Design, User Experience, and Usability: Users and Interactions

Color is often used to communicate the level of hazard. The present study sought to determine the effect of packages’ color on hazard-related perceptions in a Virtual Environment. There were two conditions: achromatic (grayscale) and chromatic (red, yellow, blue, green). A sample of 40 design students rated their hazard-related perceptions (e.g., level of hazardousness and awareness of consequences) of eight 3D packages, which differed in contents’ hazardousness and familiarity, on hazard related perceptions. The results indicated that color does affect hazard-related perceptions. Compared to the achromatic versions, red and yellow produced different effects, when applied to hazardous packages which are both familiar and unfamiliar. Red increased hazard perception but did not affect awareness of consequences, and yellow did not affect the first, but decreased the latter. Blue decreased both dimensions, whereas green did not affect the first but decreased the latter. The results draw attention to the importance of color and familiarity on hazard-related perceptions.

Simulation is a decision making support tool very useful for the design and dimensioning of manufacturing plants. Although workmanship hand is largely employed in production systems, labor involved in the process is often modeled as an inanimate predictable resource (like machines, tools or equipment). In order to make simulation more realistic, this study applied ergonomics principles (circadian rhythm and rest pauses) to the labor resource of a software that is largely used in commercial applications. Results showed that this “humanization” impact the simulation results. Production outcomes from the circadian rhythm modeling were up to 7 % higher than the ones obtained with the standard PROMODEL modeling; the introduction of 5 min rest pauses increased productivity in less than 1 %. Overall, these results justify the development of computational routines able to represent “humans” and their interactions with the system in a more realistic manner.

The technological development market is faced with the growing demand for products whose innovations break paradigms. The User-Centered Design approach is used with praise to cause incremental innovations in digital products, but it is not ideal to realize radical innovations. This article aims to present the state of the art in question and ask whether the mental model of children, whose creativity is evident, can be applied to the development process with a User Centered Design approach, and, if so, how to adapt this approach to accelerate the development of radically innovative products to the market.

Considered as a not fully appropriated way for load carriage on the spine, backpacks tend to be the elected products by students to carry their own school supplies [

4

]. Its use has been pointed out as a determinant aspect that contributes to the appearance of back pain and musculoskeletal disorders, mainly in growth stage children [

4

,

5

]. Spine overload, often seen when wearing backpacks, is considered one of the main risk factor for the degeneration of intervertebral discs [

1

,

6

,

7

].

For further understanding this matter, the difficulties found in quantifying spinal acting loads, lead to the development of a considerable amount of biomechanical computerized models. The dissemination of this kind of models, lead to the need of their results evaluation as a very important aspect to consider in the selection of the most adequate software for specific study situations.

Major findings allowed to apprehend the best way to apply posterior loads onto the spine of backpack users using HARSim by dynamically comparing its results with the ones presented by Rose [

2

]. This paper presents all the process, allowing its reproduction and application for this type of carrying transportation system for further studies to come.

In the industrial fields, many connectors and p lugs need to assemble or disassemble, but some designs make it difficult for workers to complete the operation or even impossible to finish. This problem is caused by the designer who didn’t considered the people used connectors for operation need a certain amount of clearance. This paper mainly introduces the method of using motion capture to measure the 2D working clearance of human hand while the process of installing and removing the connectors. The study figure out the characteristic parameters of operating space for 13 connectors, several layouts is obtained, and verified motion capture tests can be used to research the usability of equipment. Researchers find the test results tend to be loose, so the test needed to verify or make the clearance area more rigorous. This paper provide reference for the future study of the connector panel design.

In recent years, after the great proliferation of mobile devices, the relationship between usability, context and emotions of users is widely discussed in studies related to the user experience (UX) theme. Evaluations indicate that each user interacts with applications in slightly different ways and has different feelings about the applications installed in their smartphones. To contribute to this area of study, this paper presents a platform for the collection and analysis of data related to the user experience of mobile data. To evaluate the potential of the platform, an experiment was conducted with the participation of 68 people, for thirty days. The study results are presented and discussed throughout the paper.

Prior research has shown that UX designers of ICT service experience various difficulties while using Service Design methodologies. This is because the characteristics of Service Design and of UX Design greatly differ; Service Design is deployed in physical space and time, while UX Design is deployed on screen with the focus on UI elements. Also, in terms of the range of design, the entire service in macroscopic perspective often becomes the range of design in Service Design, whereas the Touch Point of user and the product becomes the range of design in UX Design of ICT service. In this context, the purpose of this study is to investigate how the design methodology of Service Design should be customized when applied to the UX design of ICT service. This study was conducted around the Customer Journey Map among methodologies of Service Design. First, this study collected opinions on how the UX designers of ICT service use the Customer Journey Map while working on a UX design project and the limitations they faced. Then, a Customer Journey Map that is appropriately customized to the UX Design of ICT service will be suggested based on the findings.

We propose a method of measuring preferences of various stakeholders quantitatively by combining the methods of direct ranking and complete paired comparison. We demonstrate the method using a concrete case of prioritizing quality requirements on user interface (UI) texts and report the primary empirical evaluation of the methods’ accuracy and efficiency in this application example.

People use package to protect and express product, a good design feature on package will enhance preference of consumers. Affordance is human instinct that suggest action of usage and it imply attractive. This study prove that a package has affordance design not only provide consumers’ a positive emotional experience, better to influence consumers’ positive perception to the contents. The outcome may assist designers in selecting or modifying package designs for achieving desired consumer responses.

