Today many companies have started to become aware of the advantages of doing user-centred design. However, it is extremely rare that companies adopt a fully integrated user-centred design approach in one strategic shift. Rather, companies tend to adopt practices and methods in stages or adopt a particular method or practice only when a complex set of factors align to create readiness. There is a big market for companies vending usability methods, but poor usability of systems and products is still very common, the vendors often blaming it on factors outside their immediate influence. This among other things is a call for us to work for a user-centred design attitude as a major strategy for the system development process. The content of this thesis is dedicated to the question of how to develop usable interactive systems in practice. Main focus is on how we can raise the awareness of usability; articulate the need for user-centred design within the industry and development organisations; and practice user-centred design. A framework for usability design as an unpretentious way of applying user-centred design is described and discussed.

A design of computer systems, that effectively supports the user, is a major goal within human-computer interaction. To achieve this, we must understand and master several tasks. These tasks concern firstly what to develop and secondly how to develop the system. The design and implementation of effective and efficient user interfaces is a prerequisite for the successful introduction of computer support in the medical domain. We base our work on a fundamental understanding of cognitive aspects of human-computer interaction, as well as on detailed analysis of the specific needs and requirements of the end users, i.e., the medical professionals. This thesis presents several approaches for development of systems for computer-supported work in health care. The solutions described concern vital problem areas: (1) the focus on the work tasks to be performed, (2) the cost of software and the way competition works in a networked world. Solutions to these problems can lead to more usable systems from a user's perspective but may also change the nature of computer applications.

The figures of reported health problems in computer-supported, administrative, work are alarmingly high and increasing. The main health problems are visual discomfort, repetitive strain injuries (RSI) and stress-related disorders. Some important risk factors are poor workstation design, constrained work postures, repetitive work and long hours of computer use every day. Others are high demands, poor control over workload and work pace and poor relations to management and colleagues. There is also evidence that poor design and usability of the computer systems as well as technical problems with the computer add to the pressure perceived by the user, which may in its turn cause stress-related disorders. Systems (software) development is often technology-driven and the design and contents of the resulting system shapes the work situation, including factors affecting the users' health and well-being. There are numerous examples in the literature describing how poorly designed systems fail to support the real work practices, introducing new ones that are inadequate and more time-consuming. Thus these, supposedly supporting, computer systems get in the way of efficient and effective work, adding a burden on the workers rather than helping them out. This thesis tries to describe some of the relations between the systems development process and users' health complaints, in a work context. I also discuss whether or not the concepts of usability and user experience can be used to address users' health issues in the systems development process. The main results indicate that although usability must be addressed, it is not sufficient. Occupational health issues must be explicitly integrated in systems development, and be given priority. This thesis also describes some potential methods and techniques for doing that.

This licentiate thesis addresses design and development problems that arise when service providers, and service end-users face the variety of computing devices available on the market. The devices are designed for many types of use in various situations and settings, which means that they have different capabilities in terms of presentation, interaction, memory, etc. Service providers often handle these differences by creating a new version for each device. This creates a lot of development and maintenance work, and often leads to restrictions on the set of devices that services are developed for. For service end-users, this means that it can be difficult to combine devices that fit the intended usage context and services that provide the needed content. New development methods that target multiple devices from the start are needed. The differences between devices call for services that can adapt to various devices, and present themselves with device specific user interfaces. We propose a way of developing device independent services by using interaction acts to describe user-service interaction. Devices would interpret the interaction acts and generate user interfaces according to their own specific capabilities. Additional presentation information can be encoded in customization forms, to further control how the user interface would be generated. Different devices would generate different user interfaces from the same interaction acts, and a device could generate different user interfaces from the same interaction acts combined with different customization forms. In this thesis, the interaction act and customization form concepts are described in detail. A system prototype handling them and two sample services have been implemented. Preliminary evaluations indicate that interaction acts and customization forms constitute a feasible approach for developing services with multiple user interfaces. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the problems arising when evaluating this kind of systems, and some conclusions on how to continue the evaluation process.

