Frank S.

Designing for users with disabilities presents challenges to designers that stem from methodological as well as social origins. Designing accessible technology experiences for children with disabilities presents even greater challenges. The lack of focus on user research in accessibility efforts has created a disadvantage for designers and developers in gaining adherence and compliance to accessibility standards and best practices.

Detecting and utilizing cultural and temporal rhythms when localizing a mobile interface, can critically impact user adoption. Here we report on key lessons from an eight-country global field study using cultural and temporal rhythms as examples of ways to more effectively capture Interaction Design insights for mobile experiences. We demonstrate how user adoption can be improved when localization research for mobile applications aligns with culturally grounded insights.

For blind users to access virtual environments, interfaces must accommodate spatial auditory interface design techniques. The use of earcons [3] or auditory interfaces [2-8] has been well researched. Soundspace is a proof of concept virtual environment that demonstrates how blind users can participate in virtual reality using tested techniques for navigating spatially, navigating within an interaction space and in social or collaborative encounters in immersive virtual reality.

Wearable fitness trackers have gained a new level of popularity due to their ambient data gathering and analysis. This has signalled a trend toward self-efficacy and increased motivation among users of these devices. For consumers looking to improve their health, fitness trackers offer a way to more readily gain motivation via the personal data-based insights the devices offer. However, the user experience (UX) that accompanies wearables is critical to helping users interpret, understand, gain… Show more

Wearable fitness trackers have gained a new level of popularity due to their ambient data gathering and analysis. This has signalled a trend toward self-efficacy and increased motivation among users of these devices. For consumers looking to improve their health, fitness trackers offer a way to more readily gain motivation via the personal data-based insights the devices offer. However, the user experience (UX) that accompanies wearables is critical to helping users interpret, understand, gain motivation and act on their data. Despite this, there is little evidence as to specific aspects of fitness tracker user engagement and long-term motivation. We report on a 4-week situated diary study and Healthcare Technology Self-efficacy (HTSE) questionnaire assessment of 34 users of two popular American fitness trackers: JawBone and FitBit. The study results illustrate design implications and requirements for fitness trackers and other self-efficacy mobile healthcare applications.
Show less

In efforts to enhance the user experience (UX), mobile fitness applications are beginning to incorporate gameplay mechanics and social elements in their design. Unlike the more traditional health applications, m-health applications can provide a richer social user experience that caters to mobile usage contexts, such as fitness. In this paper we discuss to what extent gamification and social elements improve user motivation and lead to short-term positive behavior change. We examine the… Show more

In efforts to enhance the user experience (UX), mobile fitness applications are beginning to incorporate gameplay mechanics and social elements in their design. Unlike the more traditional health applications, m-health applications can provide a richer social user experience that caters to mobile usage contexts, such as fitness. In this paper we discuss to what extent gamification and social elements improve user motivation and lead to short-term positive behavior change. We examine the efficacy of social features in three different m-health running applications with varying levels of social and gamification functionality, each supporting the core task of tracking a user’s running activity. Data was collected over a week from 15 mobile app users and runners based in the USA with an online diary study followed by short interviews. The analysis of the diary entries indicates that apps can provide motivation to maintain or increase physical activity, but that the usability, design and feature richness of social and gamification elements negatively impacted user adoption. Moreover, the adoption of social elements, was impacted by interface usability, integration with new music services like Spotify, accuracy of the GPS and so on. The results show that intrinsic motivation and individual goals can enhance short-term positive behavior change, an important dimension for the design of m-health apps. In addition, many users were comfortable with social UX elements, but social elements in and of themselves did not contribute to motivation in running due to the design and usability of each apps social UX strategy. The results from this study will be useful for designers of m-health apps in formulating appropriate design strategies for incorporating social and game mechanics into mobile UX strategy. Show less

Mobile is the fastest growing segment on the online advertising market creating opportunities for life-enriching UX and value within this emerging marketplace (Chen & Hsieh, 2011). Mobile advertising is described as a form of advertising that is communicated to the consumer/target via a handset. This type of advertising is most commonly seen as a Mobile Web Banner (top of page), Mobile Web Poster (bottom of page), and full screen interstitial, which appears while a requested mobile web page is… Show more

