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Some individuals have difficulty using standard hand-manipulated input devices such as a mouse and a keyboard effectively. For such users who at the same time have sufficient control over face and head movement, a robust perceptual or vision-based user interface that can track face movement can significantly help them. Using vision-based consumer devices makes such a user interface readily available and allows its use to be non-intrusive. Designing this type of user interface presents some significant challenges particularly with accuracy and usability. This research investigates such problems and proposes solutions to create a usable and robust face tracking user interface using currently available state-of-the-art technology. In particular, the input control in such an interface is divided into its logical components and studied one by one, namely, user input, capture technology, feature retrieval, feature processing, and pointer behavior. Different options for these components are studied and evaluated to see if they contribute to more efficient use of the interface. The evaluation is done using standard tests created for this purpose. The tests were done by a single user. The results can serve as a precursor to a full-scale usability study, various improvements, and eventual deployment for actual use. The primary contributions of this research include a logical organization and evaluation of the input process and its different components in face tracking user interfaces, a common library for computer control that can be used by various face tracking engines, an adaptive pointing input style that makes pointing using natural movement easier, and a test suite that can be used to measure performance of various user interfaces for desktop systems.

The increasing use of 3D user interface elements, particularly 3D menus, demonstrates the need to expand research in the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) as it pertains to 3D user interfaces. The results of this thesis contribute to the understanding of the cognitive impacts of using 3D menus. Multiple application areas for 3D menus have been identified where memory retention is a critical success factor, but little research has been done in the area of memory retention for 3D menus. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate if the use of 3D carousel menus increases retention of information over 2D menus and if is there a gender effect with these results. A three factor split-plot (one-between subject factor and two-within subject factors) experiment was designed to test if menu dimension, content type, and gender are significant factors in memory retention and to determine if there are any interactions between these factors. The results of the experiment revealed that dimension and gender are not significant factors in the retention of information and none of the interactions of dimension (2D vs. 3D), gender, and content were significant. Several subjects’ questionnaire responses demonstrated that the menu dimension they perceived to better aid retention was 3D; however these results were not statistically significant. While these results showed that within the boundaries chosen the use of a 3D menu neither promotes nor degrades memory retention, there are still a number of questions that need to be answered regarding the use of 3D menus and their effect on other cognitive processes.

The game development processes behind entertainment games are not well understood. While there are studies that report on user interface evaluation in game production, there are very few studies that report on user interface design. The purpose of study is to explore and learn more about the game industry perspective and their processes behind user interface design. A systematic literature review was performed on the Game developers Conference database, GDC Vault. The review uncovered 105 presentations that relate to UI Design. A thematic analysis was performed to explore the eight most relevant presentations to the research question. The analysis resulted in two themes. The first theme describes UI designers’ experience of interdisciplinary collaboration. The second theme describe two seemingly conflicting goals in the UI design process: aesthetics and usability. The study contributes to the field of game development research with some knowledge about how the game industry create UI design.

The quantity and variety of product information available online today has increased significantly in recent years. This situation has exacerbated user information overload perceptions and made it difficult for online shoppers to choose between various online products and services. This is especially true for older adults, who typically have limitations in cognitive abilities due to the natural aging process and, as such, may perceive additional difficulties processing large amounts of information online. In response, Recommendation Agents (RAs) have become popular as decision support tools for online consumers in general, and older adults in particular. However, in the information systems literature, there is a lack of understanding regarding the design of RAs to suit the needs of different segments of the population, including older adults. Grounded in the theory of planned behaviour, and the “aging and IS adoption” literatures, this study investigates the impact of cognitive age and RA comprehensiveness on user perceptions towards the complexity of the input and output stages of an RA, and their subsequent impact on the antecedents of a user’s intention to utilize the RA for online shopping. This experimental study finds that: (i) an individual’s cognitive age significantly increases perceived RA input and output complexity perceptions; (ii) higher levels of RA comprehensiveness increases a user’s RA input and output complexity perceptions significantly; (iii) RA output complexity plays a more critical role than RA input complexity in shaping user perceptions of the overall complexity of an RA; and, (iv) increased levels of RA comprehensiveness increases individual perceptions of RA usefulness. Additionally, and as expected, cognitive age moderates the relationship between RA comprehensiveness and input/output complexity such that the effect is stronger for older adults. Surprisingly, however, cognitive age also moderates the relationship between RA comprehensiveness and perceived RA usefulness such that it is stronger for older adults. Theoretically, this study helps us to better understand how different levels of RA comprehensiveness, in terms of both the input and output stages of the RA operation, impact the intention of users of different cognitive ages to use online RAs. For practitioners, the results highlight the importance of customizing the design of RAs, in both their input and output stages, for consumers with different cognitive ages. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

