Microinteractions
Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
1. Designing Microinteractions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Microinteractions Are Not Features ... But Still Matter 4
Microinteractions Can Be Big 5
The Secret History of Microinteractions 9
The Structure of Microinteractions 14
Microinteractions as a Philosophy 19
Summary 22
2. Triggers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Manual Triggers 26
Bring the Data Forward 27
The Components of a Trigger 28
System Triggers 43
System Trigger Rules 46
Summary 48
3. Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Designing Rules 52
Generating Rules 56
Verbs and Nouns 59
Screens and States 61
Constraints 62
Don’t Start from Zero 64
Absorb Complexity 67
Limited Options and Smart Defaults 69
Controls and User Input 72
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Preventing Errors 74
Microcopy 76
Algorithms 78
Summary 81
4. Feedback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Feedback Illuminates the Rules 86
Feedback Is for Humans 90
Less Is More 92
Feedback as a Personality-Delivery Mechanism 93
Feedback Methods 96
Visual 96
Audio 101
Haptics 104
Feedback Rules 106
Summary 107
5. Loops and Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Modes 111
Spring-Loaded and One-off Modes 113
Loops 114
Styles of Loops 114
Long Loops 117
Summary 121
6. Putting It All Together. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Example 1: Mobile App 126
Example 2: Online Shared Playlist 129
Example 3: Dishwasher Control Panel 132
Prototyping and Documenting Microinteractions 135
Orchestrating Microinteractions 137
Turning Microinteractions into Features 137
How to Fix a Dull Microinteraction 139
Think Small 140
A. Testing Microinteractions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
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