For companies operating on the web, a high usability on their website are of outmost importance for customers to keep using their services. Over the years many usability principles and methods have been developed to help companies to achieve a high usability on their systems. This thesis aims to help Beebyte identify usability problems on their website, find out how users perceive its usability, and then come up with recommendations on how to improve it. To do this a heuristic evaluation and a user test were conducted. Each user test session was accompanied by a questionnaire and a post-test interview. The result presents several of usability problems found by the heuristic evaluation and the user tests, and a summary of the post-test interviews and questionnaires. The sources of the problems are then analysed, and recommendations are presented based on established usability principles, my own experience in the area and the test participants opinions from the post-test interviews. The questionnaire answers are discussed and analysed to get a better idea on how they rank the website from a usability perspective.

[pt] A dissertação tem como tema principal a captologia, uma área de estudo que trata do encontro entre a tecnologia computacional e a persuasão. A pesquisa propõe uma comparação entre tendências de desenvolvimento da tecnologia persuasiva sugeridas anteriormente e o momento atual. O estudo parte da contextualização da relação entre a sociedade e as tecnologias computacionais. Aborda o design de interação, com foco sobre o usuário, analisando abordagens de projetação para a área, com ênfase primeiramente no design centrado no usuário e em seguida no design de experiência. A ubiquidade é apresentada como fator importante na leitura sociocultural, tecnológica e de uso ao se tratar da aplicação da tecnologia persuasiva. A partir deste contexto, a dissertação apresenta o conceito de captologia, as questões éticas envolvidas na projetação envolvendo persuasão, e as tendências de futuro da área, apontadas por B.J. Fogg, um dos pioneiros no estudo de computadores como agentes persuasivos. Com foco nestas tendências, delimita-se o universo de pesquisa, definindo aplicativos de iPhone para condicionamento físico como objeto de estudo. A dissertação apresenta o processo de pesquisa desde o levantamento e seleção dos aplicativos, até as entrevistas com seus desenvolvedores, questionários com usuários e avaliação preditiva dos aplicativos selecionados, para enfim elaborar uma análise comparativa entre as tendências apontadas e os resultados obtidos no momento atual, que refletem o estado da arte da captologia. / [en] The main subject of this dissertation is captology, an area of study that comprehends the overlap of computer technology and persuasion. The research proposes a comparison between earlier suggested and the current development trends of persuasive technology. The study begins with a contextualization addressing the relation between society and computer technologies. It approaches the interaction design, with focus on the user, analyzing design approaches for the area with emphasis, at first, in user centered design, and then in experience design. In addition, the realm of ubiquity is presented as an important factor, when it comes to social/cultural, technological and usage views, concerning persuasive technology. A captology concept is then presented, with the ethical issues involved in designing with persuasion and the trends for the area, pointed by B.J. Fogg, one of the pioneers in the study of computers as persuasive agents. Focusing these trends, the research scope is delimited, defining iPhone fitness applications as core objects for the study. The dissertation presents the research, from the browsing and selecting process of applications, as well as interviews with developers, questionnaires with users and predictive evaluation of selected applications, to finally elaborate a comparative analysis between the pointed trends and the achieved results in the present moment, which reflect captology s state of the art.

L’expérience que les utilisateurs vivent est récemment devenu un facteur majeur de différenciation entre les entreprises de produits et de services (comme Toyota Motor Europe), menant à des recherches plus approfondies dans les domaines de l’expérience utilisateur et de l’interaction. Ces recherches prônent une plus grande considération de la perception subjective plutôt que les propriétés objectives des produits.Partant de cette approche de la ‘recherche en design’ à travers la perception subjective, cette étude tente de comprendre et de formaliser l’influence réciproque entre interaction et expérience utilisateur, définissant quels paramètres affectent les réactions subjectives. À partir de ces paramètres, cette recherche a isolée les propriétés physiques et digitales d’un produit dans le but de mettre en avant ces effets sur les réactions affectives et cognitives d’un utilisateur.Grâce à cette approche, cette recherche aboutit à des apports à la fois scientifique et industriel: cette recherche a rendu possible la formalisation de l’interdépendance entre l’expérience utilisateur et les interactions; la mise en place d’une taxonomie des produits interactifs à travers l’approche métaphorique des interaction physique et digitale; et la matérialisation d’une méthodologie et d’outils pour à la fois évaluer et créer des interactions à partir de l’approche expérientielle. / Users’ experience with products recently became a major differentiation factor for products and services companies (such as Toyota Motor Europe), leading to deeper researches on both user experience and interaction. These researches preach for a deeper consideration of the subjective perception rather than artifacts’ objective properties.From this approach of ‘design research’ through the subjective perception, this study intends to understand and formalize the reciprocal influence between Interaction and user experience, highlighting which parameters are affecting subjective reactions. From these parameters, this research isolated the artifact’s physical and digital properties in order to highlight its effects on user’s affective and cognitive reactions.By doing so, this research resulted in both academic and industrial contributions. In terms of the former, it made possible to formalize the interdependency between User Experience and Interactions, to define a taxonomy of interactive products through the metaphorical approach of physical and digital interactions and to materialize a methodology with tools for both evaluating and designing interactions from the User Experience perspective.

