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Measuring the Success of Visual Communication in User Interfaces

INTRODUCTION Technical communicators must be visually literate in their role as information designers. Even when we have the luxury of working with professional graphic designers and artists as we produce information content, the more that technical communicators know about visual communication, the better will be the results of the collaboration. However, most of the visual communication principles and theories in current use were originally developed for printed (hardcopy) information (Keyes 1993; Lee 1979; Ruder 1977; Smith and Ten Holt 1984; Tufte 1983 and 1990; Vignelli 1976; Wheildon 1995; and White 1983 and 1984). Professionals in many fields—including graphic design, multimedia production, user-interface design, and technical communication—are working to extend and modify print guidelines to address electronic information delivery. Many books (Boggan 1995; Gallitz 1997; Horton 1994; Morris and Hinrichs 1996; and Williams and Tollett 1998), articles, and papers address onscreen visual communication, both for user-support information (such as help systems, wizards, and online tutorials) and for product and Web site user interfaces. Most of these publications describe their authors’ individual experiences with graphical user interface (GUI) design and information design. Following the experience of experts is a well-accepted way to learn new techniques, but it leaves a gap: we still need to validate the success of the results by collecting user data. Little current usability research focuses primarily on visual communication, but almost every usability study of GUIs or Web sites produces some relevant results. This article discusses three key areas of visual communication we address in user interfaces (UIs): r Information access and navigation