This paper aims to improve the UX of the AR game cARcassonne for the Hololens 2 by making changes to its UI. Previous research and existing games are analyzed to determine the changes to the UI. A questionnaire is developed using said research as well as research of other UX measuring methods such as the GEQ and UPEQ. The results show an increase in UX, but also that the AR game has problems for new users. It is discussed that UI is actually not the main problem in the UX, but rather the technology of the Hololens 2.

Despite software being commonplace in the recording industry today, preconceptions exist regarding the digital equivalents of yesteryears hardware. Whilst studies within the field of cognitive psychology shows that prejudice can influence sense-experience, or how different senses can have influence one another, most studies regarding interface design seem to focus on usability. Since quality of sound arguably is a considerable factor in regards to the success of this type of software, this study intends to investigate whether graphical user interfaces can affect how sound is perceived. An experiment was conducted where participants with the help of a survey had to evaluate the same sounds in relation to two graphical user interfaces designed according to two common designs, in order to see whether any differences could be found. Based on the results, neither the research question could be answered, nor could the null hypothesis be rejected, mostly because of a lack of participants. Despite the many problems, potential and real, as well as the amount of research fields that the study transcends, the study could do well as groundwork for a larger study.

Water scarcity is a growing problem on Earth. One of the goals in Agenda 2030, whichall of the UN members adapted is to make clean water accessible by everyone and ensuresustainable water withdrawals. In order to take a step towards the solution, a companynamed Quandify has developed smart water meters to measure households’ water consumptionwhich can be installed by anyone.In this bachelor’s thesis, the author collaborates with Quandify to develop a proofof concept (POC) to investigate if it was possible to create a mobile phone applicationthat could help residents reduce their water consumption. The author uses state of artsuggestions in persuasive technology literature and usability heuristics for user interactiondesign and implements it into the application to increase the chance of user behaviourchange towards water consumption.The result is a mobile phone application where the users get inspiration and tips onhow to reduce their water consumption and lets the users see their water consumptionin real-time. The report also includes a small POC user study to rate the mobile phoneapplication with respect to usability heuristics.

The past decade has endorsed an extensive adjustment in social media marketing characterized by a fluctuation toward influencer marketing. Despite the many beneficial outcomes of influencer marketing, the operation of the phenomenon has received criticism from organizations, including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as well as the Swedish equivalent Konsumentverket, regarding how sponsorships are being disclosed on social media platforms. The purpose of this study is to examine how consumers’ advertising recognition is affected by the way influencers design their sponsorship disclosures in Instagram stories using the tools provided by Instagram’s own UI. The study used a mixed-methods approach, with a survey used to gather empirical data which was then analyzed using descriptive and thematic analysis. In the survey, participants were presented with five different fictive Instagram stories featuring sponsorship disclosures created by influencers using Instagram's own UI, with each scenario examining how different disclosure approaches affect consumer advertising recognition. The findings revealed that varied sponsorship disclosure practices generated different levels of advertising recognition depending on three factors: position, language, and visual prominence, with visual prominence being the most influential factor on advertising recognition. The study also looked into the efficacy of Instagram’s built-in disclosure tool and whether it was successful in generating advertising recognition. Although opinions were mixed, several participants believed that the tool did not produce enough advertising recognition and that it should be improved. Further, there is a need to achieve a better level of standardization regarding sponsorship disclosures on social media platforms.

Immunology Virtual Reality (VR) project is an immersive educational virtual reality experience that intends to provide an informal learning experience of specific immunology concepts to college freshmen in the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech (VT). The project is an interdisciplinary endeavor between my collaboration between people from different domain areas at VT: Creative Technologies, Education, Biological Sciences, and Computer Sciences. This thesis elaborates on the whole design process of how I created a working prototype of the project demo and shares insights from my design experience. / Master of Fine Arts / Immunology Virtual Reality is an immersive educational virtual reality experience in which a user takes on the role of an immune cell and migrates to fight off pathogen invasions at an infection site in the human body. It explores levels of interactivity and storytelling in educational VR and their impact on learning.

