What can you find in the centre of Paris, which cant be found in London or Milan

1
What can you find in the centre of Paris, which
cant be found in London or Milan?
Paris
2
Users

• Objectives
• To understand why user types are important
• To be able to categorise different user types
• To understand the differences between user types

3
Why is it important to consider user types?

• To improve productivity
• To make the system easy to use
• To reduce errors
• To make the user feel in control
• To give the user what they need
• To reduce information overload

4
Example

• You have 14 days holiday due and want to book a
  overseas trip to somewhere warm and preferably
  dry - what should a website tell you?
• http//www.travelmood.com/site/hotoffers/default.a
  sp
• http//www.airline-network.co.uk/
• http//www.thomson.co.uk/po/index.jsp

5
Design considerations - interface

• Layout
• Content
• Ease of use
• Adaptability
• Who the users will be are there multiple user
  types

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How do we design for multiple user types?

• Design above 5th and below 95th percentile
• Height of 95 of population
• Design the height of a door for 95

7
We need to know and understand

• users needs and capabilities
• things that affect user performance
• the tasks they need to complete
• how to design suitable systems which encompass
  problems arising from the above

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Categories

• naive
• novice
• skilled
• expert
• discretionary
• non-discretionary

9
Job Profiles

• management
• clerical (data input)
• clerical (data input and retrieval)
• specialists
• process controller

10
Changing work practices

• job content
• Job enrichment and job enlargement
• personnel polices
• job satisfaction
• power and influence
• working environment

11
User centred system design

• A key aim of HCI is to make users the focus of
  design activity by
• Involving users
• Focusing on their needs
• Making their issues rather than technical
  considerations central in the design process.

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User Centred Design

• Know the user
• Reduce cognitive load
• Engineer for errors
• Maintain claritiy and consistency

13
Characteristics which affect users

• Cognitive abilities
• Physical abilities
• Working methods
• Attitudes
• Organisational culture

14
Performance Factors

• There are many things which affect the
  performance of the users -
• Human Considerations
• Motivation
• Personality
• Perception
• Cognition

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Performance Factors contd

• Environmental Considerations
• Noise
• Interruption
• Lighting (glare, reflection)
• Heating and Ventilation
• Ergonomics

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Things to consider in interface design

• Closure
• Memory Load
• Attention
• Colour
• Help facilities
• Stress and Fatigue
• Errors
• Reversal of actions
• Feedback
• Shortcuts

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User Analysis

• You need to establish the users
• Skills and Knowledge
• What they have experience in
• Education and qualifications
• Linguistic ability
• Physical attributes
• Age
• Gender
• Physical abilities/ limitations/disabilities  
• Mental attributes
• Intellectual capabilities
• Motivation

• Attitudes to
• Others
• the system
• IT
• the organisation 
• Job characteristics
• Function
• hours of work/operation/type of use of IT 
• Other relevant details
• Organisational details

And the implications these should have on your
design
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Measures

• How well does the interface fulfill the users
  objectives?
• How easy is it to learn and use?
• How much of the system is being used?

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Measures

• Learnability
• Predictability
• Synthesizability
• Familiarity
• Generalisability
• Consistency
• Flexibility
• Dialogue initiative
• Multi-threading
• Task migratability
• Substitutivity
• customisability

• Robustness (support given to users)
• Observability
• Recoverability
• Responsiveness
• Task conformance
• See Human Computer Interaction - Dix, 1993

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Conclusion

• Users have many different characteristics and
  needs
• Designing for everyone is difficult
• System should consider who the user is, find out
  their needs and design for them

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Exercise

• Design the control panel for a new product which
  combines
• Radio
• Cassette
• CD player
• Alarm clock
• Telephone
• Lamp
• How would you incorporate the needs of the user
  population