CATME (Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness) is a web-based platform that is intended to improve team experiences for students and faculty in higher education. The goal of this study is to redesign the user interface for CATME employing User-centered Design (UCD) framework. The design process consists of four phases: discover, define, develop, and validate. This study examines the current website to discover potential usability problems by conducting different methodology. Then it moves into robust user research to define the user’s pain points need to be addressed to improve user experience. In order to tackle the usability issues, design solutions are created and evaluated with real users. The result of the study is redesigned UI (user interface) for CATME’s three key pages, the homepage, activity wizard, and data dashboard.

Tourism is an important force for sustainable development in many countries. It provides millions of jobs which, for some countries, entails an increased gross domestic product (GDP). Unfortunately, there are downsides of tourism as well, and work towards sustainable tourism is now a key feature of many travel organizations. To influence consumers into more sustainable behavior, organizations can use nudging as a tool. A nudge uses a specific psychological effect to guide individuals towards a predefined choice. Since many travel companies provide their products through digital environments, such as websites or apps, knowledge of digital nudging is mandatory. The aim of this study was to investigate how digital nudging could be used to encourage more sustainable decisions on a travel company website. How the digital nudges should be designed, and how digital nudging would be perceived by consumers were investigated. The use of existing guidelines for how to design digital nudges resulted in prototypes of a travel company's website including several digital nudges. The guidelines included four steps: define the goal, understand the users, design the nudge and test the nudge. The result showed several digital nudges that after some design improvements have the potential to influence consumers to make more sustainable decisions on a travel company's website. The result also showed that the majority of the consumers had a positive attitude towards digital nudging in this context, although this needs to be further evaluated. Further research is also recommended to assess which nudge that works best for a given choice situation.

Os avanços tecnológicos levam a novas formas de relação entre o usuário e o equipamento, e a interface com os artefatos informatizados adquire maior complexidade em suas condições de uso. Em vista das diversas possibilidades que os recursos computadorizados oferecem, a facilidade de uso é um requisito fundamental no projeto desse tipo de equipamento, especialmente para pessoas com dificuldade de acesso aos computadores. Proporcionar a inclusão digital é uma forma de reduzir as diferenças sociais através do acesso à informação e aos serviços digitais, tornando-se um fator a ser considerado pelo projetista. Desenvolver um produto requer a observação de uma variedade de condições, que tendem a tornarem-se cada vez mais complexos com as novas funções e possibilidades de uso que os produtos têm adquirido. A diversidade de formação e características culturais dos usuários apenas reforça a necessidade de uma maior atenção às condições humanas no projeto de equipamentos. O repertório informacional que cada indivíduo adquire ao longo de sua vivência influencia na capacidade de cognição e compreensão das informações, fazendo com que a experiência do usuário interfira na condição de uso do equipamento. A ergonomia, através de seus estudos sobre as relações entre o homem e a máquina, mostra-se uma importante base metodológica para a pesquisa de situações de interação entre o usuário e o artefato. Baseada nos estudos da ergonomia cognitiva, esta pesquisa realiza uma análise da máquina de autoatendimento de informações sobre serviços públicos do Poupatempo, de forma a analisar as condições cognitivas de seu uso, e obter dados que auxiliem no processo de concepção do equipamento informatizado. / Technological advances lead to new forms of relations between the user and equipment, and the interfaces with computerized devices get complexity in their condition of use. Given the numerous possibilities that computerized resources offer, the ease use of the device is a fundamental requirement in designing computerized equipment, especially for people with difficult access to computers. This digital inclusion provides a way to reduce social differences through access to information and digital services. Developing a product requires to consider a variety of factors, which tend to become increasingly complex with new functions incorporated and possibilities of using these products. The variations of the users background and their cultural characteristics only reinforce the need for greater attention to human conditions in designing a computerized equipment. The information repertoire that each person acquires over their experience reflects on the ability to understand and its cognitive associations, making the user experience interfere with the use condition of the equipment. The ergonomics, through its studies of the human-machine relationship shows up as an important methodological basis for the research of the situations of interaction between the user and the device. Based on studies of cognitive ergonomics, this research performs an analysis of the self-service information machine at the public services of Poupatempo in order to analyze the cognitive conditions of use and obtain data that help in designing computerized equipment.

