Masaaki Kurosu

Apparent usability vs. inherent usability: experimental analysis on the determinants of the apparent usability

Correlational analysis of the evaluation &la on the apparent usability with the inherent usability mcasurea Rvealed that the apparcmt usability is strongly affected by the aesthetic aspects rather than the inherent usability. INTFU3DUCTION Interthce dcsigncm are making efforts to increase the efficiency of the operation, to make the interface easy to undcxstan4 A to inmasc the safety of dafa &em mis-OptXitiOllS. But such efforts ae had to b understood unless the user actually uses it. That is to say, such inherent usability is meaningless for the user if the pmkt is not appealing enough fm them to buy it. This is the reason why we started to study the determinants of the appanmt usability. We think that the products should be appamtly usable as well as inherently usable. 1. GENERATION OF LAYOUT PAllERNS From among various aspects of the graphicaI interface design, w selected the stxecn layout for the study of the apparent usability. As a fiist step, w have to collect variations of the layout pattern. The way we adopted was to let the subjects generate their own layout using the same gmphical elements. The sample screen was taken fmm the cash di.qmser which has ten numeric keys, special numeric keys (thousands rai ten-thousands), the Yen key (as a delimhcr), the cancel key, the correction key, the main display ti the sub display (the figure of a MYO as graphical elements. Twenty-six subjects, including 9 GUI dcsignem, 6 industrial designers, 8 engineers and 3 sccrctaries, participated in the experiment and were asked to locate those elements on the computer exeen as they might thhdc optimal in various senses The hard copies of the saeen wre used as stimuli in the evaluation mscamh. 2. EVALUATION RESEARCH Twenty-six layout patterns wae then evaluated in both the functional aspect rmd the aesthetic aspect. Total of 252 subjects wem asked to rate these two aspects on the ten point rating scales, i.e. how much they look to b easy to usc (apparently usable) md how much they look beautiful. The subjets included 156 students of the design Permission to copy without fee all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for direct commercial advantage, the ACM copyright notice and the title of the publication and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of ACM. To copy otherwise, or to …

Designing for diverse users: will just a better interface do?

An important challenge to user interface designers is meeting the needs of users who differ in gender, culture, age, and/or abilities. At least two strategies have emerged: to design different interfaces for each group or to just design good interfaces. The panel will discuss approaches to and issues related to accommodating diversity.

The role of screen parameters in visual communication

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the human side of the system of visual communication—that is, how the reality can be measured or how physical parameters may affect the degree of the reality. In this chapter, the independent and dependent variables is fixed relating to the reality and performed a psychological experiment on some of these variables. The one-way communication is investigated by way of the attitude change as a dependent variable and the screen size and the resolution as independent variables. The basic paradigm of the experiment is the before-after design that measures the degree of the attitude change of the subjects before and after the presentation of persuasive information. Based on the result, it is found that the resolution has a strong effect over the attitude change, whereas the screen size is influential on the impressional aspects of the audience. This type of psychological study was revealed to be effective in determining the relationship between the physical parameters and their mental effects of the user.