Nowadays, the induction of positive user experience is a vital aspect of the development of smartphone applications. Existing approaches aim at engineering good user experience to make applications more enjoyable and pleasurable. Especially in business applications, employees need to be motivated to perform their tasks, in order to increase efficiency and effectiveness. Negative user experience lowers user acceptance and decreases motivation. A study was conducted to identify factors that can cause negative user experience. This study found negative aspects of an example mobile application, of which Usability and Utility have been found to directly contribute to a negative Emotions and thus to negative user experience.

The authors have conducted initial research and analysis of similarities and differences among Chinese and non-Chinese user-experience design (specifically Western, i.e., US versions) in Web, desktop, and mobile platforms. Characteristics studied include user-interface components (metaphors, mental models, navigation, interaction, appearance, and information design/visualization); experience objectives (usability, usefulness, appeal, fun, and aesthetic form, such as density, gridded organizations, etc.); social network and underlying organizational contexts (public vs. private; work, home, school, and shopping; and sharing (cooperation, communication, and collaboration); and persuasion or motivation characteristics (e.g., use of dashboard; journey maps; focused social networks; just-in-time knowledge; and incentives, such as games, leaderboards, rewards, awards, workshops, nostalgia shops, etc.). The authors propose initial patterns and an initial framework for further research, including the possibility of developing unique Chinese approaches to UX design, Chinese UX guidelines, and eventually characteristics of unique Chinese approaches to operating systems, windowing systems, graphical user-interfaces, and applications for the Web, desktop, mobile, and wearables.

Due to the recent proliferation of mobile applications, it has become essential to obtain a better understanding of how people use their devices and applications. However, it is not always possible to reproduce the chaotic environment where the interactions between users and applications take place. Based on this fact, the present study presents a mechanism for the collection and connection of variables of interaction (touches, navigation between screens, etc.) and variables of mobility (sensor data, such as GPS), by the means of an experiment performed in the application made available at application stores and used by real users, performing daily tasks. With the analysis of the data collected it is expected to understand user behavior during interaction and determine usage patterns associating the variables of mobility with the variables of interaction that provide new ideas for interface projects.

For the vast majority of users, the most conventional means of interaction with a computer is through the use of the keyboard and the mouse. The act of typing and clicking in a satisfactory speed requires a level of motor ability and coordination, which is provided by the integration of both sensory and neuromotor functions. Among many neurological problems that may affect movement control, tetraplegia due to spinal cord injury challenges the subject to adopt to a severe sensory-motor impairment of the lower limbs, trunk and partial or total affection of the upper limbs. Therefore, tetraplegia represents an important limitation for the user in his/her ability to interact with a computer in a satisfactory and conventional way (keyboard-typing and mouse-clicking). This paper aims to investigate the experiences, problems and solutions used by persons with tetraplegia due to spinal cord injury in daily computer usage. The study sample was comprised by five with tetraplegia due to spinal cord injury. All the subjects had a certain degree of function in the upper limbs, and their levels of injury were between C5 and C7 (fifth to seventh spinal cord segment). A questionnaire with multiple-choice questions about subjects’ interaction with computers in daily usage was applied. The questions aimed to understand their experiences and problems when using a computer (typing, clicking and printing, among others), as well as the use of assistive devices aimed to facilitate the computer usage. Prior to the study, all subjects were informed about the study objectives and procedures, and signed an informed consent form after agreeing in participate in the study. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethical Committee of the Faculty of Architecture, Arts and Communication - UNESP. The results show that subjects with tetraplegia experience a number of problems when using a computer. These problems occur with the use of all the computer components, such as keyboard, mouse, cables and accessories. The severe upper limb impairment is, ultimately, the main factor that limit the users’ ability to use a computer in an independent and efficient way. The current study contributes to the knowledge in the fields of ergonomics, design and assistive technologies, as it highlights the need of providing assistive solutions that truly contribute to the satisfactory use of computers by subjects with tetraplegia.

The participation of women in workgroups is essential to any kind of job. Nowadays Computer Science has little presence of women. Consequently, it is necessary to motivate girls to choose Computing as a career. This paper describes an experiment consisting of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) activities that were used to demonstrate that Computing is more than only programming. The activities were based on the concepts and materials of the Computer Science Unplugged Project. Besides, this work presents the results with the HCI activities performed in the context two Brazilian projects. The results are qualitative in nature and provide insights about HCI activities to elementary school student girls. Fifty-two girls from two different cities and four different public schools participated. All students developed the five tasks designed by CSU materials and were able to articulate concepts of HCI.

The education sector in Europe is facing one of the toughest challenges on how to attract, motivate and engage students with content from an academic curriculum and at the same time supporting the formal learning process and providing a learning experience that matches the dynamics of the 21st century. More than ever, Albert Einstein’s words are a reality:

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”

Using games in formal learning situations is an important topic of current research but is still largely underexplored. This paper presents how the “No One Left Behind” project aims at unlocking inclusive gaming creation and experiences, by and for students in day-to-day school life. It outlines the project’s use cases as well as explores cultural identity and gender inclusion when games framed in an educational environment are created by and for young girls (“girly-girls”).

The purpose of this experiment is to set up the women virtual fitting room where user can try virtual dress without taking off her dress. The first part is to simulate virtual parts of the body that were covered with dress and then incorporate them into the real body. After having the new partial virtual body, then user can try some virtual clothes. In order to mobilize the user wearing virtual dress, Kinect was used to detect the skeleton and joints of the real body, virtual part of the body and virtual dress, which were aligned into the same position.

