Subject Name: Human Computer Interaction

Module – 1 : Foundation of HMI

Dr. Vaibhav Narawade

Index

Lecture 1 – Introduction to HMI, Hardware, Software

Lecture 2 – The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

Lecture 3 – Norman’s Fundamental Principles of Interaction

Lecture 4- Seven Stages of Action

Lecture 5- Interaction: Models, frameworks, Ergonomics, styles,

Lecture 6 - Usability of Interactive Systems

Lecture 7- Usability Motivations.

Lecture 8 - Universal Usability

2 Software Process Models

Unit No: 1 Module Name : Foundation of HMI

Lecture No: 1
Introduction to HMI,
Hardware, Software .
Introduction to Human Machine Interface

 We are moving towards a world of automation with a goal to reach The Era
of Machines.
 Each day our machines are remodeled with more features that can ease our
task further.
 Example : Washing clothes was a household chore.
 Semi-automatic washing machines required human intervention, so fully
automatic machines came into existence.
 Further these machines are enhanced each day to provide more features,
like temperature, soak, dry etc.
 Now we are trying to add intelligence to these machines, so that they can
automatically set the wash time, decide on the amount of soap required,
and so on.
 An interface is the way in which the machine is presented to the human.

4 Introduction of Human Machine Interface

Evolution of Washing clothes

5 Introduction of Human Machine Interface

History of User Interface Designing

 A machine can be defined as anything that can reduce manual effort.

 First Generation: Machines that Reduce Physical Labor :

 The earlier machine that can be thought of is the normal hand-axe.
 The handle is the interface to access this tool. A long wooden piece
that is rounded smoothly is used to ensure a good grip.
 The crude hand-made axes of Stone-age gradually improved in
aesthetics as well as purpose.

6
History of User Interface Designing

 Slowly more machines were invented, such as…….

Lever
Wheel Pulley

 For each of these machines, their physical appearance such as their

shape, size, material used, weight, etc.

7
History of User Interface Designing

Second Generation: Machines that Displayed Output

 These machines calculate the speed of wind, temperature, time, etc. they
showed humans some kind of readings.
 The presentation of data to the user can be called as its interface. The
units of measurements, the shape and size of pointers, color, scale, etc.,
made a difference to the ease of use of the machine.

Anemometer Compass Flask Tailoring Tape Thermometer

8
History of User Interface Designing

Third Generation: Machines that provided Output with Feedback

 Feedback is an acknowledgement a user receives from the machine when
his action is registered.
 Most of the home appliances come under this category.

Switch Fan Television Mixer

9
History of User Interface Designing

 Machines with feedback.

Microwave oven washing machine telephone

10
History of User Interface Designing

Fourth Generation: Machine with Computing Power

 The innovation of computers has motivated research in various fields.
 Earlier providing functionality itself was a challenge, and was a field of
research. Today we have options, and we are free to discard the ones we
are not comfortable with.
 For example, earlier people learnt DOS commands to work with
computer but today no one put efforts to learn to use system. They
just shift to a system which is easier to use.
 Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is a field of research that emerged due
to this competition. Here the focus is on easing the communication between
the user and a computer.

11
History of User Interface Designing

Fifth Generation: Intelligent Machines

 With artificial intelligence in boom, traditional input methods are providing to
insufficient .
 We are making machines that can adapt to the humans by continuous
learning. These systems require the freedom to learn from the environment.
 Here the user need not learn how to use the system . Instead these system
learn how the user is going to operate the system.
 Example: self driving car detect and avoid obstacle.

12
History of User Interface Designing

 Natural language processing is an upcoming field that allows humans

to freely talk to the computer in their own language, and the computer will
interpret it correctly

 For such system keyboard, mouse or even a touch screen restrict the
learning of the machine .

NLP

13
Hardware, Software and Operating Environments

Hardware

 Hardware was the most important utility in earlier generations of computing.

 They were sole game players, as hardware use to drive the software. But in
the current scenario, it is quite the opposite.

 But today we can choose the hardware as per the requirement of the user,
and can top it up with any software application.

 The hardware options available are plenty, and one need not compromise
like earlier times.

14
Hardware, Software and Operating Environments

Software

 Software is the tool with which we can create an effective user interface.
Again we have a very large range of software.

 It can be lower level languages, such as Assembly Level Languages, or

high level languages, like C, C++, Java, and so on.

 There are many front-end developer tools, with which we can create an
audio / visual experience for user, such as Visual Basic, HTML5, PHP,
animators, etc.