As cars become more integrated into people’s lives, the design of in-car infotainment systems has become increasingly important. This thesis explores the user experience and Usability design principles of the calling functionality within the infotainment systems of five of the most common cars in Romania. The research examines the design principles that underpin these systems, using the European Statement of Principles on Human-Machine Interface (HMI) as a reference. The primary methodology involved two stages of surveys. The first survey gathered demographic information, car ownership details, and participants' experiences with their infotainment systems. This data was then used to identify the most common cars for the second survey, which further investigated user preferences for different infotainment interfaces. Analysis of the survey results reveals significant patterns in user preferences, with ease of use and convenience emerging as crucial factors in user satisfaction. The study highlights the importance of button placement, interface design, and layout in determining user experience. The most preferred interfaces were those which aligned with HMI principles, emphasizing simplicity, clarity of information, and ease of navigation. Despite certain limitations, such as the small sample size and potential for self-reporting bias, the research provides important insights into user preferences and the impact of design principles on user experience. The findings underscore the need for interface designs that are both user-friendly and align with established HMI guidelines. The implications of these findings extend to the broader fields of Human-Computer Interaction and Automotive User Interfaces, emphasizing the importance of user-centered design in enhancing user experience and satisfaction. Future research could expand upon these findings, exploring the impact of aesthetic design factors and the potential for personalized interface options.

Video editing is a process where multiple roles are required to collaborate. Despite this, the design of video editing software does not easily support collaboration. Hence, this study investigates how the video editing workflow can be improved by designing a user interface that supports collaboration. This is achieved with focus on simultaneous work performed in a remote workspace. Firstly, a design workshop was conducted with professional video editors. Secondly, user interface mockups were created. Lastly, the mockups were evaluated in a mockup test and subsequently updated based on the feedback. The study proposes five design concepts that collectively aim to support collaboration through workspace awareness by focusing on enhancing communication to make the workflow more time efficient. The evaluation of the design concepts indicates their potential to facilitate the collaborators collective work and communication. Therefore, the results suggest that the workflow has the possibility to be improved by including collaborative features in video editing software. / Videoredigering är en process där flera roller behöver samarbeta. Trots detta stöder designen av videoredigeringsprogram inte samarbete. Därför undersöker denna studie hur arbetsflödet för videoredigering kan förbättras genom att utforma ett användargränssnitt som stöder samarbete. Detta uppnås med fokus på arbete som utförs samtidigt på distans. Först genomfördes en designworkshop med professionella videoredigerare. Sedan skapades mockups för användargränssnittet. Slutligen utvärderades mockuperna i en mockup-testning och uppdaterades därefter baserat på feedbacken. Studien föreslår fem designkoncept som tillsammans syftar till att stödja samarbete genom arbetsplatsmedvetenhet genom att fokusera på att förbättra kommunikationen för att göra arbetsflödet mer tidseffektivt. Utvärderingen av designkoncepten indikerar deras potential att underlätta medarbetarnas kollektiva arbete och kommunikation. Därför tyder resultaten på att arbetsflödet har möjlighet att förbättras genom att inkludera samarbetsfunktioner i videoredigeringsprogram.

With today’s exploding amount of websites and applications, a design has to meet the requirements of its users and be easy to use in order for a software product to stand out. User Experience design is a method, which has been developed to design products with a focus on the user. This thesis examines how User Experience design can be applied to the creation of a wiki in order to ease the acquisition of information. The research was done through a literature study and a case study, where a wiki about courses at KTH was designed and tested. Two versions of a prototype were created, based on feedback which was collected from potential users. A thematic analysis was done on the data and the selected themes were used to improve the product. The result was an overall positive response towards the prototype in the case study, which led to a conclusion that User Experience design can lead to an improvement of how wikis are created. The work can be continued by implementing the prototype or creating more wikis for a broader support of the conclusion. / Med dagens exploderande mängd websidor och applikationer krävs en design som möter användarnas krav och är lättanvänd för att en mjukvaruprodukt ska stå ut. Användarupplevelse design är en metod som tagits fram för att designa produkter med användaren i fokus. Detta arbete undersöker hur användarupplevelse design kan appliceras på skapandet av en wiki för att förenkla inhämtningen av information. Undersökningen gjordes med hjälp av en litteraturstudie och en fallstudie där en wiki kring kurser som ges på KTH designades och testades. Två versioner av en prototyp skapades utifrån feedback som samlats från potentiella användare. En tematisk analys utfördes på datan och de uttagna temana användes för att förbättra produkten. Resultatet var ett generellt positivt bemötande mot prototypen i fallstudien, vilket ledde till en slutsats att användarupplevelse design kan leda till en förbättring av hur wikis byggs. Arbetet kan fortsättas genom att implementera prototypen eller skapa fler wikis för ett bredare underlag.

