This weeks lecture covered Micro interactions which is something I have been researching the past week so I already have a pretty good understanding of them. A Micro interaction is something what gives feedback and ‘does something’ in a UI. It helps the user understand what is going on by giving them feedback. Feedback can include a colour change, small animation (for example a bounce effect), sound or even haptics (vibrations).

Micro animations are nice as they commonly use progressive enhancement, meaning they hide things away and make things available when needed. This makes a much simpler experience for any user as this benefits people who are great with technology and people who are not as familiar. The example was that Micro interactions are like little golden eggs, they help the user but dont shout about it. Designs can become quite difficult so a micro interaction is the sweet spot to hide content nicely.

An example of a mirco interaction is a loading bar which can be used for loading a page or downloading a update. This is so all users know that something is happening as if there was no loading bar it will just be a dark screen and no one would know if anything is happening.

However I thought of the Apple IOS updates, while it does have a bar it does not display the percentage or other information to the user (for example how long is left) which is a pain point for me.

Sounds and visuals in interactions as well ad branding is good for both interaction feedback and also brand identity. For example sound in feedback and include audio when the user likes a post or refreshes a page, this greatly boosts the users understanding of what is going on in a UI. Secondly is brand identity such as the McDonald's whistle which everyone knows or the Jet2 Holiday advert/song which was even a TikTok trend for a while.

The components of a Micro interaction include:

• Trigger which is the start of the interaction.
• Rules which occurs after the trigger using a logical flow. (For example what happens after the user clicks a red dot notification).
• Feedback - can be visual, Haptic (Vibration), movement. (for example when you switch the silent button on a iPhone it vibrates).
• Loops and modes

In the lecture it said before begining micro interactions I should first understand the purpose of the micro interaction, what do you need it to do for what reason. We were also told to think how micro interactions could be improved and if they contain anything unnecessary which can be distracting for the user.

To create a nice micro interaction I must first understand user needs, for example a login flow can tell the user whats wrong with your password. It gives immediate feedback to address the issue. It is also recommended to focus on simplicity, for example a YouTube like goes from white to grey once clicked (liked).