Ecological interface design (EID) is an approach to interface design that was introduced specifically for complex sociotechnical, real-time, and dynamic systems. It has been applied in a variety of domains including process control (e.g. nuclear power plants, petrochemical plants), aviation, and medicine.
EID differs from some interface design methodologies like user-centered design (UCD) in that the focus of the analysis is on the work domain or environment, rather than on the end user or a specific task.
The goal of EID is to make constraints and complex relationships in the work environment perceptually evident (e.g. visible, audible) to the user. This allows more of users' cognitive resources to be devoted to higher cognitive processes such as problem solving and decision making. EID is based on two key concepts from cognitive engineering and cognitive systems engineering research: the Abstraction Hierarchy (AH) and the Skills, Rules, Knowledge (SRK) framework.
By reducing mental workload and supporting knowledge-based reasoning, EID aims to improve user performance and overall system reliability for both anticipated and unanticipated events in a complex system.