15
Hardware, Software and Operating Environments

Operating Environment
 Though there is huge turnover in the software and hardware, the major
focus is on the end user and based on that the designs are decided.
 Our design decision should fulfill the user-level acceptance test and the
modification should be provided immediately after any suggestion.
 The operation environment should follow a process within that certain level
of pitfalls (hidden difficulty) should be avoided. Following are the some key
points that define the golden rules of user interface design.
 Friends, family members, colleagues are not representatives of
target users.
 User requirements should be understood by team and not by an
individual.
 Goal should be to minimize user difficulties.
 The hardware (device) and software balance should be maintained.

16
Unit No: 1 Module Name : Foundation of HMI

Lecture No: 2
The Psychopathology of
Everyday Things
The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

 By breaking it down word Psychopathology word-by-word, it will be easier to

understand the ideas behind this topic. First, we will break the word
Psychopathology as:

Psycho = mind;
pathos = suffering / disease;
logy = study.

Psychopathology : The study of mental illness

18
The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

• In 1988, Donald Norman applied the term "affordances" to the context

of human–machine interaction.
• He used the term to refer to those action possibilities which are readily
perceivable by an actor.
• When we create an object and display it on a screen, how is it
perceived by a user? Specifically, what actions will a user think that the
object can enable.

Question:
Can we design an interface where the user easily can perceive what
actions s/he needs to take to generate the results s/he desires?

19
The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

Perceive “action possibilities”?

20
The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

21
The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

1. Complexity of Modern Devices:-

 The designer just wants to make difference, and creates existing products
with a new appearance

 Interesting appearance, but the designer here have not considered

the difficulty of the user to use and to see.

22
The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

 A designer has to ensure that these features are presented in a simple and
comprehensible way to the user, yet ensure perfect usability. Instead, they
leave the user confused and make him feel incompetent to use such a high
end product.
 Most of us face trouble using simple day-to-day devices. Buttons on our TV
or AC remote, we feel the need of an engineering degree.

23
The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

2. Human-Centered Design

 Human-centered designing is to be consider all the aspects of the

destined user, such as his interest, behaviors, needs, dislikes, skill set,
experience, challenges, etc., and build products that users will be able
to easily adapt to.

 Analyzing the human characteristics is the requirement of the product

design, and user satisfaction is the designer’s goal.

24
The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

3. Conceptual models (Mental Model) define a good design as the

communication between the designer and the user. The designer must be
able to explain the entire product to the user by just appearance of it.
 These models are very critical for a good user experience. If the end
product does not map to the mental images of the user, the product is not a
success.

Mental Model

25
Aspects of Conceptual Model

 Norman talks of four aspects through which these conceptual models can
be used and / or constructed:

1. Feedback : The effect of every action. A feedback in any form is very

critical to the user.

Example : washing machine example, the user did not get any kind of
feedback from the system. That made the user assume the system is faulty.
Every single user action has to be acknowledged immediately.

26
The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

2. Constraints: Prevent the user from making mistakes. Instead of having an

option for the user to make a mistake and then forgiving them, make sure
your user can never make a mistake.
For example, you want your user to enter a date. Show a pick-n-click
calendar instead of a textbox. This will eliminate all possibilities of syntax
mismatches

Edit Holiday

Holiday Name H2
Date 22 Dec.2016

OK Cancel

27
The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

3. Affordances : Convey the rules by leaving visual clues. To make sure that
the appropriate actions are perceivable, and non-accessible ones are not
invisible. By just the appearance of any object, its functionality must be clear
to the user. Example, by looking at the handles, we should know how the
door opens.

28
The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

4. Power of Observation : Learn from the struggle of others. As a normal

person, we do not have a keen eye to observe.
 In fact when someone is making a mistake or struggling with a system, we
tend to make fun of them or judge them to be incapable.
 As a HMI student, you need to observe them. Their struggle could be
genuine and their mistakes could be innocent. As designers, we need to
consider every such aspect of the user, and ensure that he / she gets a
good experience.

29
Unit No: 1 Unit Name : Introduction

Lecture No: 3
Norman’s Fundamental
Principles of Interaction
The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

 Norman’s Fundamental Principles of Interaction:-

 Affordances

 Perceived Affordances

 Signifiers

 Mapping

 Feedback

 Conceptual Models.

31
Affordance

 Affordance are the visual clues that lead the user to understand the
functionality of the object.

What is this?????

When you see handle of cup,

you know that it is provided to
lift the cup

32
Affordance

 Affordance is most critical aspect of design. As a designer, you should first

realize the user’s level of experience and intelligence. Only then you can
make design that would be predictable to user.

