As someone who has been in the technology industry for half a decade building a career in user interface and experience design, I have the responsibility of ensuring that the websites and applications that I create are visually appealing, meets the user's needs, and is easily navigable. One of the important things I’ve learned when designing an interface is that it should empower the users -- with the countless elements seen on a screen together with its different functionalities, users should be able to confidently navigate around it.
Early and Zender pointed out that the face for devices today is at first touch, an interface (85), but an issue that stands between a user and a system, program, or application is that users lack understanding of what it does and what action they represent, thus, the use of interface metaphors. Norman argued that “an interface is an obstacle: it stands between a person and a system”. (209) The concept of using interface metaphors was introduced by Alan Kay at Xerox PARC in 1970 and was then adapted by Apple Inc. -- being the first computer to popularize the desktop metaphor. A good metaphor is essential to an easy to use interface. (Erickson 65) But interface metaphors are not just constricted to having a “digital” counterpart of real life objects, it is also responsible for creating representations of action, where users would be able to represent as doing something in an environment that’s similar to what the interface is representing. (Laurel 2)
With the idea of interface metaphors, what are its effects on new media materials? Are all interface metaphors concepts useful and applicable to digital products? This paper attempts to answer these questions by discussing different concepts of interface metaphors that can benefit designers in creating digital products. Additionally, this paper will show how I, as a user interface designer, adapted the idea of metaphors to three different projects.
<aside> 🚀 Read the entire academic paper here.
</aside>