In peoples hyperconnected lives, a price to pay is their internet privacy and the different risks it faces the second their browser connects to the web. One such risk comes from how web tracking collect and analyze users information. This paper explores an approach to how web browsers can inform its users about the web tracking technique Fingerprinting, and through the concept presentation of this approach see: what key key aspects of visual aesthetics that affects the users experience when being informed; and to what extent differences in technological interest and knowledge affect users reception of Fingerprinting information, and the implementation implications the differences leads to. For this purpose a high fidelity prototype was created to: represent the concept of web browsers having integrated educational pages meant to inform its users on topics such as Fingerprinting, and to; be used in a user test. The results showed: a lack of knowledge on the existence of Fingerprinting; that differences in technological interest and knowledge among users affected what aspects of visual aesthetics they valued; and that those with less technological interest and knowledge to a higher degree had their attitudes towards Internet Privacy affected by the prototype’s information. It also showed that the differences affects users approach and interactions with software, and that the design implications this brings are to be considered for future browser functionality implementations. / <p>Självständigt Examensarbete (Forskningsartikel)</p>

The digital growth of the 21st century has led to the development and establishment of recommendation systems for digital services. This is to allow users to find relevant content in the vast amount of data that exists. Past research shows that recommendation systems have been explored to a large extent, but that there is considerable knowledge missing regarding its impact on users. With this, we have chosen to examine its filtering and prioritization from the users perspective in order to see how recommendations are perceived and what implications it can bring for the future. The collection of data has been made through qualitative interviews and observations where Spotify’s recommendation systems have been used as foundation. When analysing this data, categorizations have shown results within five overall themes that have contributed to several conclusions. It has been shown that there are differences regarding the perception of integrity and trust between different kinds of recommendations and that there is an extensive obliviousness regarding the different recommendation systems. There is also no common view on the differences in value concerning the various ways to explore in Spotify and all of the participants have expressed dissatisfaction as well as four out of five showing mistrust towards recommendation systems.

Inom interaktionsdesign tillförs användbarhet som en aspekt i designprocessen vid utformningen av interaktiva produkter. Syftet med denna studie var att utforma en användbar applikation med målet att digitalisera och effektivisera förskolepedagogers dagliga arbete samt ge målgruppen en positiv användarupplevelse. Designprocessen bestod av delar - konceptfasen, bearbetningsfasen och detaljeringsfasen - och resulterade slutligen i en prototyp av applikationen Kidskollen med funktioner inom närvarohantering, barninformation och kommunikation. Studien avslutades med att målgruppen fick utvärdera den slutgiltiga designlösningen genom ett användartest samt en efterföljande värderingsenkät. Utvärderingen visade att applikationen Kidskollen mötte målgruppens förväntningar samt gav en positiv användarupplevelse. Studien visade också att förståelse för målgruppen och den aktuella brukssituationen var av stor vikt i utformandet av en användbar designlösning. Ytterligare faktorer som definierades som extra värdefulla var vetskap om relevanta designmönster och designpinciper då dessa bidrog till att mer välgrundade designbeslut kunde fattas. Sammanfattningsvis svarade studien på den inledande frågeställningen; “Hur kan en applikation med syfte att digitalisera förskolepedagogers dagliga arbete utformas för att målgruppen ska få en positiv användarupplevelse och vilja använda den?”

Web accessibility guidelines have textual representation and provide little support in systematic analysis and usage. The study hypothesizes that the guidelines can be reorganized and represented using the goal oriented technique and design patterns which will allow their usage in a more systematic manner and accommodate detailed analysis of the guidelines with other competing goals. For this study, knowledge from web designers’ experiences in using the guidelines, researchers’ findings, and the actual guidelines have been amalgamated. Six web designers have been consulted on a one-on-one basis and difficulties in using the guidelines for (1) specific scenarios, (2) systematic application, and (3) detailed systems analysis have been reported. Goal oriented modeling and design patterns have been introduced for (1) graphical representation of the guidelines using goal graphs, and (2) keeping the technical details separate from the goal graphs. The proposed representation allows for the accessibility guidelines to be systematically applied into interface design, and systems design using the goal oriented modeling technique.

Web accessibility guidelines have textual representation and provide little support in systematic analysis and usage. The study hypothesizes that the guidelines can be reorganized and represented using the goal oriented technique and design patterns which will allow their usage in a more systematic manner and accommodate detailed analysis of the guidelines with other competing goals. For this study, knowledge from web designers’ experiences in using the guidelines, researchers’ findings, and the actual guidelines have been amalgamated. Six web designers have been consulted on a one-on-one basis and difficulties in using the guidelines for (1) specific scenarios, (2) systematic application, and (3) detailed systems analysis have been reported. Goal oriented modeling and design patterns have been introduced for (1) graphical representation of the guidelines using goal graphs, and (2) keeping the technical details separate from the goal graphs. The proposed representation allows for the accessibility guidelines to be systematically applied into interface design, and systems design using the goal oriented modeling technique.