A major research agenda in HCI is the development of believable agents. Because believability has become linked to gendered personification, designers have relied on stereotypes for both the physical rendering and verbal responses of these agents. Conversational agents are even scripted to handle “abuse” in stereotypical ways. Such scripting, however, often escalates the abuse. While the demand for anthropomorphized agents may necessitate a reliance on bodily stereotypes, the verbal responses of the agents need not be scripted according to gendered expectations. We explore the design of conversational agents as a rhetorical enterprise that can deconstruct overtly gendered patterns of interaction.

The intention of this article is to provide a slightly different perspective for the Women in Design, User Experience, and Usability discussion. This paper not only describes examples of human communication with counting artifacts and other early computing machines but it also recounts specific personal experiences with interfaces from the author’s career of over fifty five years working in information sciences.

Gender relations are reproduced both within HCI development processes as well as within contexts of use. Hence, theorising the subject of gender becomes part of the responsibility of HCI as a form of practice. The fledgling subfield of feminist HCI has created an epistemological basis for thinking through these challenges. The current text seeks to relate to these contributions by analysing practices of coding as they pertain to HCI. We argue that coding is of yet undertheorised regarding the subject of gender relations. By drawing on the semiotic theories of Michael Mateas and combining them with Donna Haraway’s reading of material-semiotic actors, the text aims to provide new impulses for a theorisation of the practice of code-writing as a (potentially gendered) writing practice. It thus aims at increasing the translatability of HCI theory into gender-aware communities of knowledge production.

Online shopping, with the characteristics of time convenience, space convenience, and service diversity, successfully attracts the attention of female consumers. According to MIC, the surging female shoppers bring multiple growth for online sales in past years. As the Internet become very popular, the shopping websites for female consumers are growing faster and faster. Therefore, it is vital to comprehend the requirements of female users and their preferences. In order to exploit the market, the demands and preferences of female consumers for websites therefore need to be explored. When the information and advertising full of the shopping site, it will lead the female users distraction. Designers and websites developers require to know how to adjust the interface design for female users. This study accommodate the issue how to develope a usable, pleasant and efficient web interface to provide better online shopping experiences for female users. This study aims to discuss the demands and preference of female consumers in order to enhance the usability of shopping website. Payeasy, having females as the major consumers, was ranked on the top of electronic commerce in 2013 in Taiwan. For this reason, it is taken as the research sample. The Introduction interface in the shopping website is explored. This research is divided into two stages. First, two common types of introduction allocation (horizontal on top, vertical at left) are organized from literatures. With classical work settings, the preference of female consumers for the website design would be explored. Second, the questionnaire survey is used for evaluating the layout and text distinguishability. Finally, the research results provide innovative suggestions of female shopping websites for design researchers and website developers.

There has been contending views on women and men as a consumer, and we believe that it is necessary to analyze and verify who will be the upcoming consuming subject in next 10 years. Herein, using adjectives of AttrackDiff2 which analyze how people perceive the product using hedonic quality and pragmatic quality, we have conducted FGI (Focus Group Interview) on 20–25 female and male group respectively, analyzing how major consumers in 10 years perceive about current trend over the world, wearable devices. As a result of the study, we find that women tend to perceive pragmatic quality as important as men in respect of UX of wearable devices. Instead of the difference between two gender groups, there were greater gap between the individuals. Here, we suggest that stereotype on women that they are an impulsive consumer should be adjusted.

This paper investigates closing the gender divide in technology. A literature review was conducted to disclose the factors that lead to the current gender divide in the technology sector classified as stereotypes, bias, lack of female role models, low college enrollment in technology, college student experience, cultural background, interests, personality, aptitude, family responsibilities, fewer opportunities, university and college faculty bias, limited support, and inequity in leadership. A framework was developed to explain the relatively low number of female graduates getting into the technology field, the low number of female remaining in the technology field, and the low number of female in technology management roles. The challenges and achievements faced by women in technology were addressed. The strategies to bridge the gender divide in technology comprise three broad aspects, namely, childhood, education, and career.

The evidence shows that time-oriented data visualizations may greatly benefit from time spatialization (organization of time along axes) adaptation. Specifically, the choice of time arrangement along axes can significantly influence performance and satisfaction of such visualizations’ users. However, due to gender differences in visuospatial abilities and approaches to solve spatial problems (how males and females navigate through real or imaginary space), males and females may respond differently to time spatialization adaptations. This in turn can generate demand for gender-specific interventions or system solutions. Approaching this important theoretical and practical issue, here, we report the results of the experiment that investigated the problem of gender differences in the productivity of interactions with time-oriented data visualizations. We found no sufficient evidence to confirm the existence of such differences. We yet recommend further research in this area to completely eliminate this possibility.

“Gender digital divide” is a demoralizing issue with far reaching consequences, debarring women and girls relishing equivalent approach to ICTs usage as men and boys. Numerous reasons can be marked out behindhand this discriminative technology adaptation, e.g. societal blockades, technophobia and techno incompetency. Nonetheless, ICTs have opened new horizons for women, eventually economically enabling and empowering them. This study investigates the challenges faced by women in design and proposes the strategies to bridge the gender gap to ensure an obliging technology for tech deprived women in developing countries like Pakistan.

