When everyone can understand: how to design for experts and novices

We invited Sarah Rosenbaum to NITH to talk about designing information that both experts and novices can use. Rosenbaum had combined design and research at the Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services since 2004 and completed a PhD at AHO in 2010 on improving the user experience of evidence in health care. Earlier she co-designed the visual identity and sports pictograms for the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics and co-founded the design firms Bergsnov, Mellbye and Rosenbaum and Making Waves.

Her starting point was that experts quickly find what matters in a document because their knowledge is well organised, while novices can be overwhelmed sorting through everything, leading to misunderstandings, mistakes and delays.

She covered presenting information in layers for different audiences, formatting long reports so they are easier to understand, and varying how content is presented so that more people can use it.

Speakers

• Sarah Rosenbaum, Designer and researcher, Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services; PhD, AHO (2010) — When everyone can understand: how to design for experts and novices

The original event page is on meetup.com.