Multimedia applications have significant markets in education, training, although dialogue in many systems is restricted to drill and quiz interaction and simple navigation.

Design for multimedia user interfaces CUI expand conventional definitions of usability into five concern:

- Operational usability : Operational usability is the conventional sense of usability that concerns design of graphical icons, metaphors and navigation in hypermedia.

- Information delivery : Information delivery is a prime concern for multimedia or any information intense application, and raises issues of metastases integration and design for attention.

- Learning training and education : Learning training and education are both important markets for multimedia and hence learn ability of the product and its content are key quality attributes.

- Utility : In some application, this will be functionality that support users task in others, information delivery and learning will represent the value perceived by the user.

- Engagement and attractiveness : The attractiveness of multimedia is now a key factor especially for websites. multimedia interface have to attract users and deliver a stimulating user experience, as well as being easy to use and learn.

- Message : The content of communication between a sender and receiver.

- Medium (plural media) : The means by which that content is delivered. there is adverse action between perceived mode and physical media such as CD-ROM, hard disk, etc.

- Modality : The sense by which a message is sent or received by people or machines. Two principal modalities are used in Human-computer communication.

- Vision - All information received through our eyes, including text and image based media.

- Hearing: All information received through our ears as sound, music and speech.

fig (1) gives an overview of the design process that addresses these issues.

fig (1) Multimedia design process DFD

Design approaches in multimedia tend to be interactive and user centered, story boards are a well known means of informal model in multimedia design.

fig (2) The matrix map for a healthcare promotion application.

The requirement is to convince people of the dangers of heart disease. The theme is a persuader argument that first tries to convince people of the dangers of heart disease from smoking, poor diet, stresses lifestyle, etc. then convince them of ways to improve their lifestyle to prevent heart disease, followed by reinforcing the message with the benefits if a healthy lifestyle such as lower health insurance, saving money, longer life, etc. sub themes are embedded at different points so users can explore the facts behind heart disease the statistics and their exposure, how to get help etc. The outcome of information architecture analysis will be an information enhanced task model, a thematic map or a hierarchy network to show the structure and relationships of information categories.

Media design for user engagement : Multimedia design is frequently motivated by the need to attract users attention and to make the user experience interesting and engaging, these considerations may contract some of the earlier guidelines because the design objective is to place the user and capture their attention rather than deliver information effectively, first a health warning should be noted : The old saying : " beauty is in the eye of the beholder " has good foundation.