The blinking vertical lines tells you that you

can type here

33
Perceived Affordance

The perceived properties of the object that suggest how one could use it

chairs are for sitting knobs are for turning

table for placing things on

buttons are switch for toggling computer for…

for pressing

34
Perceived Affordance

 Product design
 perceived affordances:
 design invites people to take possible actions
 actual affordances:
 the actual actionable properties of the product

 Problems occur when

 these are not the same,
 people’s perceptions are not what the
designer expects

35
 Perceived Affordance

Mirrors for not touching

Knobs for turning

Handles for lifting

Surface for placing transparencies

36
 Perceived Affordances Problems

Mirrors for not touching

people don’t reposition image

Knobs for turning

focus or image position?
Handles for lifting
bends frame, focus distorted

Surface for placing transparencies

which way is up?

what about this?

37
Perceived Affordances

• GUI design
– perception only through visuals
– designer creates appropriate visual affordances via
• familiar idioms
• metaphors
 Perceived Affordances
dials for turning

sliders for
sliding

music
console for
controlling
music
 Perceived Affordance Problems

is this equalizer control a button for pressing,

toggle or button? but action unknown

What
are
are these
these things
buttons ??
?
Signifiers

 This is a physical form of showing the

functionality to the user, such as a
sound, printed word or image.

 Example: writing word “PUSH” on a

door is a clear way to tell the user
that door will open when pushed.

signifiers

41
Visible Constraints

 Limitations of the actions possible perceived from object’s appearance

provides people with a range of usage possibilities

Can only push,

side to push clearly visible
Push or pull? Which side?
 Which side do you use for cutting?

Photograph courtesy of www.baddesigns.com

 Visible constraints: Entering a Date

 The more constraints, the less opportunity for error

 particularly important for managing user input

Controls constructed in Visual Basic

 Mapping

 The set of possible relations between objects

 Control-display compatibility
 the natural relationship between controls and displays
 e.g., visual mapping of stove controls to elements

arbitrary paired full mapping

back front back front back front front back

right left left right

24 possibilities, requires: 2 possibilities per side

-visible labels + memory =4 total possibilities
Mapping

 Control-display compatibility
 cause and effect

scroll bar – scroll down

viewport goes down

steering wheel-turn left, car turns left

Mapping

 Palette controls and active objects

Only controls that can

operate on a picture are
fully visible

Others are grayed out

Selected picture
 Mapping

Cursor re-enforces
 Action feedback selection of current
item

Depressed button
indicates current
mapped item

Microsoft Paint
 Mapping Problems

Quick, open the top drawer

Affordance:
Move is for pulling
handle
cabinet

Mapping:
suggests it should
open the drawer but
doesn’t

Photograph courtesy of www.baddesigns.com

 Mapping Problems

Where do you plug in the mouse?

Mapping
ambiguous

Photograph courtesy of www.baddesigns.com

Causality

 the thing that happens right after an action is assumed by people to be

caused by that action

 interpretation of “feedback”

 false causality
 incorrect effect
 invoking unfamiliar function just as computer hangs
 causes “superstitious” behaviors

 invisible effect
 command with no apparent result often re-entered repeatedly
 e.g., mouse click to raise menu on unresponsive system
 Causality Problems

 Effects visible only after Exec button is pressed

 Ok does nothing!
 awkward to find appropriate color level

LViewPro
Transfer Effects

 People transfer their learning/expectations of similar objects to the current

objects
 positive transfer: previous learning's also apply to new situation
 negative transfer: previous learning's conflict with the new situation
Transfer Effect Problems

 How does knowing MSPaint

 help you in Photoshop?
 e.g. rectangular control…
Cultural associations

 Because a trashcan in Thailand may look like

this:

a Thai user is likely to be confused by this

image popular in Apple interfaces:

 Sun found their email icon problematic for some

American urban dwellers who are unfamiliar with
rural mail boxes.
Conceptual model

 The affordance induce a thought of action.

 Signifiers affirm that thought.
 Mapping his action to a consequence provides a feedback.
 Good feedback encourages learning.
 Repeated learning creates a mental model in the user about system.

 People have “mental models” of how things work, built from

 affordances
 causality
 constraints
 mapping
 positive transfer
 population stereotypes/cultural standards
 instructions
 Interactions
Conceptual model

Example:

• A driver’s mental model says that the press of accelerator pedal of a car
makes the car go faster.

• The design model is to provide more fuel to the engine when accelerator is
pressed.

• Here mental pictures may be different but the consequence is the same.

Hence there is no problem.

