Ada Lovelace the world’s first computer programmer, a pioneer in computer work, a visionary in the use of machines to achieve supercomputing power, and a great mathematician.
Lillian Moller Gilbreth, who was the first expert to combine industry and psychology, as I understand it, is a bit like what we now refer to in the notion of UX as what people will think because it’s for people who use it.
One is to promote the birth of hardware conditions, and the other is to promote the birth of human-centered psychological speculation for the sake of people together can also be said to be the early days of interaction.
Ada Lovelace is important to know about because she wrote the first algorithm and computer code. Creating a program that computed Bernoulli numbers was also Ada’s idea. She was inspired by punch card weavers that were used to mechanize the weaving process. Ada also wrote about the details of programming the Analytical Engine. She was extremely in depth, writing about what was possible to compute and what was impractical. Ada was extremely ahead of her time, having ideas about the potential of computers long before computers existed.
Lillian Gilbreth and her husband, Frank Gilbreth, used film to help workers interact with machines. After Frank died, Lilian continued her work and helped make kitchens more user friendly and accessible for women. Her work revolved around helping people and human psychology. Lilian was the first woman in the Society of Industrial Engineers, in the National Academy of Engineering, and the first woman to win the Hoover Medal. She is important to know about because of her improvements to the world, as well as her accomplishments as a woman in a field dominated by men.
In the video “A Discussion with Professor Terry Winograd of Stanford,” Professor Terry Winograd shares his research experience in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and his insights into the future of technology.
Professor Winograd emphasized the importance of user-centered design. He pointed out that understanding the user’s needs is crucial before designing any product. This fits well with what we learned in our Human-Computer Interaction course: always prioritizing the user experience.
The professor also discussed the advancements in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and its application in HCI. This made me excited about the future direction of interaction design as well. Interaction design will face more opportunities and challenges with the continuous development of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, and other technologies. We need to actively explore the application of these new technologies in interaction design to create a richer and more immersive interaction experience for users.
Prof. Winograd’s arguments made me reflect on some of my problems in design and the direction of my learning. I have often focused too much on visual design and interaction patterns in my studies and neglected the impact of design on the whole social ecosystem; Prof. Winograd reminded me that we are designing a product or service for users and a new way of life or interaction. At the same time, I started to think about the social responsibility of design, and Prof. Winograd’s point of view made me realize that interaction design is not just about providing users with an easy interface but also about solving real social problems and making design have a positive impact on society.
Ada Lovelace and Lillian Gilbreth created a foundation for the development of modern design and technology. They also had a profound impact on user experience and human-computer interaction.
Ada Lovelace as the first programmer, not only translated Charles Babbage’s 19th-century machine’s operation but also added her annotations. She included an important algorithm, which is considered the first computer program. This algorithm demonstrated that the machine could process not only numbers but also symbols and logic, i.e., any form of data. This algorithm showed the possibility of the future of computers and played an important role in the subsequent development of computer science.
Lillian Gilbreth is an industrial psychologist. She emphasized the importance of human factors in design. Thus, she gave a principle to user interface design, focusing on user needs, comfort, and efficiency.
Significance to IXD:
Both women exemplify the concept of user-centered design. Both Lovelace’s vision of the potential uses of computers and Gilbreth’s ergonomics study emphasize understanding the end user’s needs and behaviors. This fits well with one of IXD’s core characteristics, User-Centered Design (UCD).
Their work spans various disciplines, from mathematics and engineering to psychology and sociology. This interdisciplinary approach is one of the core features of IXD, the Multidisciplinary Approach, and this fusion of multiple disciplines makes for a more holistic and in-depth approach to design.
Understanding Ada Lovelace and Lillian Gilbreth not only helps us understand the origin and development of IXD, but also emphasizes the importance of considering human factors in the design process, which is crucial to creating more humane and efficient interactive experiences.
I compared the icons in Google Maps to Egyptian hieroglyphics. For Google Maps, some of the icons are obvious while others are more confusing. The microphone icon seems straightforward, since I associate a microphone symbol with verbal speech. This icon is a button that lets the user search with their voice. This concept is easy for me to recognize, however that’s only because I know what a microphone is. Microphones also come in different shapes and sizes, so it may not be as clear that the icon is a microphone unless the user is aware of what a typical microphone icon looks like. The microphone icon is a metaphor since the user doesn’t actually have a microphone that looks like it on their phone. The icon is just communicating the idea of a microphone.
