O design é abordado neste trabalho desde a sua criação com a Bauhaus, passando por suas definições e conceituações, assim como também aponta os avanços tecnológicos da informática em especial à computação gráfica como ferramenta salutar ao designer gráfico. O mundo digital traz ao designer novas segmentações de atuação como o interface designer e o Web designer. O design, mesmo que historicamente exista há muito mais tempo do que a sua institucionalização como profissão independente no Brasil, firma-se na modernidade e ganha-se força neste momento contemporâneo, até definindo, em algumas situações e questões econômicas de mercado. Há uma singularidade no design que aglutina virtualmente duas características: facilitação da leitura e informação - que é o Web design, pois ao mesmo tempo em que informa o conteúdo de um Web site, demonstra o caminho a ser navegado e toda a sua interatividade. Com a disposição das novas mídias digitais¹, é salutar acompanhar o crescimento vertiginoso e preponderante que as informações permeiam com mais amplitude, permitindo a cada instante ganhar o aperfeiçoamento e a descoberta de novos meios de explicitar a mensagem com rapidez e objetividade oriundos num mundo moderno e globalizado em que vivemos. As universidades e faculdades, como facilitadoras de aprendizagem, investem em novas tecnologias para disseminar seus cursos, seus produtos, sua infraestrutura, e também utiliza dos recursos da Web para oferecer cursos on-line². Nessa linha de raciocínio, sobre o que é funcional, eficaz e ao mesmo tempo audacioso em um Web site, é analisado neste trabalho 80 instituições de ensino superior brasileiras, objetivando uma inovação no que diz respeito a usabilidade, baseado numa arquitetura de informação estruturada. A metodologia adotada baseia-se numa sequência de ítens de maior relevância, do ponto de vista técnico e operacional de usabilidade, juntamente com assuntos de interesse comuns apontados pelo público alvo. A análise remete a um diagrama de ordem quantitativa e, posteriormente, qualitativa, que evidencia aspectos inerentes ao interface design. / The design is approached in this paper work since its criation with Bauhaus, having its definitions and concepts , this way it also shows technological advances in the field of information technology in special to the graphic information technology as an important salutary tool to the graphic designer. The digital world brings to the designer new segments of perfomance such as interface designer and the web designer. The design, even existing such a long time before its intitutionalisation as an independent profession in Brazil, it gets strengh in both modern time and at this contemporary moment, and also in some situations and economic points in the market. There is such singularity in design that joins virtually two features: an easy way of reading and information - which is the web design field, though at the same time it informs all there is in a web site , shows the way to browse and all its interactivity. With all the display of new media , it is necessary to be aquainted with the growth and the manner that the information broadens with an opening way, allowing the user at every moment gain improvement and the discovery of new forms to set out the message fast and originating goals in this present and globalised world in which we live. The universities and colleges, places for getting knowledgement, invest in technology to broaden their courses, products, structure, they also make use of resources from the web to offer on line courses. In this line of approach what is functional, effective in a web site, in this paper work is analysed 80 institutions such as universities and colleges, getting the point of inovation about the use based on an structered information architecture. The metodology adopted is based on a sequence of items of important points of technical views and operational use, together with subjects of interest pointed by the target audience. The analysis sends to a quantitative diagram and further to a qualifying diagram that displays inherent aspects to the interface design.