59
 Design 1

Donald Norman Design of Everyday Things, Basic Books

 Design - 2

Donald Norman Design of Everyday Things, Basic Books

The PC Cup Holder

 A true (?) story from a Novell NetWire SysOp

Caller: Hello, is this Tech Support?"
Tech: Yes, it is. How may I help you?
Caller: The cup holder on my PC is broken and I am within my
warranty period. How do I go about getting that fixed?
Tech: I'm sorry, but did you say a cup holder?
Caller: Yes, it's attached to the front of my computer.
Tech: Please excuse me if I seem a bit stumped, it’s because I am. Did
you receive this as part of a promotional, at a trade show? How
did you get this cup holder? Does it have any trademark on it?
Caller: It came with my computer, I don't know anything about a
promotional. It just has '4X' on it.
At this point the Tech Rep had to mute the call, because he couldn't stand it.

The caller had been using the load drawer of the CD-ROM drive as a cup holder,
and snapped it off the drive.

62
Conceptual Model

 Here mental model of the user is a coffee cup holder, whereas the design
was to insert discs.

 It is responsibility of the designers to first understand the mental model and

then try to make a product that will agree to it.

 To make user learn a new concept, and develop mental model about the
product will be difficult as well as time consuming.

 Creativity for a designer is essential, but not at the cost of making users feel
incompetent.

63
Good example: Scissors

 affordances:
 holes for something to be inserted

 constraints:
 big hole for several fingers, small hole for thumb

 mapping:
 between holes and fingers suggested and constrained by appearance

 positive transfer and cultural idioms

 learnt when young
 constant mechanism

 conceptual model:
 implications clear of how the operating parts work
Bad example: Digital watch

 affordances:
 three push buttons to push, but not clear what they will do

 constraints and mapping unknown

 no visible relation between buttons, possible actions and end result

 transfer of training
 little relation to analog watches

 cultural idiom
 somewhat standardized core controls and functions
 but still highly variable

 conceptual model:
 must be learnt
Designing a good conceptual model

 communicate model through visual image

 visible affordances, mappings, and constraints
 visible causality of interactions
 cultural idioms, transfer
 instructions augments visuals

 all work together to remind a person of what can be done and how to do it
Design User's model
Model

User
Designer

System

System
image
Knowledge in Head vs. Knowledge in the World

• Head • World
– Not easy to retrieve – Easy to retrieve
– Learning required, good – No learning, only interpretation
conceptual model makes easier – Use slowed by need to find the
– Can be very efficient info to interpret
– Not easy first time – Easy for first time
– Aesthetics do not need to make – Can be cluttered or inelegant
info visible
Unit No: 1 Unit Name : Introduction

Lecture No: 4
Seven Stages of Action
Norman’s Theory of Action
 Norman’s Theory of Action Execution-Evaluation cycle

Gulf of Execution Gulf of Evaluation

My goal My desired
outcome
Goals, Execution, Evaluation

Goals
What we
want to happen

Execution Evaluation
(Gulf of Execution) What we Comparing what happened (Gulf of Evaluation)
do to the world with what we wanted to happen

Physical System
Execution Evaluation
Seven Stages - All Together

Goals
Goals
What we Goals
What we
want to What we
want to happen
happen want to happen

An intention to act
so as to achieve the goal Evaluation of the interpretations
with what we expected to happen
The actual sequence of actions
that we plan to do Interpreting the perception according
to our expectations

The physical execution of that

action sequence Perceiving the state
of the world

Physical System
Example 1 : Theory of Action : Reading news on the web

1. Set goal to find out about current news

decide on news website
2. Form an intention
check out BBC website
3. Specify what to do
move cursor to link on browser
4. Execute action sequence
click on mouse button
5. Check what happens at the interface
see a new page pop up on the screen
6. Interpret it
read that it is the BBC website
7. Evaluate it with respect to the goal
meets goals – read news
 Example 2: Theory of Action : Execution Example : Turn on Light

Goals
Switch on button of lamp i.e. get more light (the goal). What we
want to happen

An intention to act
To do this, one specifies how to move one's body, so as to achieve the goal

The actual sequence of actions

how to stretch to reach the light switch and that we plan to do

The physical execution of that

how to extend one's finger to push the button. action sequence

The goal has to be translated into an intention, which

in turn has to be made into an action sequence. Physical System
Example 2 : Theory of Action : Execution contd..

Turn on a light

• Formulation of stages of execution:

1. Start with the goal, the state that is to be achieved.
2. Goal translated into an intention to do some action.
3. Intention must be translated into a set of internal commands, an
action sequence that can performed to satisfy the intention.
4. Action sequence must be executed, performed upon the world.
 Example 2: Theory of Action : Evaluation Example : Turn on light
contd..

Formulation of stages of evaluation can be described Goals

as: What we
want to happen

1. Evaluation starts with our perception of world. Evaluation of the interpretations

2. Perception interpreted according to our with what we expected to happen
expectations.
Interpreting the perception according
3. It is compared (evaluated) with respect to to our expectations
both our intentions and our goals.
Perceiving the state
of the world

Judge how light affected our world.

