Three studies were conducted to better understand the current status of the industry and create a design process and taxonomy. Study 1 assessed current industry usage of dust control technologies and stakeholder perceptions in the concrete and masonry trades. Study 2 was similar but assessed emission control technologies in the asphalt roofing trade. Study 3 used the information from studies 1 and 2 to select a tool for further evaluation. The handheld cutoff concrete saw was chosen. An iterative design process was utilized to evaluate the saw. The design process and subsequent usability inspection engendered a taxonomy, or set of design recommendations can be applied to large handheld powered tools. / Ph. D. / Three studies were conducted to better understand the current perceptions of risks associated with the construction industry and create a process for designing tools that mange the associated risks. Study 1 and Study 2 assessed current industry use of technologies for managing health hazards present when working in the concrete, masonry, and asphalt roofing industries; and the interested party’s perceptions of the industries. Study 3 used the information from Studies 1 and 2 to select a tool for further evaluation. The handheld cut-off concrete saw was chosen. An iterative design process was utilized to evaluate the saw. The design process and subsequent usability test created a set of design recommendations which can be applied to large handheld powered tools. A telephone survey was conducted to assess the concrete, masonry, and asphalt roofing industries. The survey measured decision makers’ perceptions of health hazard control technologies. Finally, it assessed business factors affecting adoption of the control technologies and projects specifying the use of health hazard control technologies. The results show the concrete and masonry industries understand the risks associated with working in the industry and are more likely to adopt health hazard management technologies. The asphalt roofing industry is unsure if they view heated asphalt to be a health hazard and are more resistant to adopting current technologies. There are more projects specifying the use of control technologies in concrete and masonry and a decreasing number of projects are specifying the use of control technologies in asphalt roofing. The business factors for adopting technologies are the same across industries, specifically worker safety and government regulation. Those looking to have an impact on the construction industry should focus on the concrete and masonry industries over asphalt roofing. In the final study, a design process and guidelines were created for large handheld powered equipment. The researcher used an iterative design process whose goal was to better equip industry with a dust control device, specifically a vacuum based system for the gasoline powered handheld cut-off concrete saw. Results from Studies 1 and 2 influenced the direction of the design process. The design did not yield a prototype fit for testing, so the researcher assessed the usability of a commercially available system. The results were transformed into design guidelines for anyone interested in creating better hazard controls for similar power tools. The guidelines created are: have clear symbols, efficiently provide feedback, provide feedback when attaching parts, make attaching parts easy, have efficient design to reduce dangers inherent with the tool, increase visibility, reduce overexposure to dangers, ensure it is easy to move, and enable a wide variety of users to be able to use the saw. The process used to design the prototype can be used to design similar large handheld powered tools. The design process starts with looking at how the tool is currently used, then brings stakeholders together to discuss the problem, then create prototypes, and finally test the prototypes for performance and/or usability which will create the design guidelines.

In der nutzerzentrierten Produktentwicklung wird der Mensch als Summe seiner individuellen physiologischen und psychologischen Ausprägungen verstanden, welche in persönlichen Bedürfnissen an das Produkt resultieren. Diese können auch als affektive Ansprüche definiert werden und sind folglich Anforderungen, die sich aus den individuellen, subjektiven Erwartungen ergeben. Das Affective Engineering (AE) stellt die Verbindung zwischen diesen Anforderungen und dem Produktdesign her und berücksichtigt die affektiven Bedürfnisse der Nutzer sowie deren affektive Zufriedenheit zur Entwicklung erfolgreicher Produkte und stellt somit die User Experience (UX) in den Fokus. Derzeit werden externe Einflussfaktoren wie z. B. das Alter oder die Kultur in bestehenden AE-Methoden nur bedingt berücksichtigt. In diesem Beitrag wird daher anhand einer beispielhaften AEMethode „ACADE +P“ die Integration externer Einflussfaktoren und dessen Nutzen forciert.