The debate about the differences between men and women is quite old but still topical. Many researchers have been investigating the differences in users’ gender while experiencing digital products. However, it seems that few studies have investigated gender differences related to the creative process in digital design. The aim of this paper is to try to understand whether there are gender differences in the creative process in digital design in Brazil. In addition, it discusses the possible influences that women have in the design process and their approach to user experience design. For that, interviews and questionnaires with Brazilian designers, both women and men, were carried out. This investigation points out some gender aspects that can make difference in the design of digital products and presents a discussion of the role of women designers.

With the growing use of infographics to communicate complex information, we must specifically look at how people read and understand them. Complex information depends on helping people build relationships and connect the information to the current situation. Infographics are not art displays, but are tools to communicate information. Unless we understand how people comprehend information and how those mental transformations occur when they read the content, we cannot effectively design an infographic for complex information. People come to an infographic for a purpose and with a goal, both of which require the infographics to communication complex information. A good infographic must maintain the complexity of the information while lowering the barriers to its comprehension.

In this paper, we present an approach for the specification and the execution of complex scientific workflows in cloud-like environments. The approach strives to support scientists during the modeling, deployment and the monitoring of their workflows. This work takes advantages from Petri nets and more pointedly the so called reference nets formalism, which provide robust modeling/implementation techniques. Meanwhile, we present the implementation of a new tool named

RenewGrass

. It allows the modeling as well as the execution of image processing workflows from the remote sensing domain. In terms of usability, we provide an easy way to support unskilled researchers during the specification of their workflows. Then, we use the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) workflow as a showcase of the implementation. At last, we introduce our methodology to move the actual implementation to the Cloud.

Aiming to expose guidelines and procedures that lead to an efficient implementation of sound elements into interfaces, and given the need to develop a formal understanding of audio applications in interactive systems, this study presents the Dynamic Audio Application Guide. From the proposed methodology by Jesse James Garrett, the Dynamic Audio Application Guide was created, which aims to systematize and simplify the process of creation, production and implementation of sound into interactive systems. The guide is intended to highlight the important role played by sound in immersion and interaction processes.

An array of elements such as history, culture, music and delicacy can easily attract travelers’ attention. In this paper, we attempt to design a mobile and visual search platform to help tourists understand these elements easily. Our target area is Dadaocheng, which is a well-known destination in Taiwan. We focus on local shops and design customized signboards for their digital marketing, cultural and creativity value-adding services. In addition, these signboards can serve as user’s search target. The platform of our design provides search engine services with a monitoring mechanism at the server. Each query image is captured by mobile phone’s camera, and search results on time and accuracy are recorded on the monitoring platform. This research focuses on the performance of visual search accuracy under ordinary circumstances. The overall process can be completed in one second. Current experimental results indicate that recognition rate can reach 88 percent.

In this research, we focused on task analysis of air traffic controllers in actual en-route Air Traffic Control (ATC) in an experimental activity based on a Human-Centered Design (HCD) approach. We discuss the method of design to develop a system of human consciousness, and created prototype design along with HCD process. In this paper, firstly, we propose an observation survey technique that can obtain survey results of high effectiveness, with a process of HCD that can be executed simply compared with current available techniques. In this analysis, we conducted a simulation at one of the air traffic sectors of the Tokyo Area Control Center. After analyzing the current ATC work, we developed a prototype design of the future ATC interface for Air Traffic Controllers based on our findings.

In this paper, we describe xBook, a generic, open-source e-Science infrastructure for distributed, relational data management that is particularly designed for the needs of archaeological related disciplines. The key feature of xBook is that it can be used as an offline resource at remote sites during excavations and can be synchronized with a central server at any time. While some scientists can record data in xBook in the field where no internet connection is available, colleagues can already work with and analyse the previously synchronized data via the central server at any location in the world. Incarnations of the xBook framework are used in archaeology, and archaeobiology (anthropology and archaeozoology). We will highlight one of them, OssoBook, an e-Science service that implements a data model for animal remains from archaeological sites (mainly bones) and has emerged as one of the European standards for archaeozoology.

With the emergence and easy access to new interfaces that are present and necessary to current daily life, a concern about the interface projects begins, and so, new research methods and analyzes emerge to support that growing demand. In seeking to understand how those researches are being treated in Brazil, this paper uses a bibliometric study concerning the area of Graphic Design and Informational Ergonomics in the largest conferences of Design in Brazil: “EGODESIGN/USIHC” and the “P&D Design”, in order to provide a panorama of the growth of research and study groups through the publications in the area. In addition it seeks to demonstrate the regions in the country which concentrates the focus on those themes and how Brazil is concerned with the issues related to the study and with the improvement of technological interfaces.

This study investigates the unique contribution of layout and visual cues to the comprehension of complex texts. Contracts are taken as a key example of cumbersome, complex texts that most laypeople do not like to read, and avoid reading altogether if possible. By means of information design, the meaning of contracts can be made more readily visible and understandable to their intended user-group. An experimental evaluation shows how it is not enough to simply reorganise the text in a more logical, user-friendly order, but real improvements in comprehension speed and accuracy can only be observed when enhancements to the textual structure of the contract are accompanied by an improved layout and other visual solutions.

New information and communication technologies have changed the way people produce, remix and share data. The flow of ephemeral content, such as images, on social networks reveal the need to construct e analyze functional digital collections. The purpose of this work is to investigate the main standards established to build good digital collections and to apply the nine principles of NISO’s report A Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collection (2007) in the analyses of three collaborative platforms of digital collections: Pinterest, Arquigrafia and Street Art Rio.