Mobile is the fastest growing segment on the online advertising market creating opportunities for life-enriching UX and value within this emerging marketplace (Chen & Hsieh, 2011). Mobile advertising is described as a form of advertising that is communicated to the consumer/target via a handset. This type of advertising is most commonly seen as a Mobile Web Banner (top of page), Mobile Web Poster (bottom of page), and full screen interstitial, which appears while a requested mobile web page is “loading’ (Mobile Marketing Association, 2008), primarily in smartphones as well as Tablets. As mobile technology applications continue to increase, so do the number of mobile subscribers. With a penetration of 84 percent of mobile subscribers in the United States, with this percentage surging to 100 percent by 2013 (Kagan, 2007) and the latest figures from Nielsen (2012) showing that between July 2011 and July 2012 smartphone penetration in the US jumped from 41% to 55% (and global smartphone penetration range from 10% to 15%), the mobile phone and network is promptly becoming a feasible marketing channel for marketers and advertisers. For users, this in practice means the provision of targeted, context-accurate, relevant and non-intrusive messages, which carefully manage the exposure of personal data towards the advertising industry. One of the greatest barriers to online mobile advertising is user resistance: at best, users perceive it as irrelevant and distractive and at worst they find it intrusive and an invasion of their privacy (Emarketer, 2011; Leontiadis et al., 2012). UX thus inevitably becomes a major issue that may contribute to make the mobile advertising experience so relevant, rewarding and entertaining where users will not just accept it but embrace it. Moreover, Emarketer reported (2011) on a new survey (by Yahoo and the Nielsen Company) that social media (43%) and mobile users (63%) hate ads the most. Show less

As mobile-based applications and services are expanding, the need to take a human-centred approach in their design and adoption becomes ever more important. This study aims to provide an understanding of users from different countries and principles that support better design of user experience (UX) in the context of mobile advertising.

Biofeedback represents a new frontier in emotion design. Game design and more recently gamification are proving to be valuable design approaches to increasing fun, pleasurability and wellbeing, particularly in healthcare applications. Moreover, healthcare applications may be significantly improved from designs that incorporate elements of biofeedback and gamification. This paper describes the results of a user study aimed to assess the design potential of combining biofeedback and gamification… Show more

Biofeedback represents a new frontier in emotion design. Game design and more recently gamification are proving to be valuable design approaches to increasing fun, pleasurability and wellbeing, particularly in healthcare applications. Moreover, healthcare applications may be significantly improved from designs that incorporate elements of biofeedback and gamification. This paper describes the results of a user study aimed to assess the design potential of combining biofeedback and gamification techniques as a way to improve the user experience. We examined performance and stress levels of ten participants while playing Relaxing Rhythms, a biofeedback game. The results demonstrate the need to design more emotionally compelling healthcare user experiences using biofeedback and gamification techniques. However, as our study shows, mixing gamification with wellbeing applications requires careful attention to how the game is designed as well as even if users perceive it as a game for solving health issues, like negative stress.
Show less

Understanding emotion in product design and specifically measuring emotions is an area of focus that has gained substantial research attention. Mood research on the other hand, is limited largely due to the challenges presented by defining and measuring mood. While much of product research focuses on emotion, mood as a design criteria and technique is starting to gain interest in product development. Keeping users in a good mood is a valuable design goal. Products that offer detection… Show more

Understanding emotion in product design and specifically measuring emotions is an area of focus that has gained substantial research attention. Mood research on the other hand, is limited largely due to the challenges presented by defining and measuring mood. While much of product research focuses on emotion, mood as a design criteria and technique is starting to gain interest in product development. Keeping users in a good mood is a valuable design goal. Products that offer detection, indication and inducement of moods are more likely to extend the emotional impact of a product.

Understanding the broader experience surrounding product use can increase mood-sensitivity in design. This paper will illustrate how mood plays a vital role in product appraisal and will outline a taxonomy of mood with a specific emphasis on mood as an important interaction design objective. Show less

Emotion based research has accelerated in the area of product development and design,
signaling a turning point in the pursuit of functional, or purely usability driven research
approaches. At the heart of emotion design techniques is a desire to tailor deeper
connections between users and experientially designed products and services.