This research addresses a problem that centers on the persistent disparities in computer use and access among racial minorities, particularly African-Americans and Latinos, and persons of low socio-economic status (SES) here in the USA. "Access" to computer technology maintains a dual meaning. Access may refer to having a computer and software available for use or it may refer to having a computer interface that effectively facilitates user learning. This study conceptualizes "access" as the latter — having an interface that facilitates user learning. One intervention for this problem of access, from a Human Factors perspective, is in recognizing and accounting for culture's influence on one's cognition. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were integrated to effectively determine a process for engaging typically marginalized groups, interface metaphor preferences of African-Americans, and user performance with varying types of interface metaphors. The qualitative aspects of this study provided a basis for understanding how entry was obtained into the participants' community and for obtaining richer descriptions of user successes and challenges with the various interface designs. The researcher developed a culturally valid interface design methodology, i.e., Acculturalization Interface Design (A.I.D.) methodology, which was used to identify meaningful computer interface metaphors for low SES African-Americans. Through the A.I.D. methodology and an associated field study, a group of African-American novice computer users determined that the home, the bedroom and comfort were meaningful computer interface metaphors to integrate into a letter writing task. A separate group of African-Americans performed benchmark tasks on an interface design that utilized the home, bedroom and comfort metaphors or Microsoft Word 2003. The African-American group performed significantly better on the novel interface than on Microsoft Word 2003 for several benchmark tasks. Qualitative analyses showed that low acculturation African-Americans were particularly challenged with those same tasks. Regression analyses used to determine the relationship between psychosocial characteristics and user performance were inconclusive. Subject matter experts (SME), representing low SES Latinos, discussed potential learnability issues for both interface designs. Furthermore, results from the African-American group and the SMEs highlight the critical importance of using terminology (i.e., verbal metaphors) and pictorial metaphors that are culturally and socially valid. / Ph. D.

The older population is increasing, as is life expectancy. Technical devices are becoming more widespread and used for many everyday tasks. Knowledge about new technology is important to remain as an active and independent part of the society. However, if an old user group should have equal access to this technology, new demands will be placed on the design of interfaces and devices. With respect to old users it is and will be important to develop technical devices and interfaces that take the age-related decline in physical and cognitive abilities into account. The aim of this work was to investigate to what extent the age-related cognitive decline affects performance on different computer-related tasks and the use of different interfaces. With respect to the use of computer interfaces, two studies were conducted. In the first study, the information was presented with a hierarchical structure. In the second study the information was presented as a 3D-environment, and it was also investigated how an overview map could support navigation. The third study examined the age-related cognitive decline in the use of a small mobile phone display with a hierarchical information structure. The results from the studies showed that the most pronounced age-related difference was found in the use of the 3D-environment. Within this environment, prior experience was found to have the largest impact on performance. Regarding the hierarchical information structures, prior experience seemed to have a larger impact on performance of easy tasks, while age and cognitive abilities had a larger impact on performance of more complex tasks. With respect to navigation aids, the overview map in the 3D-environment did not reduce the age-differences; however, it contributed to a better perceived orientation and reduced the feeling of being lost.

Multi-touch technology, used in consumer products such as the iPad, enables users to register multiple points of contact at the same time; this enables a user to interact with a touch screen interface using several fingers on one hand, or even both hands. This affords interface designers the opportunity to define gestural interactions based on what is most natural for users and not on merely what can be recognised and processed by technology. In light of this, the research question that this study aimed to address was: what is the most intuitive user-defined gesture set for conducting an informational search on a multi-touch tablet web browser? In addressing this research question, the aim of this study was to create a user-defined gesture set for conducting an informational search on a multi-touch tablet web browser, based on gestures elicited from participants with little or no experience with touch screen devices. It was necessary to use these participants as users who are familiar with touch screen interfaces would draw upon the gestures they have learnt or used before, and would therefore be biased in the gestures they proposed. Inexperienced or naïve users would simply provide gestures that came naturally to them, providing a more accurate reflection of what a typical, unbiased user would do. A set of hypotheses, relating to the gestures that would be elicited from this participant group, were drawn up and investigated. These investigations yielded the following key findings: • The use of two-handed gestures should be limited. • If two-handed gestures are developed for a specific function, an alternative one-handed gesture should be made available. • It is not be advisable to create completely novel gestures for tablet web browsing that do not correspond to any of the ways in which desktop web browsing is performed. • Should novel gestures be developed for tablet web browsing, gestures that are desktop computing adaptations, including those that require menu access, should be made available as alternatives to users. • Tasks should be designed is such a way that they may be completed with a variety of gestures. • Complex tasks should be designed in such a way that they may be achieved through varying combinations of gestures. These findings may assist interface designers and developers in the gestures they design or developer for their applications. In addition to these findings, the study presents a coherent, user-defined gesture set that may be used in practice by designers or developers.