Large data sets require new forms of data representation that reduce the complexity of the information, and help users identify trends and communicate the meaning of the data to diverse audiences. With multisensory data design, it is possible to increase the number of variables and relationships that can be represented simultaneously. Sound, touch, gesture, and movement can enhance the perception of data relationships. Complex data sets also require new ways of organizing databases that encourage the development of new perspectives and facilitate collaboration. Audiovisual metadata is an alternative to text-based metadata that supports data exploration by providing a flexible format for database organization. With these new approaches to data representation, it is important to understand the semiotics of multisensory data design.

Animated visual instructions have been increasingly produced to support the industry of assembling products. Despite the growing demand for this type of instruction, in Brazil, little has been investigated on how animated instructions should be graphically presented to promote communication effectiveness. This paper discusses a research-based interactive guide to aid the design process of animated instructions in Brazil from user-centered design approach. First, to develop the guide, the graphic presentation of information of a sample of 23 animated instructions was assessed. Then, an experimental study on understanding and preference of narrative times (slow, spontaneous and accelerated) was investigated with 25 participants for an animation representative of the sample analyzed: the 3D puzzle assembly. Based on the results of the studies, guidelines were proposed to the interactive digital guide which usability was validated with 05 experts through checklist with heuristics, and with 10 potential users through post-interaction interviews. The results were generally positive about the content and graphic interface, but pointed to the need of improvements in navigation and menu hierarchy. Accordingly, adjustments were then made in the interactive guide in its final version.

Auditory researchers have developed various non-speech cues in designing auditory user interfaces. A preliminary study of “lyricons” (lyrics + earcons [

1

]) has provided a novel approach to devising auditory cues in electronic products, by combining the concurrent two layers of musical speech and earcons (short musical motives). An experiment on sound-function meaning mapping was conducted between earcons and lyricons. It demonstrated that lyricons significantly more enhanced the relevance between the sound and the meaning compared to earcons. Further analyses on error type and confusion matrix show that lyricons showed a higher identification rate and a shorter mapping time than earcons. Factors affecting auditory cue identification and application directions of lyricons are discussed.

The present work aims to provide a contribution to the definition of new parameters to guide interface design and content publishing that will ensure the quality of gestural interaction in newspaper apps for tablets. Our case study is O Globo A Mais, a digital edition with unique content specially produced for iPad, launched by Rio de Janeiro´s newspaper O Globo, one of the majors in Brazil. The research employed two techniques of qualitative emphasis: exploratory interviews and user observation focused on readers. We concluded that designers and journalists of O Globo A Mais should develop and refine their discourse to users through its gestural interfaces.

Multi-modal interfaces that provide haptic access to statistical line graphs combined with verbal assistance are proposed as an effective tool to fulfill the needs of visually impaired people. Graphs do not only present data, they also provide and elicit the extraction of second order entities (such as

maxima

or

trends

), which are closely linked to shape properties of the graphs. In an experimental study, we investigated collaborative joint activities between haptic explorers of graphs and verbal assistants who helped haptic explorers to conceptualize local and non-local second-order concepts. The assistants have not only to decide

what to say

but in particular

when to say it

. Based on the empirical data of this experiment, we describe in the present paper the design of a feature set for describing patterns of haptic exploration, which is able to characterize the need for verbal assistance during the course of haptic exploration. We employed a (supervised) classification algorithm, namely the J48 decision tree. The constructed features within the range from

basic (low

-

level) user

-

action

features to

complex (high

-

level)

conceptual were categorized into four feature sets. All feature set combinations achieved high accuracy level. The best results in terms of sensitivity and specificity were achieved by adding the low-level graphical features.

In this paper, we present CoTI, a Collaborative Tangible Interface to support decision making in complex systems. We start by describing the system architecture and the tangible interaction interface with an overview of design considerations for information architecture, navigation layers on multi-touch surfaces, and interaction modalities. A case study showcasing the CoTI in the context of urban planning is presented and design implications for city planning and co-located collaborative decision making is discussed.

On a multitouch table, user’s interactions with 3D virtual representations of real objects should be influenced by task and their perceived physical characteristics. This article explores the development and user study of an interactive 3D application that allows users to explore virtual heritage objects on a surface device. To-date, most multitouch has focused on 2D or 2.5D systems. A user-study is reported where we analyse their multimodal behaviour – specifically how they interact on a surface device with objects that have similar properties to physical versions and the users’ associated gaze patterns with touch. The study reveals that gaze characteristics are different according to their interaction intention in terms of position and duration of visual attention. We discovered that virtual objects afford the perception of haptic attributes ascribed to their equivalent physical objects, and that differences in the summary statistics of gaze showed consistent characteristics between people and differences between natural and task based activities. An awareness of user behaviours using natural gestures can inform the design of interactive 3D applications which complements the user’s model of past experience with physical objects and with GUI interaction.

Communication is made of both verbal and non-verbal components. The latter often provide much more meaning than people realize. Nowadays communication is more often technology mediated, this occurrence is transforming rules and channels of human communication. In this paper we illustrate the design of a new communication device, CubeMate, which can be used as nonverbal mood interface in various contexts of shared space (house, office, shared flat). The design of CubeMate follows the Interaction Design process. Its design, embracing Weiser’s Calm Computing, focus on the Calmness, using a non-verbal output that doesn’t overburden users attention. During two Maker Faire we have collected unstructured feedbacks and qualitative evaluations through a prototype trial. On the basis of these considerations we could identify achievable improvements and define several and cross application fields.