Product design that provides aesthetic appeal, pleasure and satisfaction can greatly influence the success of a product. Traditional cognitive approaches to product usability have tended to underestimate or fragment emotion from an understanding of the user experience. Affect, which is inexplicable linked to attitudes, expectations and motivations, plays a significant role in the cognition of product interaction, and therefore can be usefully treated as a design aid. Emotion influences and… Show more

Product design that provides aesthetic appeal, pleasure and satisfaction can greatly influence the success of a product. Traditional cognitive approaches to product usability have tended to underestimate or fragment emotion from an understanding of the user experience. Affect, which is inexplicable linked to attitudes, expectations and motivations, plays a significant role in the cognition of product interaction, and therefore can be usefully treated as a design aid. Emotion influences and mediates specific aspects of interaction before, during and after the use of a product. These affective states regularly impact how a user manipulates and explores a user interface in order to support a desired cognitive state. To better understand the specific qualities of user experience impacting desirability and pleasureability, it is necessary to understand how artifacts trigger and mediate affect and how these processes aid user cognition during interaction. The implications for design are that emotion acts as a critical component of artifact sense- making and determines how artifacts are interpreted (Rafaeli and Vilnai-Yavetz, 2003). Designers that understand how cognitive artifacts interchange with affective artifacts will be better able to support actual product use and perceived pleasure.

Show less

The following paper discusses artifact-sharing with an emphasis on temporal, social and cognitive influences in multi-user collaborative task environments. The need to understand the temporal and social attributes of tasks has intensified as information management responsibilities grow. The proliferation of information technology in traditionally low-tech environments has created an opportunity to understand the needs of collaborative users and user interfaces that are temporally distributed… Show more

The following paper discusses artifact-sharing with an emphasis on temporal, social and cognitive influences in multi-user collaborative task environments. The need to understand the temporal and social attributes of tasks has intensified as information management responsibilities grow. The proliferation of information technology in traditionally low-tech environments has created an opportunity to understand the needs of collaborative users and user interfaces that are temporally distributed. Inquiries into the cognitive and social artifacts of collaborative workflow and subsequent fluctuations or exceptions caused by the task environment are essential to successfully modeling task requirements. Focusing on a key element of collaboration, artifact sharing, we discuss the temporal qualities that reduce error and increase productivity in collaborative task environments. Show less

Analysis and observation of the user’s task domain unveils a window of
understanding into the behavioural patterns, contexts and scenarios that are
required and utilized by users to attain success in completing a task. Task
Analysis (TA) forms the foundation for interaction, behavior and usage since
prioritisation of design elements is a serious issue for both users and
designers.
Successful User Interface (UI) designs often utilise insight into tasks by
studying user… Show more

Analysis and observation of the user’s task domain unveils a window of
understanding into the behavioural patterns, contexts and scenarios that are
required and utilized by users to attain success in completing a task. Task
Analysis (TA) forms the foundation for interaction, behavior and usage since
prioritisation of design elements is a serious issue for both users and
designers.
Successful User Interface (UI) designs often utilise insight into tasks by
studying user interactions, intentions, and expectations. User interaction itself
amounts to the interplay of cognition and information processing as
embodied by task routines or sequences that are commonly captured in a TA.
This chapter will focus on procedures for uncovering cognitive processes
relative to user goals and tasks including decision-making systems, the
impact of information overload on screen display, and the significance of
user roles to tasks. The notion of a “cognitive archeology” as a means to
investigating task cognition will be explored and explained as a novel best
practice in TA.
“Cognitive archeology” or the capture of cognitive processes required and
utilized by users for task completion offers a necessary insight into the
interchange of cognitive and task generated needs as they unfold at the
design level. Concentrated analysis of explicit and implicit needs, decisionmaking
processes, procedural knowledge, and motivation strategies creates a
means for prioritization thereby improving interface effectiveness. Show less