Práticas de responsabilidade social e sustentabilidade são desenvolvidas por empresas como forma de responder às contestações da sociedade. Em especial as de engajamento com stakeholders. No entanto, são baseadas em teorias estratégicas da administração e não garantem resultado satisfatório do ponto de vista das melhorias socioambientais. Com o intuito de avaliar a qualidade dessas práticas para a promoção da sustentabilidade, um estudo multidisciplinar comparado entre teorias de administração e de comunicação apontou para diferentes modelos de engajamento chamados desenhos de interação. Baseado na pensamento comunicacional de Deetz foi possível identificar desenhos de interação - Colaboração, Diálogo e Democracia Generativa - com propensões suscetíveis a sustentabilidade, pois geram criatividade e relações de mútuo benefício aos stakeholders. / Corporate social responsibility and sustainability practices are developed by companies in order to address stakeholder claims. The stakeholder engagement practices are especially interesting. They are based on managerial and strategic theories and have not performed environmentally well lately. In order to evaluate the quality of those practices to promote sustainability, a multidisciplinary study took place. Communication and management theories were compared and different types of engagement, named interaction designs, were identified. Based on Deetz communication theories it was possible to understand specific designs - Collaboration, Dialogue and Generative Democracy - and its propensities to promote sustainability, due to their ability to generate mutual benefits and creativity.

This thesis investigates the design of audio for feedback in human-technology interaction— auditory displays. Despite promising progress in research and the potential benefits, we currently see little impact of audio in everyday interfaces. Changing interaction paradigms, new contexts of use and inclusive design principles, however, increase the need for an efficient, non-visual means of conveying information. Motivated by these needs, this work describes the development and evaluation of a methodological design framework, aiming to enhance knowledge and skill transfer in auditory display design and to enable designers to build more efficient and compelling auditory solutions. The work starts by investigating the current practice in designing audio in the user interface. A survey amongst practitioners and researchers in the field and a literature study of research papers highlighted the need for a structured design approach. Building on these results, paco – pattern design in the context space has been developed, a framework providing methods to capture, apply and refine design knowledge through design patterns. A key element of paco, the context space, serves as the organising principle for patterns, artefacts and design problems and supports designers in conceptualising the design space. The evaluation of paco is the first comparative study of a design methodology in this area. Experts in auditory display design and novice designers participated in a series of experiments to determine the usefulness of the framework. The evaluation demonstrated that paco facilitates the transfer of design knowledge and skill between experts and novices as well as promoting reflection and recording of design rationale. Alongside these principle achievements, important insights have been gained about the design process which lay the foundations for future research into this subject area. This work contributes to the field of auditory display as it reflects on the current practice and proposes a means of supporting designers to communicate, reason about and build on each other’s work more efficiently. The broader field of human-computer interaction may also benefit from the availability of design guidance for exploiting the auditory modality to answer the challenges of future interaction design. Finally, with paco a generic methodology in the field of design patterns was proposed, potentially similarly beneficial to other designing disciplines.