This paper purposed a novel concept for futuristic interactive product design, combined the emerging techniques of the digital design and fabrication, interactive kinetic structural system, and ambient display to form a hybrid luminaire art deco. This installation - Transparent Organ developing a specific characteristic of sensitive kinetic interaction in a computer augmented physical kinetic object producing ambient atmosphere in a space. It used digital fabrication with parametric design tools for construct transparent shape plays as a light conduction. The interactive system combined of capacitive touch sensor, dimming control, and motor controller for kinetic sculpture with adaptive algorithm. Furthermore, this precedent has demonstrated alternative aesthetics with functional applications in further interactive product design.

This paper examines the use of a new input device that is available on two video game systems released in the past year. The Ouya controller and the Dual Shock 4 controller for the Playstation 4 contain a touchpad located in the center of the control-ler. This type of input mechanism is also expected be a feature of the planned Steam Controller by Valve. Even though the touchpad is currently available to developers, few games take advantage of it. This paper analyzes the usability of touchpad based game interfaces for the Ouya Controller and the Dual Shock 4 controller in both a gaming environment and in a controlled user interface study. The results show that traditional thumbstick controls are preferred and perform significantly better than the touchpad interfaces for 2D driving games, and that hand posture can significantly affect the usability of game controller based touchpad interfaces.

Since the 1800s, ballet education is influenced by the use of mirrors. The aim of this study is to evaluate a Kinect-based system called Super Mirror, to discover if it has an impact on the usability in ballet instruction. Ballet students were evaluated on eight ballet movements (plié, élevé, grand plié, battement tendu (front, side and back), passé and développé) to measure the Super Mirror’s impact. The results show a potential usage in ballet education but improvements of Super Mirror are needed to comply with the standardized subject-matter expert’s criteria.

Interface design is often constrained by the limited scope and resource-intensive nature of conventional user studies. We aim to unburden this process by introducing an automated user modelling framework that continuously injects design guidelines into the development process. We present a pipeline that converts a given user interface design into a widgetised data structure, executes a performance simulation based on the cognitive model of a user, and analyses its output to give design guidelines. We introduce the research methodology employed to create the model, implementation details of the model, and initial results from its validation. These include the dynamics of age-based modelling, the temporal integrity of the output of the cognitive model, and indications of the accuracy of the overall design guidelines produced.

The news broadcasts are looking for their media formats as well as users are choosing their news consumption preferences. Will be these companies that produce and transmit news know who are these new users? Where the touch points are and what kind of users are they interacting with? The purpose of this paper is to present a study applied with users who consume print and online newspaper and an analysis of two respectable newspapers: The New York Times (USA daily news) and Estado de São Paulo (Brazilian daily news). The questionnaire applied with users pointed behaviors and expectations about current news consumption and the analysis of four smartphone apps evaluated how these two newspapers are presenting its contents, and if these presentations are in accordance with some data found in this study.

User-Interface prototypes are important for testing software design ideas in early stages, where changes can still be considered. This is especially true for mobile app interfaces that have to take into account a number of specific challenges. Accordingly, prototyping tools are needed that consider the specific conditions under which mobile apps are usually developed. Research on the topic provides a fragmented picture of categories to rate the usefulness of development tools; a comprehensive taxonomy is missing. In this paper we address this gap in identifying a set of 16 requirements, which were derived from literature research and evaluated with experts. The categories were then applied by experts to judge a newly introduced prototyping platform, which can be used to develop mixed-fidelity app prototypes on the basis of paper sketches. Although we do not claim that the developed set of requirements is complete, the described work can already help builders of mobile app development and prototyping tools. It provides a guideline that displays the importance of different requirement criteria, dependent on different development conditions.

Mobile systems are used by a large variety of users in heterogeneous and dynamic everyday life situations. Approaching users in these contexts poses a challenge for practitioners. To examine practitioners’ effort in understanding users and contexts of use, we conducted 15 in-depth interviews with those involved in the design and development of mobile systems for media and finance. We observed that the efforts of design practitioners in subcontracting companies are commonly hindered by strict resource constraints from the client, which result in opportunistic and more obscured data on users. The findings draw attention to the role of the business environment on approaching users and context of use.

The use of metaphor is essential in user interface design, particularly for the mobile landscape, as the visual environment continues to be populated with more and more mobile electronic devices. A metaphor allows us to understand one concept in terms of another. Although considerable research has gone into the mobile technology, little attention has been paid to mobile interface metaphor, which is the key to user interaction. This paper explores the role of metaphor in interfaces in facilitating user interaction with mobile devices. It presents a classification of metaphors. It also proposes a framework with salient factors in relation to visual communication with metaphors. It also offers some thoughts on the use of new metaphors.

This paper reports an application for smartphones that allows users to use digits for simple keyword input and its usability evaluation. This input method, called “one touch character”, helps users to enter keywords into a search engine entry field. Its easy-to-learn and easy-to-use characteristics make it highly effective in encouraging the elderly, who generally dislike IT systems, to search for information on the Internet. This smartphone application was tested by 30 subjects, ranging from young adults to the elderly, from the aspects of operation time and error rate. “One-touch-character” is also compared with other character input methods, such as “multi-touch-per-character” and “flick”.

