commitment
Premature commitment is a phenomenon wherein a user makes decisions about a project before fully understanding the consequences of their choices. This can lead to bad design decisions and an overall negative impact on the cognitive dimensions of notations, particularly in programming languages. For example, if users commit too quickly to certain features or functions they may find it difficult to undo these choices without significant effort later on, or they may end up with something that isn't optimal for their needs. To help avoid this problem, designers can use progressive evaluation techniques which allow users to test out different options as they make them and see how well they work before committing completely. Additionally, tools such as the "preview" window found in certain software packages can help by allowing users to view their prototypes while still in development and make changes accordingly.
4. Hidden Dependencies
Hidden dependencies are relationships between entities in a notation system that may not be immediately apparent. When choosing a notation system, it is important to consider hidden dependencies because they can complicate understanding and make it difficult to predict the effects of changes to parts of a system. Additionally, if the input data set size changes, the program structure must also change; this can slow down a system substantially. Visibility is an important factor when deciding on an appropriate notation system as it allows for easy access and use of required parts of the notation.
5. Role-Expressiveness
Role-expressiveness is an important factor to consider when defining the usability and commitment of a UX design. It refers to the way a component conveys its purpose, which can be achieved through several dimensions such as creative ambiguity, indexing, synopsis and unevenness. Creative ambiguity means that users need to interpret what they see in order to understand it while indexing allows them to quickly locate relevant components. Synopsis is concerned with providing an overview of all components while unevenness draws attention towards specific elements. Incorporating role-expressiveness into UX designs helps create more usable and committed designs that are clearer for users.
6. Error-Proneness
Error-proneness is an important factor to consider when designing user notations as it affects how people perceive and remember information. Error-proneness can lead to confusion, misunderstanding, and miscommunication. If improperly handled, errors can result in a loss of business or damage to reputation. The 14 cognitive dimensions of notations take error-proneness into consideration when determining the usability and commitment of UX design.
7. Abstraction
Abstraction is an important concept in relation to notation, as it allows for more accurate and complete communication. It entails the process of grouping together a number of elements to make them easier to understand or use, as well as changing the notation used to represent an element. Abstraction also creates abstraction barriers, which are the number of abstractions a user needs to master before they can use a system. Finally, through features such as "Templates" in notation, abstraction allows for more flexibility in how two screens can be linked together without requiring a clickable box.
8. Secondary Notation
Secondary notation is any extra information added to UI elements to convey additional information to users. Icons, comments in programming languages, and other visual or textual cues are all examples of secondary notation which can make it easier for users to understand the meaning of icons and the action that will be produced when interacting with them. Secondary notation is important as it helps bridge the gap between user intent and product design, ensuring a usable and committed UX design.
9. Closeness Of Mapping
Closeness of mapping is a cognitive dimension of notations which refers to how closely an interface element corresponds to the problem world it is intended to represent. This dimension is important as it allows for easy evaluation and feedback on an incomplete solution and facilitates identification of required elements as users can easily determine what aspects need to be included in the notation. Furthermore, closeness of mapping makes it easier for users to understand and use the system, as they are able to immediately identify any discrepancies between their input and the desired output.
10. Consistency
Consistency is important in relation to notations because it allows users to understand and use systems more quickly. Consistent patterns help users of a system understand the elements used within it, whether they are obvious or need to be inferred. By adhering to consistent standards, organizations can create experiences that are easier for their users to comprehend and use on a sliding scale.
11. Diffuseness
Diffuseness is an important aspect of notations and their cognitive dimensions, as it refers to how many symbols or entities are needed to communicate a certain meaning. Notations that are diffuseness-friendly use fewer symbols and less space to convey a message, making them easier for users to scan and understand. Additionally, diffuseness allows for more efficient evaluation of incomplete solutions by allowing decisions to be made before all the necessary information is available. Diffuseness can further be classified into three types: 'knock-on', 'repetition' and 'scope'. These types refer to the visibility, repetition and scope viscosity respectively. It is important for designers working with notations to understand these cognitive dimensions in order ensure that they create usable and committed user experiences.
12. Hard Mental Operations
The 14 cognitive dimensions of notations are important for defining usable and committed UX designs. These dimensions refer to the aspects of a notation which can affect how we comprehend, process, and interpret it. They include conciseness, complexity, ambiguity, consistency, familiarity, feedback, learnability/teachability, comprehensibility/clarity/simplicity/transparency readability/readiness and usability. By understanding these cognitive dimensions better designers can create systems that are easier to use and more intuitive to understand. Additionally they help us to better design software that is more user friendly as well as helping us understand how different types of notations (e.g., mathematical or musical) can affect our thought processes.
13. Provisionality
Provisionality is an important cognitive dimension of notation because it allows users to be flexible and make indicative selections before committing to a definitive choice. This flexibility enables users to easily adapt the notation systems to new situations or ideas, allowing for more usable and committed UX design.
14. Progressive Evaluation
Progressive evaluation is a cognitive dimension of notation that provides users with feedback on their progress. It helps them to stay motivated, track their progress, and estimate how far they have come and how much further there is to go. Progressive evaluation can be used for navigating between screens, which makes it easier for users to orient themselves and complete tasks. Additionally, it allows designers to test prototypes in real-time so they can quickly make adjustments or improvements if needed. Ultimately, progressive evaluation helps create usable and committed UX designs that are more successful in achieving end goals.
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