This research tested to see how audio engineers navigate and use compressors differently with alternative designs. A pre-study in the form of a semi-structured interview with a focus group was held to determine a compressor considered having a “good design” and a compressor considered having a “bad design”. An active test was conducted with audio engineer students to investigate if there is any connection between time it takes for an engineer to navigate a compressor depending on its design. The test also investigated patterns in how audio engineers use compressors differently depending on their design, and what makes it easier to navigate and more satisfactory to use. 6 paired T-test were made between different compressor designs and a video and screen capture was annotated to investigate how audio engineers navigated the compressor. The results showed that 2 out of 6 T-tests gave a significant result, meaning that the time it took to navigate some of the compressors against each other were affected by the design of the compressor interface. Results showed that there are many contributing factor towards why a compressors is easier navigate and more satisfactory to use, but with a slight tendency that “parameter controls”, “visual information” and “aesthetically pleasing” are the most important factors. No findings on how engineers might use compressors differently depending on its design were found. Some additional patterns for audio engineers using compressors were found as well.

Research on interventions aimed to promote energy savings has shown support for direct feedback using in-home displays (IHDs) to reduce energy consumption. These displays are electronic devices that provide real-time energy information and are emerging as an effective tool to communicate with people about their energy consumption. How feedback is presented to people and how they understand the meaning of such feedback largely depends on the design of the display, yet there are relatively few studies that investigate the way in which the display can best be designed to present energy information and motivate energy-saving behaviour. Further, even though there is a wide range of variations in the visual presentation of feedback, there is a lack of focus on the process of optimising the IHD design. This thesis aims to address the need for designing IHDs at the display component level, by examining three types of display design (numerical displays, analogue displays using speedometer dials, and ambient displays using emotional faces) in both laboratory-based computer-simulated experiments and field-based experiments: participants’ abilities to detect changes in energy information shown on the computer-simulated displays were measured by means of accuracy rate and response time, and their subjective preferences for display types were assessed against experimental data; live energy data were displayed using the three design types in a student residence at the University of Bath to see how they would influence energy-use behaviour. Results from the laboratory experiments demonstrated that both accuracy rate and response time for seeing changes in the information displayed were strongly associated with the type of display design. Participants preferred numerical display and were better at detecting changes in information with this display than with the other two. Conversely, the student residence experiments showed that when participants’ attention was divided in a household setting, there was no difference in energy consumption among experimental groups who received information from any of the three display types. However, these experimental groups used significantly less energy compared with control groups, who had no displays installed. It was concluded that 1) the mere presence of a display device could influence people’s behaviour, regardless of the type of display design, people’s preferences or the level of user engagement with the display, although there was a strong indication that the ambient design worked better than the other two designs at an arbitrary statistical significance level of 0.95, and 2) subjective preferences and computer-simulated studies are poor guides to the actual performance of IHDs in real-world settings. This work helps establish how IHDs can be designed and the influence that they may have on people’s energy-consumption behaviour. It also contributes to the literature of exploring people’s perceptibility of energy information. The method used is replicable and can be applied in similar studies on energy display design. Lastly, the improved understanding gained through this work will facilitate the development of effective smart meter display technology that may help people adopt conscious energy behaviour in the long term.

This thesis presents the development and evaluation of a new approach (Sound- TrAD) to designing auditory interfaces. The proposed approach combines practices and concepts from film soundtrack composition with established approaches to general user interface design. The synthesis of the two design approaches from different areas of design into a novel approach may be viewed as an example of conceptual integration, (also known as conceptual blending). The process of developing and evaluating SoundTrAD broadly follows a methodology of Research through Design. The thesis presents four user studies as part of an iterative design and evaluation process. Each study involves a mixture of expert and novice end-users which provides new information and identifi es new questions and design issues for the subsequent studies. The fi rst study explores how an idea from fim composition (the cue sheet) can be used in auditory interface design to help designers place and organise sound elements, and to better understand auditory design spaces. In order to make this concept work in the new context, it is combined with the scenario concept from general interaction design to provide designers with reference linear sequences of events and actions. The second study used thematic analysis to investigate how information to be sonifed can be characterised and analysed for features that can be mapped in to sound. The study also explores the development of a timeline on which the sound design ideas from soundtrack composition for individual events, can be placed and in principle moved in order to cater for multiple use-case scenarios. The third study presents an iteration of this, including further development of both the task analysis and mapping technique. The study also explores the idea in principle of an interactive timeline that can be manipulated by the designer in order to re-arrange and audition sound events. The final study brings the studies together by obtaining feedback on the success of a nal version of SoundTrAD.