After turning on light, evaluate if it is actually turned on Physical System

Example 3: Theory of Action : Gulf of execution Example : Record a
Television Show

• You see the solution to the problem as simply pressing Record button.
However, to record a show requires, several actions :

1. Press the record button.

2. Specify time of recording, usually involving several steps to change the
hour and minute settings.
3. Select channel to record on - either by entering the channel's number
or selecting it with up/down buttons.
4. Save the recording settings, perhaps by pressing an "OK" or "menu" or
"enter" button.

• Difference between the user's perceived execution actions and the required
actions is the gulf of execution.
Example 4: Theory of Action : Gulf of Exceution

Forgot my user name, I’ll get it

here | User’s perceived
execution action

I need my Member ID? What’s

that? | Required actions
Example 5: Save my sketch

79
Example 6:

The user story: As a teacher I want to know who has been

absent.
 Who has
been absent?

Forming the Intention

There must be a list of
absent students that i'll
find by looking on this
page

Name
Ti t l e
Teacher
 Who has
been absent?

Forming the Intention I see a headline

indicating 5 students
were absent with a link
for their names.

specifying the action

Name
Ti t l e I must click on the link
Teacher to see those names
 Who has
been absent?

Forming the Intention

I'm moving my
cursor over the link
and clicking on it.
specifying the action
Name
Ti t l e
Teacher

Executing the action

 Who has
been absent?

Forming the Intention

I'm
I'm expecting
moving mya
system
cursor over
response
the link
to
and my
clicking
click.on it.
specifying the action
Name
Ti t l e
Tit
Teacher

Executing the action

System Response

Loading
 Who has
been absent?

Forming the Intention

The page has

changed
specifying the action
Name
Ti t l e
Teacher

Executing the action Perceiving the

system state

System Response
 Who has
been absent?

Forming the Intention

Its now titled
"Students with
Missing Attendance
Days
Interpreting the
specifying the action system state
Name
Ti t l e
Teacher

Executing the action Perceiving the

system state

System Response
 Who has
been absent?

Evaluating outcome
Forming the Intention against my goals

This page is likely to

tell me "who is
absent" Interpreting the
specifying the action system state
Name
Ti t l e
Teacher

Executing the action Perceiving the

system state

System Response
 Who has
been absent?

Evaluating outcome
Forming the Intention against my goals

Where are the

names of the absent
students? Interpreting the
specifying the action system state
Name
Ti t l e
Teacher

Executing the action Perceiving the

system state

System Response
Three Level of Processing

How do I work What

Goal
this Happened?
Plan
Reflective
Compare

Specify Behavioral Reflect

Perceive
Perform Visceral
Is this what
I want?
What can I do? Product

89
Unit No: 1 Module Name : Foundation of HMI

Lecture No: 5
Interaction Models.
Interaction Models

• Definition of Interaction Models in HMI.

• Overview of different interaction models (e.g.,
Command Line, Graphical User Interface,
Natural Language Processing, Touch-based,
Gesture-based, etc.).
• Advantages and disadvantages of each model.

91 Software Process Models

Interaction Frameworks

• Explanation of Interaction Frameworks and

their role in HMI design.
• Examples of popular frameworks (e.g., Model-
View-Controller, Human-Centered Design,
etc.).
• How frameworks help in creating better user
experiences.

92 Software Process Models

Ergonomics in HMI

• Definition of Ergonomics and its relevance in

HMI.
• Importance of considering human factors in
design.
• Examples of ergonomic considerations (e.g.,
display placement, button size, accessibility
features, etc.).

93 Software Process Models

Interaction Styles

• Overview of different Interaction Styles (e.g.,

Direct Manipulation, Menu Selection, Form
Fill-in, etc.).
• Explanation of each style with relevant
examples.
• How different styles impact user experience
and task efficiency.

94 Software Process Models

Interaction Elements

• Discussion on essential Interaction Elements

(e.g., buttons, sliders, icons, etc.).
• Importance of consistent and intuitive design
for elements.
• How to choose appropriate elements for
specific tasks.

95 Software Process Models

Interactivity and Feedback

• Definition of Interactivity and its significance in

HMI.
• Importance of providing feedback to users
(e.g., visual, auditory, haptic).
• Examples of interactive systems and their
feedback mechanisms.

96 Software Process Models

Interaction Paradigms in HMI

• Explanation of Interaction Paradigms (e.g.,

WIMP - Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointing; NUI
- Natural User Interface, etc.).
• Comparison of different paradigms and their
evolution over time.
• Future trends in HMI paradigms.

