Re: ZynAddSubFX Usability Survey

[Louigi Verona <louigi.verona@xxxxxxxxx>]

I did submit the survey, but I would like to add a note here too.

The most important thing to understand before any UI project is what the goal is. And although it sounds really obvious, in reality it is much harder than one thinks.

The term "usability" is generic enough and the amount of use cases for a software synth like ZynAddSubFX is large. Most cases, though, can be divided into two big sections: musician and sound designer. Musician is the one who switches between presets and maybe tweaks several simple parameters, whereas sound designer is the one who goes through every parameter on the synth and creates original presets with the synth. Obviously, a person can be both a designer and a musician, but use cases are nevertheless different.

So, in order to understand how to do, you have to understand why you are doing it and list

1. Use cases (in other words, for which type of user do you want to increase usability, could be for both, but it has to be clearly stated)

2. Exactly what right now stands in the way of achieving the goals of users.

A quick breakdown, just to give an idea, please note I am just improvising on the fly:

Use cases

1. Musician

1.1 As musician, I want to be able to access presets bank and be able to switch presets without having to see

1.2 As musician, I want to be able to work with Zyn without being exposed to controls I do not need

1.3 As musician, I want to be able to quickly access certain sections, like effects and volume envelope or whatever research shows is required, without being exposed to controls I do not need and to do it with less clicks as possible

2. Sound designer

2.1 As sound designer, I want to be able to work with parameters grouped by their function

2.2 As sound designer, I would like to be able to quickly grasp the difference between presets at a glance

etc.

And then, when you have these things written out, you should look at the current design and see what is lacking.

The UI mockups have actually many good decisions and some things I believe need more work. Will say from the get go, I couldn't care less about the colors. Colors are usually not difficult to change later on, so this should not be a big issue, in my view.

There are things I like about the mockups:

- there is a clear desire to have everything on one screen and not have multiple windows

- same point, but expanded: presets are on the same screen, without the need to open a separate window and the keyboard seems to be there too

- grouping of parameters is nice and visual

Things I believe need a little more analysis:

- mockups seem to differ (apart from colors) by the type of controls - in one cases it is a Knob Universe, in the other it is the Slider Universe. I think there is a good case to be made for the use of both. Look at what the control is doing and see if you can save space by introducing a slider instead of a knob and vice versa. Also, sliders that are backwards are generally more confusing than those that are vertical, especially for things like envelopes, simply due to the fact that most known synths have them this way

- how do envelopes work? I see a graph, but I also see knobs over it. Does it make sense to save space by making envelopes in tabs, like it is done in Sytrus?

- have you considered other layouts? Why do you find this layout most efficient and how does it work for the use cases? Will the layout fit into the screen? Is it intended for live work (a possible other use case)

This is a lot of work, but it might be worth it. And I love the fact that you have a survey here, I think this is a great idea and your user-centric approach might very well pay off! But I would encourage you to look at big synths out there, because each of them embodies many-many surveys done by those companies and there is no reason not to use that knowledge ;)

Anyway, hope my notes were useful and maybe someone else will add the many things I missed.

Cheers!

Louigi.

On Thu, Apr 28, 2016 at 9:06 PM, Thorsten Wilms <self@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 28.04.2016 15:11, Mark McCurry wrote:

As a next major step for the project is a full rewrite of the UI, replacing
the current junk-drawer of knobs with a much easier to navigate and explore
interface based off of a mockup by Budislav Stepanov [1][2].

Those mockups seem to speak of a fear of colors ... or a lame attempt at looking futuristic. I once had a classmate with a tendency to create blue layouts of blue elements on blue. Came out he had red-green deficient vision.

Color can and should be used as additional means of indicating state and/or structure (grouping).

The flatty flatness makes one wonder if a widget is a command button or toggle or a tab, what is selected vs activated. Once everyone is through with the fads of first taking skeuomorphism to the extreme, then minimalism (actually call that deficitism), could we perhaps enjoy a sane middle-ground?

I do not see anything that would guide a user regarding the overall structure of Zyn, it's all trees, no forest. From what I recall from my brief look at that beast years ago, that's admittedly a tough job.


--
Thorsten Wilms

thorwil's design for free software:
http://thorwil.wordpress.com/

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--

Louigi Verona
http://www.louigiverona.com/

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