Widget design as a guide to information modeling

Abstract

A typical approach in software design is to create the information model first, and subsequently build a user interface (or view) to expose and allow interaction with that information model. A drawback of this approach is that the information model is often complicated and non-intuitive to the users of the application and to the consumers of that information. Applications whose function is primarily display or search are not typically hindered by non-intuitive information models; a customer searching for an airline ticket or an online movie will be sufficiently motivated to muddle through and learn the system by trial-and-error. Applications which are designed for data curation, however, cannot afford to have either an enigmatic information model or a confusing user interface. This poster discusses results of an iterative approach to information modeling, in which rapid prototyping of graphical user interfaces is used to augment the information modeling process. The domain of biomolecular nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy is highlighted in this study.