97 Software Process Models

Unit No: 1 Module Name : Foundation of HMI

Lecture No: 6
Usability of Interactive Systems.
Introduction Usability of Interactive Systems

• Usability plays a crucial role in the design and evaluation of

interactive systems.

• In this presentation, we will explore the concept of usability, its

goals and measures, motivations behind achieving usability,
universal usability, and the goals for our profession regarding
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).

99 Software Process Models

Introduction

• Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is the discipline related to

the design, evaluation, and implementation of interactive
computer systems for use by humans, and studies of the
phenomena associated with it. – ACM SIGCHI
• The focuses on Human-Computer Interaction are design and
evaluation of user interface. User interface is part of
interactive computer system that allows human to interact
with computer.
• The usability is a set of attributes that bear on the effort
needed for use, and on the individual assessment of such use,
by a stated or implied set of users.

100 Software Process Models

 Introduction

• The study of our interface with information.

• It is not just ‘how big should I make buttons’ or ‘how to layout
menu choices’
• It can affect
– Effectiveness
– Productivity
– Morale
– Safety
• Example: a car with poor HCI
• Take 5 minutes for everyone to write down one common device
with substantial HCI design choices and discuss with the
neighbor the pros and cons. How does it affect you or other
users?

101 Software Process Models

Introduction

• iPod by Apple Computers

• Pros:
– portable
– power
– ease of use
– # of controls
• Cons:
– scratches easily
– no speech for car use
– proprietary

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What fields does HCI cover?

• Computer Science
• Psychology (cognitive)
• Communication
• Education
• Anthropology
• Design (e.g. graphic and industrial)

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 HCI Tools

• Sound
• 3D
• Animation
• Video
• Devices
– Size (small->very large)
– Portable (PDA, phone)
– Plasticity
• Context sensitive/aware
• Personalizable
• Ubiquitous

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Introduction

• The Interdisciplinary Design Science of Human-Computer

Interaction (HCI) combines knowledge and methods associated
with professionals including:
– Psychologists (incl. Experimental, Educational, Social and
Industrial Psychologists)
– Computer Scientists
– Instructional and Graphic Designers
– Technical Writers
– Human Factors and Ergonomics Experts
– User experience designers
– Anthropologists and Sociologists

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Introduction

• Individual User Level

– Routine processes: tax return preparation
– Decision support: a doctor’s diagnosis and treatment
– Education and training: encyclopedias, drill-and-practice
exercises, simulations
– Leisure: music and sports information
– User generated content: social networking web sites, photo
and video share sites, user communities
– Internet-enabled devices and communication

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Introduction

• Communities
– Business use: financial planning, publishing
applications
– Industries and professions: web resources for
journals, and career opportunities
– Family use: entertainment, games and
communication
– Globalization: language and culture

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Introduction

• Smart phones have high quality displays, provide fast Internet

connections, include many sensors and support a huge variety of
applications

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 Introduction

• Apple® Mac OS X® showing Picasa for photo browsing and

Google Map in a web browser
• The bottom of the screen also shows the Dock, a menu of frequently accessed items whose icons
grow larger on mouse-over

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Introduction

• Two children learn about the human body using a

wearable, e-textile shirt displaying real-time
visualizations of how the body working via “organs”
with embedded LED lights and sound

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 Introduction

• The HIPMUNK travel search shows available flights visually as

seen on a Apple iPad tablet
• The slider at the top allows users to narrow down the results, e.g. here we see only the flights landing before
10:25 pm

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Usability Goals and Measures

• Usability refers to the extent to which a system can be used by its

intended users to achieve specific goals effectively, efficiently, and
with satisfaction.

• The goals of usability are:

– Effectiveness: The system allows users to accomplish their tasks
accurately and completely.
– Efficiency: The system enables users to perform tasks quickly and with
minimal effort.
– Satisfaction: The system provides a pleasant and satisfying user
experience.

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Usability Goals and Measures

• Usability measures include:

– Task success rate: The percentage of tasks completed successfully by
users.
– Task completion time: The time taken by users to complete tasks.
– Error rate: The frequency and severity of errors made by users.
– User satisfaction: The subjective evaluation of users' satisfaction with
the system.
• Goals:
– Usability
– Universality
– Usefulness
• Achieved by:
– Planning
– Sensitivity to user needs
– Devotion to requirements analysis
– Testing

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Usability Goals and Measures

Bad Interfaces
• Encumbering
• Confusing
• Slow
• Trust (ex. windows
crashing)
• What makes it hard?
– Varies by culture
– Multiple platforms
– Variety of users

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• What’s wrong with each?
– Type of error
– Who is affected
– Impact
• What’s a redesign solution?
Usability Goals and Measures

