Semiotic engineering and people
The study and application of semiotic engineering to improve user interface interaction between people or environment and machine is important. As systems become either complex or simple depending on use case, good semiotic engineering will cover the gap between user input and machine output. When we look at conventional or legacy systems and their semiotic approach, we’ve seen some good designs and bad designs. Devices and tools that are intuitive simply direct the user to where they need to be and the desired outcome, whereas devices that put buttons or instructions in vague places to achieve a manufacturing goal do not. This being said, it’s also important to note that human factors engineering, ergonomics and aesthetics play a collaborative role in semiotics, but also understanding the product owners skill set is key to reaching a better design.
When we look at different engineering endeavors from consumer grade products to commercial grade solutions, we know semiotics must evolve to facilitate each use case accordingly. The communication and desired input from the user should correlate to the correctly understood output from the system. Where does semiotics play a role in this? Semiotics engineering can always be improved because use cases change continuously, user inputs evolve over time, and systems must be updated routinely. The level of details between a qualitative semiotic system and quantitative semiotics system can be seen in:
- How self explanatory that system is.
- Communication and response time between user input and system output. Keep in mind that sometimes speed shouldn’t be the outlying factor.
- How visually dynamic and responsive UI and usability are.
- How well machine learning is designed within the system to repeat historical actions to simplify daily repetitive use.
- How well the system knows it’s user and their abilities in relation to task.
In semiotics, the ability for the system to understand the user or the environment where it’s deployed is essential in providing a fluid experience in use; an example of this can be seen with current smart thermostats, lighting systems, sprinkler systems, or legacy systems in power generation and energy transportation. However, there is always room for improvement as people and the environment change and note that the perfect system won’t always be about about speed, but rather comfort as knowledge transfer and implementation can improve or regress by person or place. It will be interesting to see how these systems change in the coming years as new things come out where designers will implement a better semiotic flight plan.