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CumInCAD is a Cumulative Index about publications in Computer Aided Architectural Design
supported by the sibling associations ACADIA, CAADRIA, eCAADe, SIGraDi, ASCAAD and CAAD futures

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_id	aea2
authors	Laurel, B. (ed.)
year	1990
title	The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design
source	New York: Addison-Wesley.
summary	Human-computer interface design is a new discipline. So new in fact, that Alan Kay of Apple Computer quipped that people "are not sure whether they should order it by the yard or the ton"! Irrespective of the measure, interface design is gradually emerging as a much-needed and timely approach to reducing the awkwardness and inconveniences of human-computer interaction. "Increased cognitive load", "bewildered and tired users" - these are the byproducts of the "plethora of options and the interface conventions" faced by computer users. Originally, computers were "designed by engineers, for engineers". Little or no attention was, or needed to be, paid to the interface. However, the pervasive use of the personal computer and the increasing number and variety of applications and programs has given rise to a need to focus on the "cognitive locus of human-computer interaction" i.e. the interface. What is the interface? Laurel defines the interface as a "contact surface" that "reflects the physical properties of the interactors, the functions to be performed, and the balance of power and control." (p.xiii) Incorporated into her definition are the "cognitive and emotional aspects of the user's experience". In a very basic sense, the interface is "the place where contact between two entities occurs." (p.xii) Doorknobs, steering wheels, spacesuits-these are all interfaces. The greater the difference between the two entities, the greater the need for a well-designed interface. In this case, the two very different entities are computers and humans. Human-conputer interface design looks at how we can lessen the effects of these differences. This means, for Laurel, empowering users by providing them with ease of use. "How can we think about it so that the interfaces we design will empower users?" "What does the user want to do?" These are the questions Laurel believes must be asked by designers. These are the questions addressed directly and indirectly by the approximately 50 contributors to The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design. In spite of the large number of contributors to the book and the wide range of fields with which they are associated, there is a broad consensus on how interfaces can be designed for empowerment and ease of use. User testing, user contexts, user tasks, user needs, user control: these terms appear throughout the book and suggest ways in which design might focus less on the technology and more on the user. With this perspective in mind, contributor D. Norman argues that computer interfaces should be designed so that the user interacts more with the task and less with the machine. Such interfaces "blend with the task", and "make tools invisible" so that "the technology is subervient to that goal". Sellen and Nicol insist on the need for interfaces that are 'simple', 'self-explanatory', 'adaptive' and 'supportive'. Contributors Vertelney and Grudin are interested in interfaces that support the contexts in which many users work. They consider ways in which group-oriented tasks and collaborative efforts can be supported and aided by the particular design of the interface. Mountford equates ease of use with understating the interface: "The art and science of interface design depends largely on making the transaction with the computer as transparent as possible in order to minimize the burden on the user".(p.248) Mountford also believes in "making computers more powerful extensions of our natural capabilities and goals" by offering the user a "richer sensory environment". One way this can be achieved according to Saloman is through creative use of colour. Saloman notes that colour can not only impart information but that it can be a useful mnemonic device to create associations. A richer sensory environment can also be achieved through use of sound, natural speech recognition, graphics, gesture input devices, animation, video, optical media and through what Blake refers to as "hybrid systems". These systems include additional interface features to control components such as optical disks, videotape, speech digitizers and a range of devices that support "whole user tasks". Rich sensory environments are often characteristic of game interfaces which rely heavily on sound and graphics. Crawford believes we have a lot to learn from the design of games and that they incorporate "sound concepts of user interface design". He argues that "games operate in a more demanding user-interface universe than other applications" since they must be both "fun" and "functional".
series	other
last changed	2003/04/23 15:14

