Animations = Dimensions = Data

ANIMATION IS FOR GROWNUPS(DIMENSIONS = INFORMATION)

ZX-81: A whopping 4k of fun...

Made no sense to parents, but to us was perfectly reasonable to use ‘*’ to denote bricks, ‘6’s as the ball, and Emphasis words by Flipped the Forefront/Background...

My dad’s first Luggable...

You could have text in any colour you want...as long as it was green...No bold, no italics (just ^B, ^Y, etc.) A writer’s dream machine. A body builder’s dream machine (26lb).

Sinclair Spectrum:How I lost my faith...

Color = New Dimensions!

And then...Windows 3.0...

WYSIWYG...

Holy Batman! Lowercase, Uppercase, Bold, Italic, Icons, FontSize, Graphics, and Colour to boot!

Multiple Dimensions of meaning: HUGE ( )Steps forward...

Then more Windows...

95, 98, ME, 2000, XP...

Each one adding more capabilities in terms of colour depth, DPI, clarity, access...

And not to be forgotten,the stateless web...

The web brought charts generated on the fly, giving a semblance of immediacy to data even if it came from across the world, compacting lots of variables into simple to digest images.

The tough part is making clear information from raw

data...

The term sparkline was proposed by Edward Tufte for "small, high resolution graphics embedded in a context of words, numbers, images".[1] Tufte describes sparklines as "data-intense, design-simple, word-sized graphics".

It’s all about making Decisions

In the end, as we rush faster and faster through our days, with smaller and smaller interfaces, we still have to make decisions.

Just Faster.

Going beyond static orthagonal PNGs:

Adding Dimensions of Data Color Hot/Cold (Market’s popping, market’s cold)

Animation Pulse = Attention (Hey! Don’t forget me)

Zoom Small scale, parked Previews, relevance

Rotation Angle Direction, From, To, Value (Volume Knob image, Wind

direction, etc.) Transparency/Opacity

Relevance (Distance = Fog) Overlaying information / Heads up Displays

DropShadows and Glow Effects Clarity at small scales and overlaying

What more dimensions add... Faster Comprehension:

= better understanding of software purpose better following of instructions (fewer

errors) Less need for reaching for the help doc

A help doc is – by definition – a declaration of UI Design failure. = More productivity

More Fun / Engaging: = Less zoning out (ie, fewer errors) = More word of mouth

more free marketing More involved feedback = fresh ideas