Tracing the evolution of HCI patterns as an interaction design tool

Design patterns have been introduced as a medium to capture and disseminate the best design knowledge and practices. In the field of human–computer interaction, practitioners and researchers have explored different avenues to use patterns and pattern languages as design tools. This paper surveys these avenues—from individual pattern use for solving a specific design problem, to pattern-oriented design, which guides designers in building a conceptual design by leveraging relationships between patterns. One of our underlying goals is to investigate how patterns can be used, not only to foster the reuse of proven and valid design solutions, but also as a central artefact in the process of deriving a design from user experiences and requirements. We will present our investigations on pattern-based design, and discuss how user experiences can be incorporated in the pattern selection process through the use of user variables, pattern attributes and associated relationships.     

A Qualitative Design Approach for Exploring the Use of Medication and Health Care Devices among Elderly Persons

An academia–industry collaborative research project regarding design for elderly persons was initiated to investigate their living needs and potential design opportunities for new technologies and products. In the first year, a qualitative design approach for exploring their use of medication and health care devices was proposed. First, a user study was conducted using self‐reporting, observation, and interview methods. Four personas representing different lifestyle patterns of elderly persons were then derived from the user study data. Finally, four designers were invited to present and synthesize their design ideas for those personas. Results showed that the user study could reveal considerable information and that the persona method was effective for designers to communicate their ideas and concentrate on user requirements. The study findings suggested that, for design for elderly persons, social and affective factors can be considered with decline in age‐related abilities. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Impact of Tangible User Interfaces on Designers' Spatial Cognition

ABSTRACT

Most studies on tangible user interfaces for the tabletop design systems are being undertaken from a technology viewpoint. Although there have been studies that focus on the development of new interactive environments employing tangible user interfaces for designers, there is a lack of evaluation with respect to designers' spatial cognition. In this research we study the effects of tangible user interfaces on designers' spatial cognition to provide empirical evidence for the anecdotal views of the effect of tangible user interfaces. To highlight the expected changes in spatial cognition while using tangible user interfaces, we compared designers using a tangible user interface on a tabletop system with 3D blocks to designers using a graphical user interface on a desktop computer with a mouse and keyboard. The ways in which designers use the two different interfaces for 3D design were examined using a protocol analysis method. The result reveals that designers using 3D blocks perceived more spatial relationships among multiple objects and spaces and discovered new visuo-spatial features when revisiting their design configurations. The designers using the tangible interfaces spent more time in relocating objects to different locations to test the moves, and interacted with the external representation through large body movements implying an immersion in the design model. These two physical actions assist in designers' spatial cognition by reducing cognitive load in mental visual reasoning. Further, designers using the tangible interfaces spent more time in restructuring the design problem by introducing new functional issues as design requirements and produced more discontinuities to the design processes, which provides opportunity for reflection and modification of the design. Therefore this research shows that tangible user interfaces changes designers' spatial cognition, and the changes of the spatial cognition are associated with creative design processes.     

基于人物角色的用户建模研究

在以用户为中心的软件设计中,需要通过对用户建模来明确和分析用户,了解用户的特定需求.介绍用户建模的相关概念,阐述基于人物角色的用户建模原理、详细介绍基于人物角色的用户建模过程,指出人物角色在以用户为中心的软件设计过程中的应用.     

A goal-oriented,ontology-based methodology to support the design of AAL environments

One of the most critical issues in Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) is the design of systems that can evolve to meet the requirements of individuals as their needs and health conditions change. Although much work has been done on home and building automation systems for AAL, often referred to as assistive domotics, there is in fact still a substantial lack of solutions capable to support system designers in the early stage of development of such assistive systems. To this aim, the work contributes to the research on design of assistive domotic systems by presenting an ontology-driven methodology aimed to guide the development process. The novel contributions of the paper include the goal-oriented approach of the methodology, which involves the elicitation and analysis of AAL requirements and their formal representation in an ontology, where high-level goals are described in terms of subgoals and tasks, that are then linked to corresponding measures and devices. Moreover, logic-based reasoning enables more advanced functionalities useful at design time. We present a validation of the methodology showing typical use cases both related to the development from scratch of a domotic system with assistive capabilities starting from a set of high-level user requirements and the redesign of existing implementations according to changed requirements.     