_id	55f1
authors	Norman, Richard B. and Lowrey, Robert C.
year	1989
title	Ground Sculpture on CADD: Forming and Coloring the Landform in a Graphic Data Base
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.1989.049
source	New Ideas and Directions for the 1990’s [ACADIA Conference Proceedings] Gainsville (Florida - USA) 27-29 October 1989, pp. 49-59
summary	A graphic data base of our campus is being developed to record physical inventory and to provide a three- dimensional development tool for the University. The campus has many changes in elevation. Computer terrain modeling is planned to provide traditional contour information as well as to furnish a base for perspective views of the campus. Selecting an appropriate geometry to record the landform, and determining criteria for coloration of the ground surface is critical to the success of the project. Methods of modeling a three-dimensional surface are discussed; color principles which articulate landform are explored. A methodology is illustrated which achieves a flexible model of the campus landform.
series	ACADIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:58

_id	c1e2
authors	Norman, Richard B.
year	1990
title	Color Contrast and CAAD: The Seven Color Contrasts of Johannes Itten
source	The Electronic Design Studio: Architectural Knowledge and Media in the Computer Era [CAAD Futures ‘89 Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-262-13254-0] Cambridge (Massachusetts / USA), 1989, pp. 469-478
summary	Computer-aided architectural design is design with color - the monitor of a CAAD system is a display of color, a place where images are produced by color manipulation. The success of these images can be judged by the ability of the colors selected to communicate graphic ideas and to convey graphic information. Color as a visual phenomena intrigued the impressionist painters at the end of the nineteenth century; it was the focus of much attention at the Bauhaus in Weimar Germany. When Johannes Itten was appointed as a Master of Form at the Bauhaus in 1919, he developed "an aesthetic color theory originating in the experience and intuition of a painter". In his definitive work, Itten postulates seven ways to communicate visual information with color. "Each is unique in character and artistic value, in visual, expressive and symbolic effect, and together they constitute the fundamental resource of color design". These seven contrasts provide a lexicon of the methods by which computer images convey graphic information. The colors which form a computer image can be simply manipulated to illustrate these contrasts; today's computers make color manipulation a very simple matter. This paper is composed of short essays about each of these contrasts and how they can guide the selection of appropriate colors to convey visual intent on a picture tube. Considered together the contrasts of Itten provide a fundamental resource for electronic graphic communication.
series	CAAD Futures
email
last changed	2003/05/16 20:58

_id	4e31
authors	Norman, Richard B.
year	1990
title	Electronic Color : The Art of Color Applied to Graphic Computing
source	xiv, 186 p. : ill. (some col.) New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1990. includes bibliography
summary	This book offers artists an introduction to a new technology for the communication of visual ideas, and it offers scientists an introduction to principles of art that have existed forever, but made simpler to communicate because of the new technology. The 9 chapters of the book cover such topics as: The language of color (tools and teaching, the elements of design, how color speaks, electronic color as teacher); A theory of contrasts (the Bauhaus, the seven contrasts of Johannes Itten, design applications); Color models (the need for order, traditional concepts of color organization, computer color selection, inventing a color space); Electronics as a source of color (color images, the color monitor, additive and subtractive color, the automation of graphics, reproduction of the computer image); The dynamics of color (dynamics in painting, impressionism, the Albers color descriptions, color dynamics today, dynamic architectural images); Illusions of space and form (transparency, perception of space, definition of form); Color psychology (the meaning of color, the colors, color transposition, applied psychology); Color in the design process (the discovery of site, the design of buildings, the color of cities); The representation of form (automation of the construction process, intuition in drawing, intuition in design, form and color)
keywords	computer graphics, color, education
series	CADline
last changed	2003/06/02 13:58

_id	7ee7
authors	Norman, Richard B.
year	1990
title	Electronic Color: The Art of Color Applied to Graphic Computing
source	New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold
summary	A beautifully illustrated volume for architects and designers that reviews the theoretical foundations of color and design. The book explores the ideas of Albers, Itten, Kandinsky, Munsell, and other theorists, and provides a technical base for their application to architecture and design by means of color graphic computing. 181 color illustrations.
series	other
last changed	2003/04/23 15:14

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