The Egyptian hieroglyphic that I chose is ouroboros. This represents a cycle of life and rebirth. It looks like a serpent eating its tail and forming a circle, creating the eternal cycle of life and rebirth. Ouroboros was not obvious to me, because I am not used to seeing this symbol. To understand the symbol, background information about Egyptian mythology must be known. The serpent eating its tail is a metaphor for the eternal cycle.
Background information must be known in order to understand both the microphone icon and the Ouroboros hieroglyphic. I understood the concepts needed to understand the microphone, however I lacked them for the Ouroboros hieroglyphic. Icons only seem obvious and intuitive if a person has the background concepts to understand them. Both symbols use simplistic imagery to depict more complex concepts.
The two sets of objects I’ve chosen to compare are hieroglyphs from the Mayan culture and icons from a weather app.
1.What’s being communicated?
They both mean “water” and “eyes”.
2.What concepts need to be learned?
The Mayans may have thought they looked like this symbol in the old days and recorded it.
But it means more than the icon in the app; water doesn’t just mean water it also means expected rainfall in the future. And the eyes are not just eyes, they also represent visibility in this case.
3.What metaphors are being used?
I’m guessing that the water in the Mayan script is more in the style of a splash, and the text representing the eye I can slightly interpret as an eye surrounded by a lot of eyelashes surrounding the eye.
The icons in the weather forecast are relatively easy to understand, with the shape of a water drop and the shape of an eye.
This is the “Speak” icon in Google Map, used for inputing user’s voice to the search bar to find a location, it literally looks like a microphone using really simple elements to be express the concept of “Speak”, like most of the modern “Speak” icons. When people see this icon and notice that it’s a microphone, they will understand this icon stands for “Speak” because microphone is the metaphor of talking.
This Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol actually has more than one meanings. It can also represent “eat”, “drink”, “think”, “be silent”, “love”, etc. These meanings are conjectured based on the character’s pose, which is is one knee on the ground and one arm up closing to his mouth. I believe that this symbol tries to express something connect with mouth and head since he is raising arm and being close to his mouth, so all behaviors related with mouth and head can be the possible right answer.
When we look at these two “Speak” icons in different culture backgrounds, they actually don’t really have an obvious similarity. The Google Map “Speak” uses a universal tool that is the symbol of speaking and ancient Egyptians were more direct using a behavior to show the meaning of “Speak”.
This is “shuffle button” from Spotify. Crisscrossing arrows represents the randomization of song order. This icon is simple and intuitive, mainly because of the global familiarity with the symbol.For Spotify users, the learning curve is short. However, the shuffle icon requires users to associate the crossed arrows with the concept of randomness, which may not be obvious to first-time users, but is quickly learned. Even for those users who are not tech savvy.
The Mayan system of writing contains more than 800 characters, including some that are hieroglyphic and other phonetic signs representing syllables. The metaphors used in these pictographs often required cultural and religious knowledge to fully understand.
Spotify’s icons are highly simplified, abstract, and easy to understand, designed for a global, digital audience.Mayan hieroglyphs conveyed more complex and culturally specific ideas, often requiring a deeper understanding of the society’s symbols and language. While both systems rely on visual communication, the level of learning and cultural background required to fully understand Mayan hieroglyphics is much higher.
Before I had thought about why we can understand icons very easily, it’s insane. In my opinion, icons are words too. They are hieroglyphics. Today, I want to talk about the icon in Amazon — “User“
As you can see, this icon wants to let us know he/ she is a human. You can see this human’s head and half of his/ her body. So, you can identify quickly. However, why we can understand it so fast? Let’s look back and see how ancient people write the word “Human” or “Man/ Woman”
After we watched this, we found it similar to the real person. Also, they have the same head and half of body just like the icon we have seen just now. In my opinion, Sumerian alphabets are close to intuition. If we want to let people understand these icons, we should make them simple and close to intuition. Just like this icon and these two words. On the other words, if people can identify an icon very fast and accurately, that meaning is a good icon.
