Blog 9

The design advice Hoekman gives in Chapter 7 is all essentially oriented around Theme 4 "providing for ease of learning", specifically focused through uniformity, consistency, and meaning in particular. Hoekman states that all of these aforementioned design elements contribute to the greater overall theme of simple 'obvious design' and, in particular in terms of ease of learning, help users form a mental model (which we've learned allows for easy, relatable learning focused on something in the 'real world' that users already understand rather than usually more technologically advanced programmer/designer centered ideas getting in the way of the user easily performing the task with admittedly more limited, but sufficient knowledge of what's going on) which enables them to be productive without having to really think about how the application really works.

When I switched my IU email account to Umail (Gmail) I remember thinking pretty much immediately upon seeing the layout that it seemed a lot easier to use as well as nicer to look at. When you're in your account's inbox there is limited "chrome" allowing for the actual content, in this case emails, to be the focus. The links within the site are all uniform and straight-forward in terms of their function, without one seeming to really visually overpower another. I feel like the elements of Umail's layout exemplify many of Hoekman's design ideas stated in Chapter 7 along with the idea of Theme 4.