Today, mobile technology is making its entry into working life within all sorts of occupations. When the purpose of the technology is to support mobile work, new requirements appear – for both the technology itself and for the emerging new work processes – as a result of these new conditions. Consequently, the introduction of a new IT system will affect the organisation and the way work is performed. This thesis addresses these changes in work processes and ways to provide a supporting IT system. An underlying component of my research work is the belief that the personnel from the organisation itself must participate in a large extent when developing new work processes and when designing supporting IT systems, since they will be using the IT system as a tool in their future work practice. To understand the nature of mobility in a work context and how it affects usability in IT systems, I have initiated studies of the area where mobile work is supported by technology. Important characteristics have been found that affect mobile work. My research work has concerned traditional professions, primarily professions within mobile healthcare. An exhaustive study of how to design new work processes within the area of home care of the elderly has been carried out, accompanied by field studies of mobile work within the mobile healthcare sector. The results have been described in terms of aspects of future work processes that are effective and sustainable. Moreover, important characteristics of mobile technology that support this kind of mobile work have been identified. The two perspectives are then merged, in order to design usable IT systems for mobile work.

In most vehicle domains within the transportation sector, traffic is increasing and vehicles are becoming more technologically advanced. In addition to this, drivers are faced with conflicting goals, such as punctuality, maintaining safety, minimizing fuel consumption, ensuring passenger comfort, etc. When accidents occur, the drivers' actions and mishaps are often in focus, even though the work environment, the organization behind the drivers, and the educational level may provide equally important explanations for incidents and actions. In this thesis, factors influencing operators' behaviour are acknowledged and attempts are made to understand how these factors affect vehicle operators in their daily work. Even though modern vehicles are equipped with new technology that supposedly aids drivers, studies of actual work typically reveal that these tools are not necessarily suited for their purpose. In a larger perspective, it is necessary not only to improve this technology, but to redesign how vehicle drivers perform their work. In practice, also traditional processes for development of technology affect how the operators work, although then simply a side effect of technology being introduced. Based on a deep understanding of the operators' work, the long-term goal here is to instead design new ways of working that allows the operators to use their skills to do meaningful driving tasks supported by technology. To acquire this understanding of how the operators work, a new method of information acquisition has been developed and tested within the rail and marine domains. These studies resulted with an understanding of what train and high-speed ferry operators are occupied with during their journeys, as well as insights into why they perform in certain manners and how they think and reason about these tasks.

Computer supported work is often stressful and inadequate computer systems and poor usability contribute to the problem. Still the work situation, and work environment of users are seldom considered when developing computer systems, and it is difficult to incorporate the ideas of User Centred Systems Design (UCSD) in practice. Hence, this research addresses the difficulty in integrating usability, UCSD and occupational health issues in IT systems development in order to improve the resulting work situation and well-being of users. How do basic values and perspectives of stakeholders in systems development projects affect the work with UCSD, usability and users’ health issues in the organisations studied? This research aims at influencing systems development in practice; hence, research is carried out in real life settings with an action research approach. Data is gathered and analysed with a qualitative research approach with interview studies, meetings with stakeholders, analysis of documentation, observations and field studies. The theoretical framework adheres to situated action, participatory design, and UCSD that stresses the importance of involving users in the design process. This research shows that several basic values and perspectives affect systems development and hinder the usability work, for example, the perspective on user representatives, the value of rationality and objectivity, and the perspective underpinning descriptions and discourse on work. Moreover, this research indicates that the strong business values of automation, efficiency and customer satisfaction shape the development of new technology, and ultimately the tasks and work practices of the civil servants. In short, the studies show that there are some contradictions in business values and the implementation of user-centred systems design, usability and health issues in systems development. Attitudes and perspectives are not easily changed, and change comes gradually. In these organisations, we continuously discuss the integration of health issues in systems development, and by introducing and changing the models of systems development these will hopefully enable communication and change forwards of new perspectives and values. However, a focus on models alone is insufficient and therefore we need to develop a systematic approach to include reflection and new perspectives. Perhaps the reflection itself would help us see our values and perspectives and to alter them?

Train traffic in Sweden have increased over the last years and is today at an all time high. At the same time demands for improved punctuality and better predictability are increasing. If it would be possible to improve punctuality and thereby the possibility to use the infrastructural resources more optimally by providing improved systems for controlling train traffic, this could be a very cost efficient way to improve the train traffic. This thesis addresses research with a primary goal to investigate how, from a Human-Computer Interaction perspective, systems could be designed to better support the human's capacity and capabilities to control train traffic in an efficient way. Earlier research on humans in control of complex systems contributes to this work. One important part of the research is to gain knowledge on how train dispatchers perform their work today and which difficulties that exist. The research has a user centered approach. In close co-operation with train traffic professionals we try to discuss and develop solutions for improving the situation. Since the project started in 1996 proposals of new strategies for control and also solutions for how such a system can be designed have been developed and to some extent evaluated. The Swedish National Rail Administration (Banverket) is now planning to build an operative control system based on control strategies and ideas from this research project.