Moreover, the word means man and woman, and man and woman can be understood as human beings. And humans can be understood by us as “I”. Therefore, there’s a similarity between the icon and the words.
One of the most popular mapping software is Google maps which has many modern images and icons. In contrast to ancient hieroglyphics, they are also forms of visual shorthand. Ancient writing, especially Sumerian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphics, required learning complex associations and meanings associated with culture and language, since literacy was one of the privileges of the nobility.
The following images show the most popular symbols used by Google maps (you can find them elsewhere in your daily life)
Iconography in Google Maps
1. Location Pin Icon
2. Directions Icon
Comparison with Egyptian Hieroglyphics
Egyptian hieroglyphics
Sumerian cuneiform
Location Pin Icon vs. Egyptian Hieroglyph for “Place”
Hieroglyph Appearance: The hieroglyph for “place” or “location” is often a symbol representing a location or a place, sometimes shown as a knotted rope or other
Different: Both icons communicate the concept of a specific location. The location pin is more modern and abstract, while the Egyptian hieroglyph uses a more direct, symbolic representation.
Directions Icon vs. Egyptian Hieroglyph for “Movement”
Hieroglyph Appearance: The hieroglyph for movement or direction might depict a walking figure or a symbol indicating travel.
different: Both icons are used to convey the idea of direction and movement. The Google Maps direction icon uses a straightforward modern metaphor (an arrow), while Egyptian hieroglyphs might use more complex symbols to represent similar concepts.
Summary
Both Google Maps icons and Egyptian hieroglyphs are designed to convey specific information—location and direction. Modern icons use simplified, abstract symbols that are familiar to contemporary users, while Egyptian hieroglyphs rely on more culturally and historically specific symbols. Both systems were effective in their respective eras and technologies, but they reflected different approaches to visual communication and symbolism.
Both systems are effective in their respective times and technologies, but they reflect different approaches to visual communication and symbolism.
Ancient texts/symbols were often more complex than today’s abstracted icons. However, there were also some graphics whose appearance did not change much, still presented in a relatively simple and similar shape. At the same time, the meanings they represent may have changed or increased.
A simple example is “star”:
As you can see, the star in Egyptian hieroglyphics is elementary and intuitive. The pictographic characters of “star” are usually used to represent the night sky, the existence of gods, and eternal celestial bodies. Its shape is often a simple pentagon or hexagon, used to symbolize the stars in the sky, and has symbolic significance in religion and cosmology. This symbol carries profound ideas about the order of the universe and divine power and is part of the Egyptian religious and philosophical system.
And in Application “Instagram”, the star icon symbolizes what post you are truly a favorite. It conveys the meaning of “special” and “worthy of attention”, usually used for special markings.
“Star” presents a simple and easily recognizable shape with pentagonal or hexagonal symmetry in any civilization. At the same time, stars are used to mark or emphasize particularly important things: stars in the physical sense, gods in philosophy and religious systems; And the added meaning of “special attention” in modern times. They are all special, important, and highlighted.
Icon Description: An icon is usually a simplified graphic of a lens in a rectangular box, sometimes with a small dot of a shutter button. This icon expresses the function of “taking a photo” or “photography.”
Message: The camera icon conveys a simple and clear message to users. Clicking this icon opens the camera app, and users can take a photo or record a video.
Concepts to learn: Users do not need to learn unique concepts to understand the meaning of the camera icon because its design is based on the simplified appearance of a real-life camera.
Egyptian hieroglyphics： Eye symbol (𓂀)
Symbol Description: In Egyptian hieroglyphics, the most famous Eye symbol (𓂀) variant is the Eye of Horus, also known as Wadjet. The symbol is usually represented as an eye with a curved line next to it, symbolizing tears.
Message: In ancient Egyptian culture, the Eye of Horus represented protection, healing, restoration, and perfection. It is often considered a talisman that protects the wearer from evil forces. The eye is often endowed with the power of observation and insight, and it is seen as a symbol of wisdom and insight.