• Successful designers:
– Go beyond vague notions of “user friendliness”,
“intuitive”, and “natural” doing more than simply making
checklists of subjective guidelines
– Have a thorough understanding of the diverse
community of users and the tasks that must be
accomplished
– Study evidence-based guidelines and pursue the research
literature when necessary
– US Web Design Standards

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Usability Goals and Measures

• Great designers:
– Are deeply committed to enhancing the user experience,
which strengthens their resolve when they face difficult
choices, time pressures, and tight budgets
– Are aware of the importance of eliciting emotional
responses, attracting attention with animations, and
playfully surprising users

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 Usability Goals and Measures

Requirement Analysis
1. Ascertain users’ needs
2. Ensure proper reliability
3. Promote appropriate standardization, integration,
consistency, and portability
4. Complete projects on schedule and within budget

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Usability Goals and Measures

• Ascertain the user’s needs

– Determine what tasks and subtasks must be
carried out
• Include tasks which are only performed occasionally
• Common tasks are easy to identify
– Functionality must match need or else users will
reject or underutilize the product

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 Usability Goals and Measures

Ascertain the user’s needs

• Define tasks
– Tasks
– Subtasks
• Frequency
– Frequent
– Occasional
– Exceptional
– Repair
• Ex. difference between a space
satellite, car engine, and fighter jet

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Usability Goals and Measures

• Ensure reliability
– Actions must function as specified
– Database data displayed must reflect the actual database
– Appease the user's sense of mistrust
– The system should be available as often as possible
– The system must not introduce errors
– Ensure the user's privacy and data security by protecting
against unwarranted access, destruction of data, and
malicious tampering

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Usability Goals and Measures

• Promote standardization, integration, consistency,

and portability
– Standardization: use pre-existing industry standards where they exist
to aid learning and avoid errors (e.g. the W3C and ISO standards)
– Integration: the product should be able to run across different
software tools and packages (e.g. Unix)
– Consistency:
• compatibility across different product versions
• compatibility with related paper and other non-computer based systems
• use common action sequences, terms, units, colors, etc. within the
program
– Portability: allow for the user to convert data across multiple
software and hardware environments

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 Usability Goals and Measures

• How can we measure the ‘goodness’

of an interface?
• What are good metrics?
• ISO 9241
– Effectiveness
– Efficiency
– Satisfaction
• Schneiderman
– Time to learn
– Speed of performance
– Rate of errors
– Retention over time
– Subjective satisfaction

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Usability Goals and Measures

• Define the target user community and class of tasks associated with the
interface
• Communities evolve and change (e.g. the interface to information services
for the U.S. Library of Congress)
• 5 human factors central to community evaluation:
– Time to learn
How long does it take for typical members of the community to learn relevant
task?
– Speed of performance
How long does it take to perform relevant benchmarks?
– Rate of errors by users
How many and what kinds of errors are made during benchmark tasks?
– Retention over time
Frequency of use and ease of learning help make for better user retention
– Subjective satisfaction
Allow for user feedback via interviews, free-form comments and satisfaction
scales

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Usability Goals and Measures

• Trade-offs in design options frequently occur

– Changes to the interface in a new version may create
consistency problems with the previous version, but the
changes may improve the interface in other ways or
introduce new needed functionality
• Design alternatives can be evaluated by designers and
users via mockups or high-fidelity prototypes
– The basic tradeoff is getting feedback early and perhaps
less expensively in the development process versus having
a more authentic interface evaluated

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Unit No: 1 Module Name : Foundation of HMI

Lecture No: 7
Usability Motivations.
Usability Motivations

Many interfaces are poorly designed and this is true

across domains:
• Life-critical systems
– Air traffic control, nuclear reactors, power utilities, police
and fire dispatch systems, medical equipment
– High costs, reliability, and effectiveness are expected
– Lengthy training periods are acceptable despite the
financial cost to provide error-free performance and avoid
the low-frequency but high-cost errors
– Subject satisfaction is less an issue due to well motivated
users

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Usability Motivations

Example life-critical application:

The Wand timeline view of
a patient record in
Allscript’s ambulatory
Electronic Health Record
iPad application

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Usability Motivations

• Industrial and commercial uses

– Banking, insurance, order entry, inventory management,
reservation, billing, and point-of-sales systems
– Ease of learning is important to reduce training costs
– Speed and error rates are relative to cost
– Speed of performance is important because of the
number of transactions
– Subjective satisfaction is fairly important to limit operator
burnout

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Usability Motivations

• Office, home, and entertainment applications

– Word processing, electronic mail, computer conferencing, and video
game systems, educational packages, search engines, mobile device,
etc.
– Ease of learning, low error rates, and subjective satisfaction are
paramount due to use is often discretionary and competition fierce
– Infrequent use of some applications means interfaces must be
intuitive and easy to use online help is important
– Choosing functionality is difficult because the population has a wide
range of both novice and expert users
– Competition cause the need for low cost
– New games and gaming devices!