Using Personas to Support Augmentative Alternative Communication Device Design: A Validation and Evaluation Study

Interactive computing devices are increasingly being deployed to support individuals in improving and managing health, aging in place, and as assistive devices for those with functional limitations. Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) aids are devices that help individuals with speech impairments communicate. They are typically prescribed by clinicians (speech–language pathologists) based on a specific individual’s physical needs and disease classification. While personas have been used in the design of other consumer technologies, they have not been frequently deployed in the design of clinically oriented technologies, including AAC devices. Instead, a clinical/rehabilitation engineering approach to AAC design is typically used, focusing on the physical and symptomatic needs of a diverse group of individuals, and involving the consumer on the level of making feature recommendations and/or testing the technology near the end of the design and production process. To address this challenge, three personas of individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis were developed, intended for use in AAC device design. This article presents results from two studies which evaluated the personas. In the first study, personas were validated using an online survey of eight speech–language pathologists, and interviews of seven individuals with ALS that were not involved in the development of personas. In the second study, AAC device designers were asked to assess the potential utility of the personas for AAC device design. Results showed that developed personas had validity in representing individuals with ALS and that the personas would be useful for AAC device designers. The methods used can be extended for validation and assessment of personas developed for other purposes.     

A workstation approach to IC process and device design

IC designers are turning more and more to CAD tools to develop complex designs and to automate time-consuming tasks. Although there are a variety of integrated tools for many types of VLSI design, very few integrated systems have been built to address process and device design. Recognizing this need, researchers at MIT set out to define the requirements of a process and device design environment, implement a subset of these functions, and integrate the tools into a user-friendly design environment. As part of their work on creating a user-friendly environment, they developed the MASTIF workstation to provide graphic, window-oriented user interaction to process and device designers     

RE 05: Engineering Successful Products

At the Requirements Engineering conference series, researchers and practitioners exchange experiences, discuss problems, and propose solutions. The theme of RE 05--Engineering Successful Products--reflects the understanding that high-quality requirements are at the heart of successful products. To be successful, developers must understand the goals and needs of users, customers, and other stakeholders and must build products that address these goals.     

Present-ing the user: constructing the persona

Abstract

During the last few years personas has become an established design technique within the IT-design field. Using personas has proven itself as a valuable approach for designers to switch between a developer's perspective and a user's perspectivein the design process. The technique is claimed to help designers in keeping a clear focus and shaping a consistent user-interface by making ‘the user’ present in the design work. In this paper we report on a number of projects where we have elaborated on the persona approach for collaborative design. With the goalof creating ‘user presence’ in the design process, we have developed an approach building on a combination of ethnographic exploration, participatory inquiry, and collaborative design. This paper carries two interrelated points: the grounding of personasin existing practice; and the notion that ‘the user’ is created as an ongoing process throughout the design work.     

Sustainable innovation pathway for mechanical products by inducing characteristic parameters

Mechanical product design per experiences of designers consumes unproportionally high manpower and time, as well as requires high relevance of designers’ experiences. To address this issue and extend the specific design innovation for general application, innovation methods of mechanical products have become a hot research topic. However, the currently available innovation methods are limited to specific needs of the market, exhibiting the form of discrete solutions. Thus, the innovation process is not sustainable. To this gap, this study integrates the emerging digital twin technology with engineering innovation theory and knowledge reuse concepts to establish a systematic sustainable innovation pathway (SIP) by inducing characteristic parameters. The pathway spares the demands for designer’s relevant experiences and avail sustainability of existing innovation methods. The derivation of the current SIP can be divided into six steps. To start with, the existing mechanical products based on users and market requirements are analyzed to synthesize general functional requirements. The characteristic parameters corresponding to the functional requirements are derived in the second step. Characteristic parameters are then specified and the potential problems which may occur in the induction of characteristic parameters are preliminarily solved. Digital twin technology is engaged to dynamically induce characteristic parameters. During the induction process, variation of related parameters due to changes in characteristic parameters are monitored. The problems that arise in variation may suggest new schemes, which solutions indicate new innovation directions. Finally, the candidate schemes of mechanical products according to different needs are identified. The formulated innovation plan and direction are archived in a knowledge base to establish a retrievable solution that matches the SIP. The applicability of current SIP is demonstrated by innovative design exemplification of a parking space management system.     

A framework for designing sensor-based interactions to promote exploration and reflection in play

Sensor-based interactions are increasingly being used in the design of user experiences, ranging from the activation of controls to the delivery of ‘context-aware’ information in the home. The benefits of doing so include the ability to deliver relevant information to people at appropriate times and to enable ‘hands-free’ control. A downside, however, is that sensor control often displaces user control, resulting in the user not knowing how to or being able to control aspects of a system. While this can be frustrating in many situations, it provides new opportunities for enhancing or augmenting various kinds of activities, where uncertainty can be exploited to good effect. We describe how we designed an adventure game for young children that incorporated a number of sensor-based interactions. We also present a preliminary conceptual framework intended to help designers and researchers develop novel user experiences using sensor-based interactions. A set of concepts are provided that characterize salient aspects of the user experience involved in sensing together with a discussion of the core properties of sensor technologies.     

