Handsketching as a human factor aspect in graphical interaction

For some years a lot of effort has been put into improving the human-computer interface in CAD-systems. After a short introduction on input problems in design processes, some of this work is reported here as well as a fairly new method, handsketching. In the third part of this paper a special system called CASUS is thoroughly explained from the user's point of view. A fourth part deals with the authors' conviction that psychological theories and methods are necessary in order to create still better interfaces. In the last chapter the system presented with all its interface features is compared to some human factor considerations discussed before. No attention is paid to the fact that very often the quality of work is changed by introducing CAD-systems. Though the designer's situation can be very often improved much more by designing his entire work, this paper lays claim only to designing a tool for the designer's hand.