I think it's a great idea to catalog universal design principles, Dan, and optionally to illustrate them with use cases. I agree that the manifestations of the principles could be very different in different cultural contexts, and I think that would be important to convey too.
I love Murli's example of the plate and cup, which many people would assume to be fairly universal in design and use. Not so, and it's not so in other functional design around the world. As I read about the stainless steel plates, for example, it occurred to me that many people around the world strongly object to eating with our familiar forks and spoons because they impart a metallic taste to their food. Having eaten a lot with chopsticks, I agree -- but not enough to ask for chopsticks or bring my own at an Italian restaurant. Context is important. History is full of stories about technologies and beliefs (the two are often inseparable) that were not accepted or assimilated until their cultural context was translated. The Navajo only began to accept Christian missionaries after hearing the Gospel of John, which says "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God and the Word was with God." The Navajo creation myth speaks the world into existence, and this was the first they'd heard from the Christians that validated their own notions of the spirit world. But back to the topic at hand, I think an appropriate design principle to include is the "Hrair Limit" based on the concept explained in the book "Watership Down" ... in which the rabbits in the warren only counted as high as four, and anything more than that was "hrair" or innumerable. The Hrair Limit for humans is generally taken to be "seven, plus or minus two" ... and is the reason our eyes glaze over when we encounter something too complex. Forgive the explanation if you all know this, which you probably do. I think it's a fairly common interaction principle, but hadn't seen it mentioned yet. The "Hrair Limit" may restrain us from the "more is better" mentality that afflicts much design these days. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=23952 ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