This thesis presents a series of design-led case studies concerned with the use of digital technology and the practice of interaction design for children within the context of UK special educational needs classrooms. It explores the use and development of accessible digital systems to support groups of students who have a range of special educational needs. Working with groups of mixed ability students has found to be the most typical situation for teaching in the participant schools and is a rich but underexplored area of concern for interaction design research. This thesis presents detailed accounts and grounded analysis of four embedded, design-led, case studies in two UK special needs schools. It makes three main contributions to the community of researchers, designers and educational practitioners who are concerned with the use of digital technology with children and more specifically working within the field of interaction design for children with special educational needs. These contributions are: A set of design guidelines developed through an analysis of the detailed and thorough accounts of four embedded design-led research projects in two special needs school in the UK. A discussion of the development of the research approach taken in this thesis. A set of design personas of teaching staff interaction designers are likely to encounter when working in a UK special needs school.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2016-11-24T13:11:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Grazielle Bruscato Portella.pdf: 33160644 bytes, checksum: 4b1812b0d96f747cba5575c64bcd1b1e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-11-24T13:11:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Grazielle Bruscato Portella.pdf: 33160644 bytes, checksum: 4b1812b0d96f747cba5575c64bcd1b1e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-01 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research proposes a study of Tangible User Interfaces as a digital means of communication, from its conception to the moment of interaction. It poses a historical overview on the evolution of digital interfaces, from the first Graphical User Interfaces to birth of the Internet of Things, emerging phenomenon in the digital media that tangibilizes the information to connected devices. The study also investigates methods for analysis and design of Graphical Interfaces from the point of view of interaction and aesthetics. Attributes from these methods are used to propose a methodology when designing Tangible Interfaces, where its principles are combined in addition to usability and handling aspects, concepts used in Product Design methods. In order to deepen this investigation, three experimental projects from the academic field were selected to analyse the design of assorted Tangible Interfaces and apply the proposed protocol: inFORM (http://tangible.media.mit.edu/project/inform/), a multi-touch interface that addresses remote and tactile communication processes; Daily Stack (https://vimeo.com/10458491/), which works as a means by which the user arranges abstract tasks through physical blocks connected to a software; and ZeroN (http://tangible.media.mit.edu/project/zeron-levitated-interaction-element/), which explores the user-machine interaction through levitation, questioning the object as an speculative medium of interaction. As conclusions, Tangible Interfaces until need to solve some challenges such as resolution, scale and cost before we expect a complete adoption by the public. On the other hand, they can allow a richer physical interaction than Graphical User Interfaces, helping users on its manipulation without the need to have a screen present during all interactions / Esta investigação propõe um estudo sobre a Interface Tangível enquanto meio digital de comunicação, tanto em sua concepção quanto no momento da interação. Procura-se realizar um panorama histórico da evolução das interfaces digitais, desde seu surgimento em computadores por meio das interfaces gráficas até a Internet das Coisas, fenômeno emergente nas mídias digitais que tangibiliza a interação do computador para objetos conectados. Levantam-se alguns métodos para análise e concepção de interfaces gráficas do ponto de vista de design e estética da interação. Transpõem-se alguns atributos destes métodos para a concepção de interfaces tangíveis, contemplando, além da usabilidade, a assimilação de aspectos táteis e manipulação, conceitos advindos do design de produtos. De modo a aprofundar esta pesquisa, foram selecionadas três produções experimentais no meio acadêmico para uma análise aprofundada de suas interfaces tangíveis aplicando o protocolo discutido: inFORM (http://tangible.media.mit.edu/project/inform/), uma interface multi-toque que aborda processos de comunicação através da conexão do humano com o objeto à distância; Daily Stack (https://vimeo.com/10458491/), que funciona como um meio pelo qual o usuário organiza tarefas abstratas em forma de blocos físicos conectados a um software; e ZeroN (http://tangible.media.mit.edu/project/zeron-levitated-interaction-element/), que explora a interação do usuário-máquina através de uma interface levitante, questionando o objeto como especulação poética e metafísica da interação. Como conclusões, as interfaces tangíveis ainda precisam resolver alguns desafios como resolução, escala e custo antes de esperarmos uma adoção completa pelo público. Porém, eles podem permitir um tipo de interação física mais rica que as Interfaces Gráficas, enquanto ajudar usuários no seu uso sem a necessidade de ter uma tela presente nas suas interações