The user experience in the e-commerce industry plays a pivotal role in retaining its customers.The competition between e-commerce business stores such as H&M or Kappahl is so fierce that improving the most basic functionalities, such as the current poor browsing experience ofe-commerce websites, can attract or retain even more internet users. Addressing this pressing issue in UX, an innovative solution addressing poor browsing experiences at e-commerce websites could be achieved through the personalization of the primary navigation menu. In an attempt to lay the foundations for further research in this niche, this paper addresses a design of a personalized navigation menu that renders recommended items based on the individual’s user patterns. The aim is to study the usability of such a digital artifact through the three usability metrics (Efficiency, Effectiveness and Satisfaction) in an attempt to understand if a personalized navigation menu is a viable solution for both practical implications and scientific research.

This thesis explores the application of prompt engineering combined with human-AI interaction (HAII) to make text-to-image (TTI) models more accessible and intuitive for non-expert users. The thesis research focuses on developing an application with an intuitive interface that enables users to generate images without extensive knowledge of prompt engineering. A pre-post study was conducted to evaluate the application, demonstrating significant improvements in user satisfaction and ease of use. The findings suggest that such tailored interfaces can make AI technologies more accessible, empowering users to engage creatively with minimal technical barriers. This study contributes to the fields of Media technology and AI by showcasing how simplifying prompt engineering can enhance the accessibility of generative AI tools. / Detta examensarbete utforskar tillämpningen av prompt engineering i kombination med human-AI interaction för att göra text-till-bild modeller mer tillgängliga och intuitiva för icke-experter. Forskningen för examensarbetet fokuseras på att utveckla en applikation med ett intuitivt gränssnitt som gör det möjligt för användare att generera bilder utan omfattande kunskaper om prompt engineering. En före-efter-studie genomfördes för att utvärdera applikationen, vilket visade på en tydlig ökning i användarnöjdhet och användarvänlighet. Utfallet från studien tyder på att skräddarsydda gränssnitt kan göra AI-tekniken mer tillgänglig, och göra det möjligt för användare att nyttja det kreativa skapandet med minimerade tekniska hinder. Den här studien bidrar till områdena avmedieteknik och AI genom att demonstrera hur prompt engineering kan förenklas vilket kan förbättra tillgängligheten av AI-verktyg.

Inom forskningsfältet MDI har ett flertal utmanande områden identifierats, bland annat inom hållbarhet men också för att täcka ett kunskapsgap mellan forskningsfältet och yrkesområden. Parallellt menar hållbarhetsexperter att vi behöver bekämpa klimatförändringar, öka hållbarheten i städer och samhällen samt förbättra hållbar konsumtion och produktion för att ge framtida generationer samma möjligheter som oss. Detta kan göras genom att människor i samhället börjar dela på tillgångar, där bildelning är ett växande område. Tidigare forskning menar att en hållbarhetsutmaning är att öka människors kunskap kring hållbarhet, något som kan göras genom beteendepåverkande design. Mindful Design och Design With Intent är två tillvägagångssätt inom beteendepåverkande design och har legat till grund för att undersöka vilka beteendepåverkande designrekommendationer som kan användas av företag som erbjuder bildelningstjänster för att öka andelen människor som väljer att resa hållbart. Fem delmål togs fram; först identifierades och analyserades beteenden och designproblem inom bildelning, för att därefter sammanställas till underlag för att skapa designrekommendationerna. Därefter utvärderades designrekommendationernas applicerbarhet i en fallstudie, vilket möjliggjorde revidering av designrekommendationerna. Resultatet visar att beteendepåverkande design inom bildelningstjänster bör utgå från fem kategorier: ekonomi, tillgänglighet & behov, medvetenhet, effekt & bevis, risker & säkerhet och socialt & känslor. Kategorierna innefattar problem och motivationsområden och behöver samverka för att angripa hållbarhetsutmaningar på ett holistiskt sätt. De fem kategorierna ligger till grund för 28 beteendepåverkande rekommendationer som ämnar att hjälpa företag att designa bildelningstjänster som påverkar människor till att anta ett mer hållbart resande och på sikt ökar hållbarheten på samhällsnivå. / Within the MDI research field, a number of challenging areas have been identified, including sustainability but also a knowledge gap between the research field and professional areas. At the same time, sustainability experts mean that we need to defeat climate change, increase sustainability in cities and communities and improve responsible consumption and production to give future generations the same opportunities as us. This can be done by sharing assets, where car sharing is a growing area.  Previous research suggests that a sustainability challenge is to increase people's knowledge of sustainability, something that can be done through behavioral design. Mindful Design and Design With Intent are two approaches within behavioral design which have formed the basis for this thesis.  The question at issue investigates behavioral design recommendations that should be used by companies who are offering car sharing services to increase the amount of people who choose to travel sustainably. To answer this, five sub-goals were created. First behaviors and design problems in car sharing were identified and analyzed, then they were compiled into a basis for creating the design recommendations. After that the applicability of the design recommendations was evaluated in a case study, which enabled revision of the design recommendations.  The result shows that behavioral design within car sharing services should be based on five categories: economy, accessibility & needs, awareness, impact & evidence, risks & safety and social & emotions. The categories include problems and areas of motivation and need to work together to tackle sustainability challenges in a holistic way. The five categories form the basis of 28 behavioral design recommendations that aim to help companies design car-sharing services that influence people to adopt more sustainable travel patterns and, in the long run, increase sustainability at the societal level.