Concepts to learn: Understanding the meaning of the Eye of Horus requires understanding ancient Egyptian mythology and the related historical context. Horus was a vital deity whose eye was lost and repaired in a battle with Set; thus, the symbol symbolizes healing and rebirth.
Comparison & Contrast
Form: Both the camera icon and the Eye of Horus are highly visual symbols, but the camera icon is more modern and abstract, while the Eye of Horus is full of cultural symbolism.
Purpose: The camera icon is functional, while the Eye of Horus is a symbolic symbol used as an amulet or decoration.
Message conveyed: The camera icon instructs users to take a photo or open the camera application. The Eye of Horus conveys vision and insight as well as spiritual or supernatural protection and blessing.
Cultural background: The design of the camera icon is based on the needs of modern society and technological progress. At the same time, the Eye of Horus is rooted in ancient Egypt’s religious and cultural traditions.
Ease of use: The camera icon is intuitive and can be understood without explanation. At the same time, the meaning of the Eye of Horus requires knowledge of a particular cultural background to fully understand.
One of the most popular communication apps, WhatsApp, has many modern iconographies. In comparison of the ancient writing system, they are also forms of visual shorthand. The ancient scripts especially the cuneiform from Sumerian, required learning complex associations and meanings tied to culture and language, maybe even the requirement of well-education (as writing is not a common skill in ancient society).
The following pictures show the symbol of WhatsApp and the most popular ones that it uses(and you can find them in other places in normal life)
And take the look of how the ancient Egyptians and ancient Sumerians language:
If we let a person draw the icon of WhatsApp and the one of the pattern of these two ancient language–the fist one should take less time, and that is because the modern design especially the iconographies are tend to be accessible to a global audience, which means to be as clear and simple as possible to be recognized.
Take a look of this example from 1-1 comparison between the “profile” icon from WhatsApp and the pattern stands for “people” from ancient Egyptian.
and this is the icon stands for “you”, or “me”, or “human”
And here’s the language the ancient Egypts used for people:
Modern app icons like the example from WhatsApp are designed for intuitive, universal understanding. The metaphors in WhatsApp are simple and derived from everyday objects, making them accessible to a global audience. In contrast, ancient scripts like hieroglyphics or cuneiform were deeply tied to the cultural and religious contexts of their time, requiring a deeper level of learning and understanding.
The history of interaction design is a tangled web of other disciplines—human factors, industrial design, psychology, sociology, human-computer interaction coming out of computer science, graphic design, instructional design, technical writing, animation, engineering efficiency and other technical and artistic backgrounds.
This course will touch on multiple aspects of these backgrounds to help tell the story of how interaction design has evolved, often in parallel to technical advances in computers and the internet.
I wrote in last year’s opening post: “While my intent is to cover the major milestones, I am over-emphasizing the voices of women to counter the ubiquitousness of the myth of the white male genius. Additionally, I am attempting to make this NOT a story of only Silicon Valley, but of these disciplines and industries as a whole, across a swath of geography. Although I admit this is mostly western culture centered—except for brief mentions of the first cases of moveable type and the invention of paper coming from China and Korea. While attempting to not focus on SV, I recognize that there are major milestones and inventions that came out of the unique brew of the valley and we will be discussing those as well.
It’s been interesting to get to the point in IXD history where the Internet starts to take over. This is the history of my own career; of the people I have worked with over the years, all coming from different paths and disciplines.
It’s an interesting perspective to look back over the last 30 years of history and realize that the work I have been doing all these years is all rolled up into this evolution of a single practice from many, and that my journey is the history of IXD—from BBS’s to Kodak touchscreens to AOL Greenhouse to Adobe’s first website to Elon Musk’s first startup (Zip2) to the dot com boom of AltaVista Live! the portal to the great bust and being laid off and back to AOL then Yahoo! to platforms and patterns and products and websites and software as a service to social apps and helping startups take advantage of mobile and cross media delivery and finally to working with the ADL to map and model the systems of online hate.
I am like many of the thousands of working designers, writers, researchers, psychologists, and anthropologists drawn into this practice BECAUSE of the fact that it touches on so many disciplines to become it’s own thing and because when we started, we got to make the whole thing up as we went along—refining and iterating to see what worked and what didn’t—and in our own way, we designed our way into a solid profession.”
