The Anatomy of HCI Design Patterns

Human-Computer Interaction design patterns became an often-used tool in the HCI community to encapsulate and share design knowledge. A good design pattern consists of several different components. There are the content elements, which encapsulate the description of the problem, context and solution. Relationships between patterns are an essential part to best profit from the full reuse potential promised. Categorization of patterns helps to navigate more effectively within large pattern repositories, and formalization of HCI patterns provides the possibility to use them in software applications such as pattern management tools or user interface design tools. This work gives a brief overview of the above-mentioned components.