The purpose of this study was to assess visual analytics technology acceptance and user experience among in vitro fertilization (IVF) consumers. The research aimed to show how visual analytics tools and technologies can be applied in the consumer space to enhance how users interpret healthcare success rate data. This exploratory user evaluation study utilized a quantitative dominant, mixed-methods approach with a convergent parallel design based on the data-validation variant. Survey data were collected from consumers who were currently seeking information about IVF treatment in the United States. The study findings indicated that the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) constructs of performance expectancy and hedonic motivation influenced consumer behavioral intention to use visual analytics technology, while effort expectancy did not. Further, the findings from the user experience and qualitative analyses indicated that there is strong support for consumer adoption of visual analytics technology for personal healthcare decision-making. These findings may help in the design and development of modern, interactive visualization tools that could be used to visualize public or private healthcare data for analysis by consumers. Stakeholders, including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and medical practitioners, may use the findings to develop improved interactive tools for consumer analysis of large, multi-dimensional data sets.

In the evolving landscape of building systems and human-building interaction (HBI), the complexity of building interfaces has significantly increased, posing both challenges and opportunities for enhancing energy consumption, indoor environmental quality (IEQ), and building services. This dissertation, titled "User-centered Evaluation of Multi-modal Building Interfaces," delves into the realm of HBI by focusing on the user's experience and perception of multimodal building control interfaces, particularly the various visual modalities of Connected Thermostats (CTs). This body of work aims to support CTs' ongoing adoption, expansion, and performance through a user-centered perspective. The research is motivated by the observation that the design process in the current building industry often overlooks a human-centered approach, leading to a disconnection between occupants' needs and building interface design. This misalignment not only results in user dissatisfaction but also leads to a missed opportunity in leveraging smart building technologies to enhance building performance for achieving climate change mitigation goals. This research attempts to address the main identified gaps in the literature and AEC industry concerning 1) human interaction and perception of multimodal CT interfaces,2) the scarcity of knowledge in the field of human-computer-building interaction (HCBI) regarding the user study methods, 3) the exiting highly non-standard practices in the design of building interfaces. This research highlights 1) the necessity of a multimodal interaction approach, 2) robust mixed-methods User Experience (UX) summative evaluation studies, and 3) the need for standardization in HCBI. This body of work is grounded in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Human Information Processing (HIP) theories, aiming to foster the adoption of connected building controls with a special focus on usability by suggesting best practices in design and research. The methodology comprised three-step mixed-methods summative evaluation studies designed using a funnel approach to answer the general question: "How do users interact with connected thermostats, and how do these interactions inform our understanding of human-building interaction?": 1) The first and broadest study leveraged texting mining big data of user reviews to identify the general themes and patterns that affect the UX and acceptance of CTs. 2) The second study employed mixed-methods lab experiments to further focus on usability, being recognized as the most determining factor in the adoption of CTs in the first study. This study investigated human interaction with three of the most prevalent modalities of CTs: the Fixed Visual Display (FVD), the phone app, and the web portal. 