Case Study: Expert Evaluations of Complex UIs - Cross-Cultural Human-Computer Interaction and User Experience Design - page 59

Symbols.
The users are addressed by symbols pertaining to the user domain. In this case, the
application icon and splash screen of Adobe Photoshop feature a colorful feather. The
connotations are elegance, simplicity, and naturalness, which one would expect from
a professional tool. What might break the expectation, however, is the historical usage
of the image that symbolizes a writing pen. The other screens (and toolbars) are very
compact and gray. The menus are only text-based, whereas the toolbar has only icons
(with a textual label). The icons in the toolbar are related to their object in different
ways but are connected to the prevailing metaphor and follow the application genre
conventions.
Syntax.
The system processes are constituted by UI language components, as described earlier.
In the interaction transcript, we can find all the elements mentioned. There are basic
lexemes (“click,” “option-click”), interaction sentences (“Open the picture to adjust”),
rhetorical tropes (e.g., metaphors, such as “Healing brush”), and interaction games
(these are the complete functions enabling us to accomplish our goal, e.g., “Eliminate
an object”). The designer's narration element is found in the tool-tip help reinforcing
the icon meaning, in the status bar of the window or a dialog window for which
help is given by instructions regarding use of the tool and in other dialog windows,
which presents the user with different choices. Finally, in the Help menu, the text
comprehensively describes the program functions.
Rhetorical tropes.
Perhaps the most prominent of the rhetorical tropes in this context is the metaphor. The
program metaphor builds upon the metaphor of a painter's canvas or photographer's
studio. The product tries to transfer the environment into the present paradigm. There-
fore, the image is placed on a “canvas,” the pointer changes to different “brushes,” the
user can further apply different optical “filters,” or use a choice of retouching “tools.”
By applying this approach, a number of inconsistencies emerge, which force users
to twist or update their interpretation of the metaphor. The canvas, for example, is
in fact infinite and can be resized in different ways at any time. The picture “lying”
on the canvas can consist of infinite layers. Almost any tool can be customized using
the “brush” metaphor: one can modify the thickness, shape, or profile of the brush.
A filter can be used afterwards, applied as a part of retouching. More fundamentally,
time can be manipulated also through the “undo” function that steps back through the
history of actions.
Interaction phases.
On the level of interaction sentence, the interaction changes to reflect the constant
evaluation of results on the user's part. The interaction sentence is then modified
or repeated accordingly. Considering the example from the transcripts, the action is
modified after the system's feedback (when clicking on the object to eliminate with
the healing tool the user is instructed to option-click on the source first), the action is