Lack of trust is argued to be one of the key reasons behind buyers’ reluctance to purchase online. In mobile commerce (m-commerce), gaining initial trust upon the first visit from prospective consumers highly depends on the design of the website. However, the number of qualitative empirical studies investigating what and how website characteristics affect initial trust in an unfamiliar m-commerce website remains limited. The aim of this thesis was thus to gain a deeper understanding of the influence of website characteristics on initial consumer trust in a m-commerce website, to provide insights for designers. An exploratory case study of the mobile version of an e-vendor’s website was conducted and qualitatively examined through Think-Aloud sessions and semi-structured interviews. By thematically analyzing the data, the following website characteristics were identified as influencing initial trust in an unknown m-commerce website: purposeful and clear visual design, internal design consistency, mobile adaptation and reading experience, content quality, similarity and expectations, social proof and external validation. Based on the insights, the study further provides recommendations to practitioners on how to design trustworthy m-commerce websites, both as support in the design pro-cess and for evaluation purposes. / Brist på förtroende anses vara en av de viktigaste orsakerna till att köpare tvekar att handla online. Att få initialt förtroende vid potentiella konsumenters första besök inom mobil handel (m-commerce) beror mycket på webbplatsens design. Antalet kvalitativa empiriska studier som undersöker vad och hur webbplatsens egenskaper påverkar initialt förtroende för en okänd m-handelswebbplats är dock fortfarande begränsat. Syftet med denna avhandling var således att få en djupare förståelse för hur webbplatsens egenskaper påverkar konsumenternas initiala för-troende för en mobil handelswebbplats, för att ge insikter till designers. En undersökande fall-studie av mobilversionen av en e-handlares webbplats genomfördes och undersöktes kvalitativt genom Think-Aloud-sessioner och halvstrukturerade intervjuer. Genom att tematiskt analysera den insamlade datan identifierades följande webbplatsegenskaper att påverka initialt förtroende för en okänd mobil handelswebbplats: målmedveten och tydlig visuell design, internt konsekvent design, mobilanpassning och läsupplevelse, innehållskvalitet, likhet och förväntningar, socialt bevis och extern validering. Baserat på insikterna ger studien rekommendationer till designers om hur man kan utforma pålitliga m-handelswebbplatser, både som stöd i designprocessen och för utvärdering.

Many different autonomously driving mobile robots are used for industrial transports of materials or  oods in the context of internal logistic processes because of different use cases. The problem for the users that need to monitor the robots is that each manufacturer provides its own graphical user interface (GUI) wi th different operating modes and visual designs, which requires different trainings and constant swi tching between software. Therefore, this paper shows the design and development process of a graphical user interface in the form of a web application for the monitoring process of a fleet of automated guided vehicles from different manufacturers and answers the following question: "What are the main criteria when designing a graphical user interface with high usability for the monitoring process of manufacturer-independent automa ted guided vehicle f leets?” To answer the question, existing graphical user interfaces from different manufacturers were analyzed and interviews with developers and end-users of the GUIs were conducted. Requirements were then derived, on whose basis sketching, wireframing and high-fidelity prototyping have been performed. Usability testing and a heuristic evaluation were chosen to improve the application and its usability continually. As a result, the following six main criteria could be derived that summarize the most essential points to consider when designing such a GUI: administrabi lity, adaptiveness, observability, analyzability, robot and job awareness, and intervention. / Många olika autonomt körande mobila robotar används för industriell transport av material eller varor i samband med interna logistiska processer till följd av olika användningsfall. Problemet för de användare som behöver övervaka robotarna är att varje tillverkare tillhandahåller sitt eget grafiska användargränssnitt (GUI) med olika driftsätt och visuella utformningar, vilket kräver olika  utbildningar och ständig växling mellan mjukvara. Denna uppsats visar därför design- och utvecklingsprocessen för ett grafiskt användargränssnitt i form av en webbapplikation för övervakningsprocessen för en samling av automatiserade guidade fordon från olika tillverkare, och svarar på följande fråga: "Vilka är de viktigaste kriterierna vid utformningen av ett grafiskt användargränssnitt med hög användbarhet för övervakningsprocessen av automatiserade guidade  fordonsamlingar, oboeroande av tillverkare?” För att svara på frågan analyserades befintliga grafiska användargränssnitt från olika tillverkare, samt intervjuer med utvecklare och slutanvändare av GUI:erna utfördes. Krav härleddes sedan, baserat på vilka skisser, wireframing och hifi -prototyper som har utförts. Användbarhetstest och en heuristisk utvärdering valdes för att kontinuerligt förbättra applikationen och dess användbarhet. Som ett resultat kan följande sex huvudkriterier härledas, de sammanfattar de viktigaste punkterna att tänka på när man utformar ett sådant GUI: förmåga att administrera, anpassningsförmåga, observerbarhet, analyserbarhet, robot- och jobbmedvetenhet och intervention.