3) The third study investigated human interaction with a specific visual aspect of UI of FVD and phone app modalities, the interface icons, with the goal of providing some data-driven guidelines for their standardization. Throughout the three studies, the dissertation employed and evaluated some novel and established HCI summative user evaluation methods, including a grounded theory approach for text mining and analyzing user-generated content, eye-tracking think-aloud protocol and contextual inquiry, A/B testing and NASA TLX and SUS surveys to evaluate UX, usability and mental workload. The dissertation outlined three discrete contributions: 1) It bridged some of the well-established UX research methods into HCBI and highlighted the potential of knowledge in the HCI field, 2) Provided guidance for human-centered design of multimodal building interfaces through identifying the main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in UX of CTs, 3) Informed the standardization of UI of multimodal building interfaces. / Doctor of Philosophy / Modern building systems are becoming increasingly complex to enhance energy savings and improve occupant convenience. Traditional buildings are typically controlled by wall-mounted devices that manage lighting, temperature, and security. However, in smart buildings, occupants now have new ways to interact with these systems, including remote control options like smartphone apps. This research explores how people interact with and perceive different types of building controls. Specifically, it compares user experiences with two main types of controls: fixed controls, such as wall-mounted thermostats, and mobile controls, like smartphone apps. The goal is to improve the design of these controls to make them easier to use, widely adopted, and more effective in promoting energy efficiency and comfort. Among building controls, smart residential thermostats are particularly important. How they are designed and how people use them can significantly impact energy use in homes. However, advanced thermostats, especially those with programming features, are often seen as difficult to use for building occupants. Designers sometimes overlook the needs of users due to agile design processes or a limited understanding of user-centered design. These complex interfaces can lead to user frustration and missed opportunities to improve building performance. This research addresses these challenges by studying how people actually interact with different smart thermostat controls, including wall-mounted devices, phone apps, and web portals, emphasizing the importance of designing with user needs in mind. This study identifies the common issues users face with the dashboard of these devices, proposes solutions, and offers best practices for creating user-friendly building controls. This study makes three key contributions: First, it introduces well-known methods from other fields for designing and evaluating technology and applies these methods to evaluate the user experience of building controls. Methods include text analysis of user reviews, surveys, eye-tracking, and user performance measurements, some of which are relatively new in the context of human-building interaction. Additionally, the study provides guidance for future researchers in developing a user-centered framework for building interfaces by comparing these methods. Finally, it helps designers by identifying critical usability problems in building interfaces and highlighting opportunities for improvement.

In Saudi Arabia, several mitigating measures were implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the creation of COVID-19 mobile applications (apps) for public use. The Saudi government has made the use of these apps mandatory for its citizens and residents. However, it is essential to explore the perception that common users have regarding using these apps in terms of usability and user experience. Therefore, this paper assesses user experience in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction with the usability of the Saudi COVID-19 apps. The reviews of five mobile apps launched by the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) and the Ministry of Health in the Apple Store were extracted using an online tool and analyzed using the content analysis method. The number of collected reviews was 29 for Sehha, 406 for Sehhaty, 442 for Mawid, 107 for Tabaud, and 1338 for Tawakkalna. The results of the study showed that Mawid (82%) and Tabaud (81%) had the highest usability of all the apps studied. Sehha (−138%) and Sehhaty (−107%) received the lowest usability scores, followed by Tawakkalna (−22%). Based on these results, we identified several usability issues with each app. Some of the main problems reported by users were increased battery drain, lack of privacy, and technical issues.