The Heuristic Evaluation method has been popular with HCI experts for over 20 years. Yet, we believe that the set of heuristics defined by Nielsen in 1994 needs to be modified prior to the usability evaluation of smartphone applications. In this paper, we investigate the applicability of each of Nielsen’s traditional heuristics to the usability evaluation of smartphone applications following an analysis of 105 peer-reviewed papers. It is anticipated that this work might benefit HCI practitioners, educators and researchers as they attempt to define usability heuristics for smartphone applications. This set of heuristics, once defined, could enable the discovery of usability issues early in the smartphone application development life cycle, while continuing to be a discount usability engineering method as originally defined by Nielsen.

As the smart devices marketplace becomes increasingly more competitive, the usage accessibility of individuals has improved and services development is more active. Among these developments, use of the Cloud Office Platform as a collaboration tool for cooperation in Cloud Computing is on the rise. The N-Screen, with its limited function and amount of information displayed depending on screen size, also requires that a seamless user environment be provided. This paper analyzes user experience (UX) factors and characteristics using patterns and functions that should be taken into consideration for utilization of the Cloud Office Platform based on web browsers on PCs and Mobiles. This analysis is called the “Consistency of Character” analysis, and this paper proposes a research method in which it is incorporated.

This study formulated existing virtual pointing techniques for cursor control in the mobile context of touchscreen thumb operation. Three virtual pointing models were developed, including:

Virtual Touchpad

,

Virtual Joystick

and

Virtual Direction Key

. In order to verify their usability and feasibility, a user study was employed to evaluate the usability of three virtual pointing models, followed by the focus group interview to experienced usability designers, in which, constraints of touchscreen cursor control in mobile context were defined and rated against three virtual pointing models. Research findings: (1) Virtual Touchpad was significantly efficient than others, while Virtual Direction Key presented lower error rate, although insignificantly. (2) Constraints of touchscreen cursor control in mobile context include: stable and simple operation, Interruptible operation is better and avoids accurate pointing. Virtual Direction Key stood out as the most stable, simple and interruptible pointing control.

This article presents a survey, constructed in an online platform, with the aim to analyze and understand the Brazilians’ attitudes and strategies when interacting with smartphone in the driving context. The survey was composed of 30 questions with the purpose to gather information of the target group: Brazilians with 18 years old or more, with license to drive and with the habit of using the smartphone while driving. The results show that Brazilian drivers have non-safety behavior when interacting visually and manually with the smartphone inside the vehicle, which reflects an existing behavior in the context of Brazilian traffic.

This paper presents key findings about on-screen optimal line length for tablet personal computers (PCs). It examines the effects of four different line lengths on the reading speed and reading efficiency. Seventy participants ranging between the ages of 20 and 40 participated in this study. They read four different texts with an average length of 2000 characters. The texts contained substitution words, which were to be detected by the subjects to measure reading accuracy. Moreover, the subjects were asked to subjectively vote on their reading experience in the context of subjective measures like reading speed and accuracy. The results of the study revealed that 90 characters per line (CPL) were preferred by most of the participants. Nonetheless, some participants falling between the ages of 35 and 40 years preferred 60 CPL. The findings presented in this paper are quite worthwhile as the Tablet PC are extensively used for e-reading. In essence, this study suggests optimal line length for reading on screen using Tablet PC and eventually benefiting people who use Tablet PC for reading, hailing from every walk of life.

This paper researches towards people who used traditional watches and smart phone at the same time for 8 participants by diary method. Smart watch look same with the traditional watch and the basic mechanism of interaction is same as Smartphone, not taking special characteristics of watch into account. In this research, we extracted basic design elements and framework for designing smart watches based on basic usage patterns derived from a series of systematic user studies.

Characteristics of Smart Textiles are not only have the tactile, somatosensory, temperature, etc., but also provides the effects of light, temperature regulation, power storage, water, and other functions, and mean while preserving the fabric originally unique soft feature which can be braided, stitching, folding, extended class organic qualities, to replace environment unfriendly plastic products, more affinity exists in life. The research starts with the textiles that can achieve the electronic functions. And base on the setting function of sensors and receivers to design many customized modules. We make textiles as electronic circuits to provide proper interactions modes that are corresponding to the situational reaction as well as input and output context design for the desirable behaviors. The establishment of an integrated modeling original design draft, electronic circuits, and smart textile design flow of customized products provide niche related industry to establish a smart fabric in the integrity of the program of customized products designed to integrate the use of soft wearable models. The development of soft too kits by smart textiles is according to the investigations of interaction concept from electronics, then design and develop the interaction IC boards by adapting textiles that can conduct or with optic and heating functions. For the interaction, we need to decide the interactive scenarios corresponding to the behaviors, design electronic circuits and control program. Overall, a well-designed process integration soft tool kits will be introduced. The use of digital printing and embroidery to accurately reproduce the original creative spirit. The establishment of this design research of customized textile goods providing benefit to establish a niche model in the relevant industry. Based on this, the purpose of the study is as follows:

(1)

The establishment of the custom product design process of smart textile in order to be understood and used by their customers and designers coordination between each issues.

(2)

Analysis of smart textiles to develop interaction modes of soft tool kits.

(3)

Dissemble performance of smart textiles and apply textiles made soft tool kits on design projects for hand crafts.

Early development of Wearables emerged through professional silos of computer science and fashion design and resulted in two distinct branches typified by an aesthetic approach from fashion and by a function and ocular-centric approach from science. Attempts at collaboration between these silos tended to bring the two methodologies into conflict and often produced awkward results. Computer science is a field traditionally dominated by men and fashion design by women, so what is the future for wearable’s evolution as professions are becoming less gendered? In 2009 the author established the Wearables Lab in Hong Kong. In 2012 and 2014 the Wearables Lab hosted research initiatives specifically focused on haptic interfaces where wearables are viewed as an interface between the body and the world. This article maps key themes of this research leading to speculative designs for evolutionary wearables.