Understanding flow experience from users’ requirements

This paper argues that the concept of flow can be useful in gaining a better understanding of information system users’ flow experience. This paper applies this concept in the requirements development phase of an Internet protocol television e-learning service development project. The findings show that flow experience can be visualised and measured, and that there are differences in how users see and perceive different features. Some features are driven by more experiential needs, whereas others are driven by more task-oriented goals. The findings indicate that the users’ perceived flow experiences can already be measured during the early phases of information systems (IS) development projects without having a working prototype of the IS for testing. This enables practitioners to design IS that better facilitate flow experience for the users, which in turn will potentially lead to shortened development time and cost savings for firms. This paper calls for further research in IS development and design methods that take into account the different ways of understanding user experiences, particularly their flow experiences.     

Design for social interaction through physical play in diverse contexts of use

Products can support user groups in social interaction and/or physical play in various ways. Depending on the requirements and needs of specific user groups and contexts of use, different approaches are applied to create successful designs. This special issue contains papers that describe designs for children, adults and elderly for sports, home and outdoor contexts. The papers in this issue explore how technology can contribute to enhancing user experiences in terms of social interaction and physical activities. Knowledge from very diverse research areas, such as, social psychology, persuasive technology, child development, human–robot interaction, and creativity is used as an inspiration source for the various projects.     

User preferences for adaptive user interfaces in health information systems

An adaptive user interface requires identification of user requirements. Interface designers and engineers must understand end-user interaction with the system to improve user interface design. A combination of interviews and observations is applied for user requirement analysis in health information systems (HIS). Then, user preferences are categorized in this paper as either data entry, language and vocabulary, information presentation, or help, warning and feedback. The user preferences in these categories were evaluated using the focus group method. Focus group sessions with different types of HIS users comprising medical staff (with and without computer skills) and system administrators identified each user group’s preference for the initial adaptation of the HIS user interface. User needs and requirements must be identified to adapt the interface to users during data entry into the system. System designers must understand user interactions with the system to identify their needs and preferences. Without this, interface design cannot be adapted to users and users will not be comfortable using the system and eventually abandon its use.     

Web UI设计职责的思考

随着近年我国互联网的不断壮大,在各类网络行业的蓬勃发展中,Web设计师作为设计行业的代表,将扮演着越来越重要的角色。在新的互联网时代,如何获得良好的用户体验成为设计的核心问题。而目前大多数WebUI设计师并没有脱离美工的束缚,仅从视觉上来提升用户体验。数字网络时代的发展需要设计师贡献更多的职责和力量,同时也赋予了他们更广阔的发展空间,而不应只局限于界面的设计上,这就需要设计师能够打开思路,看到更远,重新思考设计的含义。     

Some principles of screen design and software for their support

The relatively unexciting issue of screen design has often been neglected in CAL or CAT. Changing technology and user requirements may make it more important. Authoring systems (languages, methodologies, software tools) need to satisfy certain requirements at different stages of the authoring process. Such requirements, relating to screen management, aesthetics, specification and documentation, implementation, maintenance and portability, are considered. Some can be met by adopting certain standards and techniques, and by the provision of software tools. Certain solutions are suggested, in particular, the software tools for screen design provided by a particular authoring system. COMBAT are described. These directly correspond to specification and documentation techniques, assist in implementation and maintenance, and help in the adoption of good design standards.     

Designing for human use: Examples of kitchen interiors for persons with disability and elderly people

Around 15% of the global population has a moderate or severe disability. For this reason, a design where the needs of elderly and disabled population are included, should become more common practise and should not be limited only to medical and rehabilitation products. In this study, the inclusive design practices related to the kitchens were applied. All the important stages in a design process, such as market research, planning, concept designing, detailed designing, research (ergonomic assessment), and production preparation were completed. In market research we market research examined the preferences of 216 respondents. Sixty percent of them were either elderly and/or disabled persons (direct users), 40% were caretakers, physiotherapists, and managers of care centres (indirect users). Implementation of obtained results is three kitchen lines with assistive technology solutions, which are the response to the requirements identified as appropriate in meeting the needs of the elderly and disabled kitchen users. The main conclusion of the article is the statement that the needs of seniors can and should be efficiently included in a design process of home interiors. It can be recognised as an important “social” designing criterion which can constitute a good basis for going beyond the traditional design and going toward the sustainable design.