HCI Heuristics
Representativeness heuristic: People make assumptions about things based on how they perceive them and how those objects are presented
Design principle: Emphasis, creating a focal point of a design and ordering the rest of the elements based on importance
Application: The first thing the user will see is the circuit board, and then they will see the elements that go on it
Affect: People make choices based on their emotions at that moment.
Design principle: Learnability, how easy is it for people to learn how to use the product
Application: Make it easy for a user to undo an action, keeping the signs with instructions easily accessible after they pass through a level, (works to prevent frustration, making the user enjoy the game more)
Anchoring: Tending to be more influenced by what we learn first
Design principle: Hierarchy, guiding the users eye with the way elements are arranged (very similar to emphasis)
Application: Teach the user the simple things first as opposed to everything at once so that they remember the basic concepts of circuitry and can apply them later.
When you started with Representativeness, I thought you were going to reference how you’ve designing circuit features into a familiar environment of a room or space, with a floor, doors, and objects to manipulate. But, to make it engaging and interesting, you stretch the roles played by those highly representative objects. The floor becomes a circuitboard, the objects become conductors, etc.