Syftet med denna masteruppsats var att undersöka skillnaden i Game User Experience Satisfaction (GUESS) vid användning av SimProv, både i VR (Oculus Rift) och på skärm. SimProv är en spelliknande klassrumssimulation. Studien avsåg även finna potentiella problem som användaren kunde stöta på under testsessionen. För att kunna undersöka och utvärdera detta behövde SimProv vidareutvecklas. Vidareutvecklingen utfördes genom att använda spelmotorn Unity med PlayMaker, som är ett visual scripting språk, tillsammans med att följa rekommendationer som finns för UI- och User experience-design för VR-spel. Inomgruppsdesign med 30 deltagare användes som testmetod. Hälften av deltagarna fick antingen börja med att spela på skärm eller i VR med Oculus Rift. Efter varje spelsession fick deltagarna fylla i den nya psykometrisk validerade skalan Game User Experience Satisfaction Scale (GUESS), som består av nio subskalor. Avslutningsvis kunde deltagarna fylla i två fritextfrågor genom ett digitalt formulär, om de potentiella problem de stött på vid respektive spelsession. Då GUESS är en ny skala har få studier av denna typ utförts. De få studier som har utförts pekar åt olika håll i frågan om spel bör utvecklas i VR eller inte. Resultaten från denna studie, som utfördes med tvåsidig hypotesprövning med t-test, visade inga signifikanta skillnader mellan VR och skärm. Endast en subskala, Play Engrossment, visade signifikant skillnad för VR. De textbaserade resultaten som analyserades med tematisk analys visade att majoriteten av deltagarna föredrog VR, men att alternativen i spelet upplevdes som begränsande. / The aim of this Master’s Thesis was to find out the difference in Game User Experience Satisfaction (GUESS) when using SimProv, both in VR (Oculus Rift) and on monitor. SimProv is a game-like classroom simulation. The purpose of this thesis was also to find potential problems that users may encounter during the test sessions. To assess and evaluate this, SimProv had to be furthered developed. This development was done using the game engine Unity and the visual scripting language PlayMaker in combination with following UI and UX design recommendations for VR games. A within subjects design with 30 participants was conducted. The users played either the monitor version or the VR version first, with no particular order. After each play session participants were asked to fill in the GUESS-scale, which is a newly developed and psychometrically validated scale that consists of 9 subscales. At the end of the play sessions participants could choose to answer two questions, through a digital form, about potential problems they may have encountered in both modalities. Since GUESS is a new scale few studies of evaluating VR versus monitor, using GUESS, have been conducted. The few studies that have been conducted showed no consensus in whether games should or should not be developed for VR. The inferential analysis with two-tailed paired samples t-tests in this study showed no significant difference between VR and monitor. The subscale Play Engrossment showed significant differences for VR. The text-based questions, that were analyzed with a thematic analysis, showed that the majority of the participants preferred VR. However, many participants felt that the answer options in the game where restricted.

En turistbroschyr är en bekant produkt som turister kan hämta information ifrån. Men hur upplever användarna interaktionen med ett obekant navigationskoncept som vi kallar DSI i kontexten av att söka turistinformation och vad har DSI för påverkan på användarupplevelsen? Vi har utfört en studie på tio respondenter. Studien inkluderar en observation där respondenterna har fått interagera, med applikationen vi skapade med navigationskonceptet DSI, och utföra ett antal uppgifter. De har även fått utföra ett antal uppgifter på en PDF med samma innehåll men med en annan struktur. Därefter utförde vi metoden Product Reaction Cards och till sist en intervju. Vi kom fram till att det tar tid att lära sig någonting obekant som DSI men när respondenterna väl har lärt sig konceptet så har det haft en positiv påverkan på användarupplevelsen och majoritet ansåg den som användbar i kontexten av att söka turistinformation. / A tourist brochure is a familiar product that tourists collect information from. But how do users experience the interaction with an unfamiliar navigation concept we call DSI in the context of seeking tourist information and what impact does DSI have on the user experience (UX)? We conducted a study of ten respondents. The study includes an observation in which the respondents had to interact with the application we created with the navigation concept DSI, and perform a number of tasks. They also performed a number of tasks on a PDF with the same content but with a different structure. Afterwards we performed the method Product Reaction Cards and lastly an interview. We concluded that it takes time to learn something unfamiliar as DSI but when the respondents have learned the concept it turned out to have a positive impact on the user experience and the majority considered it useful in the context of seeking tourist information.