Interaction design is more crucial than ever as an ingredient in product development and digitalization. Its need is driven by a trend where software based functionality is becoming increasingly important in all types of product features, simultaneously as new technology moves the frontier where interaction between human and computer takes place. There is also a market demanding renewed experiences, more efficient, stimulating and fashionable, which enterprises seek to deliver to attract customers. Also[WM1] , as systems, for example vehicle systems, get increasingly information intense, the information exchange with the user becomes a factor for safe and successful operation, thus increasing the need for a proficient interaction design. This research investigates how interaction technologies, interaction design principles, and machine information systems can be used to provide user experiences and efficient interaction between the operator and industrial mobile machines; for example, agricultural machines and construction machines. The research combines software engineering and interaction design together with an industrial perspective. It does so by studies, both in literature and through field studies of operators, by design exploration and prototype realization. The thesis describes the design space for heavy vehicles through different perspectives. It outlines the principal dimensions of interaction design and the benefits of including design in product and services realization. It presents perspectives on the challenges for the different stakeholders involved, covering the operator of the machines, the software engineer and the designer. It depicts a method for gaining detailed insights into operator’s daily behavior, with minimal interference with their work. Furthermore, it introduces a tool for practitioners to explore interaction design using mixed reality and free head movements, and it investigates possible interfaces using augmented reality. / Interaktionsdesign är mer avgörande i produktutveckling och digitalisering än någonsin. Utvecklingen här drivs av en trend där mjukvarubaserad funktionalitet blir allt viktigare i alla typer av produkter samtidigt som ny teknik ökar designrymden för var samspelet mellan människa och dator kan äga rum. Användare efterfrågar förnyade upplevelser, mer effektiva, stimulerande och moderiktiga. Företag söker möta denna efterfrågan för att locka kunder och genera affärer. Dessutom, genom att system, exempelvis fordonssystem, blir allt mer informationsintensiva, blir sättet som informationsutbytet sker med användaren en allt viktigare faktor för säkerhet och funktionalitet. Sammantaget ökar behovet av en skickligt utförd interaktionsdesign. Den här avhandlingen undersöker hur interaktionstekniker, interaktionsdesignsprinciper och informationssystem kan användas för att leverera användarupplevelser och effektiv interaktion för operatörer av industriella mobila maskiner, exempelvis jordbruksmaskiner och anläggningsmaskiner. Forskningen kombinerar interaktionsdesign och mjukvaruutveckling i ett industriellt kontext. Forskningen har bedrivits genom studier, i litteratur och etnografiska studier av användare i fält, genom utforskande design och genom prototyprealisering. Avhandlingen beskriver designrymden för industrifordon från flera perspektiv. Dels från perspektiven av de grundläggande elementen inom interaktionsdesign, processerna för att skapa och forska inom interaktionsdesign samt fördelarna med designdriven produkt- och tjänste-förverkligande. Vidare tar den upp perspektiv utifrån situationen och utmaningarna för inblandade aktörer, såsom operatören av maskinen, mjukvaruutvecklaren och designern. Avhandlingen bidrar också med praktiska perspektiv, dels en metod för att få detaljerad inblick i operatörens dagliga beteende med minimal störning i sitt arbete, och dels ett verktyg för interaktionsdesigners att undersöker möjliga designs med virtuell förstärkt verklighet med hjälp av blandad virtuell verklighet och fria huvudrörelser.

Användargränssnitt utgör skiljeväggen mellan en användare av ett system och systemet självt. I datorspel använder spelaren gränssnittet för att navigera i spelet, både i och utanför det egentliga spelläget. För att spelaren snabbt och enkelt ska komma igång med att spela ställs krav på interaktionsdesign och användbarhet hos gränssnittet. Det här examensarbetet undersöker hur gränssnitt i 2D-spel kan designas för att uppnå hög användbarhet genom naturliga gränssnittsflöden. Utvecklingsarbetet föregicks av en förstudie som tog fram designvärden och heuristiker att basera utvecklingsarbetet på. Resultatet utvärderades genom en användbarhetsutvärdering i två steg; observation av användare följt av en enkät som användarna svaradepå. Det främsta syftet med det här arbetet är att undersöka om valda designvärden och heuristiker hjälper till att utveckla ett system till att uppnå användbarhet.