Masters Research - Master of Design (Research) / This study explores the development of patterns for the visual design of interface elements within a virtual environment. The document will outline the process for this study and will formalise an approach for future research. Commonly, existing interface systems allow for the representation of data storage, manipulation and navigation via two dimensional structures. With the emergence of virtual reality systems in medicine, military and entertainment there becomes a need to transform this limited two dimensional representation into one that best facilitates the new environment. The proposed model will incorporate application menu systems and the modes of manipulation of data in specific applications. The framework for a prototype of the interface has been produced as well as a structure for assessment via user interaction and response. This framework will provide a template for understanding the base interaction with the operating system, that is, how to organise files and initiate software, as well as the operation of a simulated software package. If the prototype were built then it would be viewed as a virtual environment and the interaction could take place via the use of either mouse (or similar prop) or data-glove. Future study could include the actual building of each of the interface variations and putting the series of users through the prescribed experiment procedure. Applications of an interface resulting from testing such as this could be found within a range of fields. Military training currently makes use of virtual simulation and this could provide access to information needed within operational procedures. Similar technologies could be adapted for pilot control systems within a visor display. For medical research, where virtual surgical techniques are being used, information could be accessed within the operating environment that had otherwise been contained in adjacent systems outside immediate reach. Real world application of these models would be limited at this time by the use of the appropriate computing power, however, the future use of this study could have broader application within the development of game technology, internet access and data mining. The proposed experiment requires the development of interface variations based on a predefined pattern structure that informs the design of certain elements and of the tasks to be performed. The patterns included in this study form the initial set from which a library could be extended and developed upon. While these pattern definitions are crucial to the execution of the experiment, they have been presented here in Appendix A to preserve flow and readability of the document. The review of the current literature within this study covers a range of publications related to the development of virtual and augmented environment interfaces. A summation of the tools, devices, techniques and constraints which affect this area of development has been included. The review is presented to provide broad background information for the reader, building a context through which the experiment should be viewed. The purpose of this study is to provide a method through which the visual representation of an interface can be more consistently assessed. This will be achieved through the use of a pattern language for a development framework, providing interface consistency in structure and principle. This is significant to the field as currently the assessment of visual representation is conducted across projects without a consistent framework and the subsequent learning is not readily transferred across applications.

This study explored how individuals categorized on handedness (being left or right hand dominant) reacted to having the vertical scroll bar of a web browser relocated to the left side of the screen. The relocation of the vertical scroll bar served as an alternative to the relocation of the prominent left aligned main navigation menu for most websites. Fifteen participants were recruited for the study. Each participant interacted with two versions of a web site in a modified browser to complete a set of ten short tasks. Participants completed tasks by interacting with a traditional and non-traditional vertical browser alignment. Left and right-handed participants were determined to be strikingly different in operation. Vertical scroll relocation produced some interesting results and responses.

Visual search is an important component of many human-computer interactions and a critical task in a variety of domains. These include screening for prohibited items in x-ray imagery of luggage in airports, identifying anomalies in medical imagery, and looking for unusual activity and changes over time in satellite imagery. Unlike many other human-machine interface tasks where a small error rate is quite acceptable, a crucial element of visual search tasks in these application areas is that a single mistake can have catastrophic consequences. Thus, any improvements in technology, interfaces, or human processes that can be made to aid visual search would be invaluable in these safety critical areas. Furthermore, even when one does not consider consequential activities such as cancer screening and airport security, most human-computer interactions involve some search component, and the impact of even small improvements is magnified by a high frequency of use. This thesis explores how some of these issues affect individuals' and teams' ability to perform visual searching tasks. Considerations such as group size and display configuration are examined, as are novel interfaces that aid search on tabletop and wall displays. The overarching goal of this work is to provide system designers with immediately implementable advice and guidelines on how to improve their systems in respect to visual search and to outline further research in this critical area.