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Usability Motivations

• Guitar Hero, a highly successful music playing game in which

users learn to play popular songs and earn points for how
well they keep up
• The Guitar Hero web site shows potential users how to use the provided special small guitar
and also hosts a community for discussions and runs contests

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Usability Motivations

• Exploratory, creative, and cooperative systems

– Web browsing, search engines, artist toolkits,
architectural design, software development, music
composition, and scientific modeling systems
– Collaborative work
– Benchmarks are hard to describe for exploratory tasks and
device users
– With these applications, the computer should be
transparent so that the user can be absorbed in their task
domain

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Usability Motivations

• SketchbookTM design tool for digital artists from AutodeskTM

• A large number of tools and options are available through a rich set of menus and tool
palettes (http://www.sketchbook.com)

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Usability Motivations

• Social-technical systems
– Complex systems that involve many people over long time
periods
– Voting, health support, identity verification, crime
reporting
– Trust, privacy, responsibility, and security are issues
– Verifiable sources and status feedback are important
– Ease of learning for novices and feedback to build trust
– Administrators need tools to detect unusual patterns of
usage

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Usability Motivations

• Several motivations drive the pursuit of usability: User-Centered Design:

Prioritizing the needs, preferences, and limitations of users in the design
process.
• Increased Productivity: Usable systems enable users to accomplish tasks
more efficiently, leading to improved productivity.
• User Satisfaction and Loyalty: Satisfied users are more likely to continue
using a system and recommend it to others.
• Reduced Training and Support Costs: Usable systems require less training
and support, resulting in cost savings.
• Legal and Ethical Considerations: Regulations may require systems to be
accessible and usable for all users, including those with disabilities.

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Unit No: 1 Module Name : Foundation of HMI

Lecture No: 8
Universal Usability
Universal Usability

Universal usability aims to ensure that interactive systems are

accessible and usable by all individuals, regardless of their age,
abilities, or technology literacy.

Key considerations for universal usability include:

• Accessibility: Designing for users with disabilities, such as visual,
hearing, or motor impairments.
• Multilingual Support: Providing interfaces and content in multiple
languages to accommodate diverse user groups.
• User Diversity: Considering individual differences in cognitive
abilities, prior experience, and cultural backgrounds.

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Universal Usability

Physical abilities and physical workplaces

– Basic data about human dimensions comes from research in anthropometry
– There is no average user, either compromises must be made or multiple
versions of a system must be created
– Physical measurement of human dimensions are not enough, take into
account dynamic measures such as reach, strength or speed
– Screen-brightness preferences vary substantially, designers customarily
provide a knob to enable user control
– Account for variances of the user population's sense perception
– Vision: depth, contrast, color blindness, and motion sensitivity
– Touch: keyboard and touchscreen sensitivity
– Hearing: audio clues must be distinct
– Workplace design can both help and hinder work performance

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Universal Usability

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Universal Usability

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Universal Usability

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Universal Usability

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Universal Usability

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Goals for our profession

• Potential research topics

– Reducing anxiety and fear of computer usage
– Graceful evolution
– Social media participation
– Input devices
– Information exploration

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Goals for our profession

• Providing tools, techniques, and knowledge for system

implementers
– Rapid prototyping is easy when using contemporary tools
– Use general or self-determined guideline documents written for
specific audiences
– To refine systems, use feedback from individual or groups of users
• Raising the computer consciousness of the general public
– Some novice users are fearful due to experience with poor product
design
– Good designs help novices through these fears by being clear,
competent, and non-threatening

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Goals for our profession

• As professionals in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), we have several

goals to pursue: User-Centered Design: Advocating for user-centered
design principles and methodologies.
• Usability Education: Promoting awareness and education on usability and
user experience (UX) principles.
• Collaboration: Encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration among
designers, developers, psychologists, and other relevant fields.
• Ethical Considerations: Integrating ethical considerations into the design
process, ensuring user privacy and data security.
• Continuous Improvement: Emphasizing the importance of iterative design,
usability testing, and user feedback for ongoing improvement.

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Conclusion

• Usability is a vital aspect of interactive systems, impacting user

satisfaction, productivity, and accessibility.

• By understanding usability goals and measures, considering

universal usability, and embracing our professional goals
regarding HCI, we can create better user experiences and
contribute to the advancement of the field.

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Thank You