As technology continues to become more accessible, miniaturised and diffused into the environment, the potential of wearable technology to impact our lives in significant ways becomes increasingly viable. Wearables afford unique interaction, communication and functional capabilities between users, their environment as well as access to information and digital data. Wearables also demand an inter-disciplinary approach and, depending on the purpose, can be fashioned to transcend cultural, national and spatial boundaries. This paper presents the Cloud Workshop project based on the theme of ‘Wearables and Wellbeing; Enriching connections between citizens in the Asia-Pacific region’, initiated through a cooperative partnership between Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) and Griffith University (GU). The project was unique due to its inter-disciplinary, inter-cultural and inter-national scope that occurred simultaneously between Australia and Hong Kong.

The paper discusses the possibilities for 3D printing to help overcome the historic schism between manual labour/craftsmanship versus technology, specifically its potential to enable digital craftsmanship. Firstly, It contextualizes digital craftsmanship and introduces debates relating to tooling, application and design strategies, in particular in the field of architecture. Secondly, the paper articulates digital craftsmanship’s properties and associated strategies by discussing three examples of the author’s work. Lastly, it draws attention to the confluence of these properties and agencies through an analysis of the design and 3D printing of a fully wearable dress, titled Incunabula.

We designed a wearable vest that houses a set of actuators to be placed at specific points on the body. We developed vibrotactile patterns to induce five sensation types: (1) Calming, (2 patterns, Up and Down back) (2) Feel Good (4 patterns in different directions around the waist), (3) Activating (2 patterns, Tarzan and Shiver, on top front of body and then down the back as well for Shiver), (4) Navigation (2 patterns, Turn Left and Turn Right, prompting on back then opposite side front waist) for full body turning and (5) Warning, (1 pattern on solar plexus) to slow down or stop the wearers. We made an overlap between the pulses, which were of longer durations than the short burst saltation pulses designed to induce muscle movement. Our participants responded well to the Calming and Feel Good patterns, but reported mixed responses to Activation, Navigation and Warning patterns.

This paper describes the design process of TattooAR mobile app, an experimental project that explores the use of tattoos as an artistic, interactive and dynamic wearable ornament. Tattoos have been used as different forms of expression throughout history, and in contemporary society people have been increasingly using tattoos as a form of art and a way to express themselves. TattooAR explores the frontiers between Art, Design and Technology by using Augmented Reality (AR) technologies in order to allow a basic skin tattoo to receive layers of image that transform it into different virtual tattoos that can be viewed on the screen of a mobile device and can also be shared in social networks.

Wearable devices using solid device components have recently been released to purchase for different kinds of applications. However, ideal “wearable” devices should be like a cloth, so that they can be attached on a human skin or cloth without awareness. To realize flexible and wearable electronics, a challenge is how to form mechanically flexible electrical materials on a flexible substrate. To address this requirement, we here propose and develop nanomaterial film formations on a macroscale flexible substrate using printing methods. As examples, we present an artificial electronic skin (e-skin) for robotic/prosthesis and a wearable device. By considering strain engineering, composition of materials into the film, and surface interaction to form uniform printing films, a variety of flexible devices can be readily fabricated without using an expensive tool such as a vacuum system.

This paper discusses the development of RFID logo antennas based on the logos of Loughborough University and the University of Kent which can be tattooed directly onto the skin’s surface. Hence, this paper uses aesthetic principles to create functional wearable technology. Simulations of possible designs for the tattoo tags have been carried out to optimize their performance. Prototypes of the tag designs were fabricated and read range measurements with the transfer tattoos on a volunteers arm were carried out to test the performance. Measured read ranges of approximately 0.5 m have been achieved with the tag only10 µm from the body.

Due to increasing advances in electronics, devices are getting even more small and powerful, making it possible the widespread of wearable computing. However, most wearable devices have the electronics very distinguished and placed on clothes and accessories. Our proposal is Beauty Technology, a wearable computing subfield that uses the body’s surface as an interactive platform by integrating technology into beauty products applied directly to one’s skin, fingernails, and hair. This paper presents Hairware, a Beauty Technology that fosters a seamlessly looking approach to wearables. It is artificial hair extensions that are chemically metalized to maintain a natural coloration and when connected to a microcontroller could be used as both, input and output devices. This paper describes the design process in creating these conductive hair extensions and discuses lessons learned in the development of them.

Commitment is a key element in social behavior, especially when it comes to communication between two individuals in close relation to each other. Between people who have known each other for a longer period of time, communication often revolves around recent events and the act of sending a life sign takes precedence to the actual content of the information itself. Furthermore the constant accessibility through mobile media devices is increasingly creating the expectation of permanent communication between couples. The ongoing spread of wearable devices allows a permanent communication across physical distance but it sometimes also supports a leakage of situat awareness among their users.

The main concern of the Commiticator project lies within the development of a wearable device that can support the expression of commitment as an act of social interaction between two wearers. To study the acceptance of such a device, the already culturally established character of jewelry is used to create a jewelry set consisting of a ring and a locket.

To make an intuitive form of communication possible, the wearer’s tactile sense is enhanced by the jewelry giving them a sense for a magnetic field that is enabled by the locket if it is activated by the partner. This creates a ping-pong like interaction between the wearers.