For Transdisciplinary Inquiry we had to create a project proposal and then go about implementing it, to see my project proposal click here. From it I went about implementing my action research methodology. Which was first to look into what defines a U.I (user interface) and the different types of user interfaces there are. With that research I would then be able to create a survey about peoples interactions with these interfaces and the interfaces impact on them. The results will help me understand how and in what ways user interfaces impact peoples view on a end product.
When defined a user interface is the means by which the user interacts with a piece of hardware, in particular the use of input devices and software. Using this definition I researched the different types of user interfaces that could be found. I found there are a multitude of different interfaces available, from touchscreen based to tangible and graphical (shown above) and in general all interfaces are made to make a machine easy to use, efficient, and user friendly to operate. Also found was that all quality user interfaces can be shown to share eight qualities:
- Clarity (Showing all info to viewer clearly)
- Concision (Keeping all info to the point and concise)
- Familiarity (Keeping familiar elements through out interface)
- Responsiveness (An interface that feels fast and not sluggish)
- Consistency (A consistent interface across application)
- Aesthetics (A visually appealing design)
- Efficiency (Should be time efficient)
- Forgiveness (Should not punish users for making mistakes)
Using these eight qualities I can create a survey to see which of these qualities are more important to users and how good and bad user interfaces affect their view on an application. Also because of the long list of various different user interfaces, many that most people never interact with, I have chosen to look at and ask questions on more commonly found interfaces that people interact with on a daily basis.
Survey Results:
For my survey I asked mainly people between the age of 18 and 35 as this age group is the most likely to use technology devices on a daily basis. My results found this true as all 100% of the people surveyed owned a smart-phone, with 93% owning a computer, 60% owning a game console and 20% owning a tablet.
What is the biggest annoyance when navigating a user interface?
Asked using a few of the common annoyances found when researching about user interfaces. This question was to see what users found the most annoying when navigating a interface. It wasn't much of a surprise though to see that efficiency and complexity was the found the most annoying with 31% each. As these, I would think, impact the most in ease of use of the interface. Advertisements came in second with 16% and loading and aesthetics in last with 11% each.
What do you like most when navigating a user interface?
On the flip side I asked what was most liked when navigating a user interface and the results reinforced the previous question results, showing that making it easy to use is the most important aspect to people when using a user interface. While the results are more spread across than the last question, both results pretty much show the same conclusion in that speed and design don't matter as much as ease of use and clarity, for the majority of users.
Would a bad U.I impact your view on a application as a whole?
For this yes or no question there was also a open answer area so people could say why they chose a certain answer. Majority of the users chose yes, then mostly stated that the U.I would be the first thing the come in contact with set a tone, so if it was bad it would leave a sour taste when the are using the application. But on the opposite side people that said no said that a good game would overcome there feelings on the U.I. I found in these results that a U.I would impact peoples view on a application but it also depended on the application itself and it impacted people more than others.
Would a good U.I impact your view on a application as a whole?
Likewise I found a good U.I also impacted on users, maybe even more than a bad one. As it was a good first impression and people thought that a first impression would be more memorable and make others feel more lenient to a bad game.
Conclusions
The findings from this survey was that users want user interfaces to be easy to use above all else and that is the first thing they notice in a U.I. Also that user interfaces do impact a lot on peoples view on an application as a whole, but impacts more when it is a good interface. Another aspect is the application itself, for example if a game is terrible, not matter how good the U.I is it won't make people think the game is good and likewise with the other way around.
Future
With the conclusions from the survey and the research found, the next stage in finding how user interfaces are developed and their uses through creation would be to create a mock up user interface to show, test and survey on. Created using the info found in the research and survey to make one that people can give feedback on as well as have it available to test against other user interfaces.
References:
Williams, D. (2007, June 10). A Reactable at the Altman Center in 2007. Retrieved June 08, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Reactable_Multitouch.jpg
