User-System Interface Design

Many design principles relating to the interface between computer-based systems and their human users derive from human factors (HF) considerations. In the first part of this paper, it is shown how some of the most important HF-based principles may be fitted into the Organisational Semiotic framework proposed by Ronald Stamper. In the second part of the paper, the benefit of this integration is demonstrated, by showing how a semiotic perspective can lead to a more analytical understanding of the implications of the design principles concerned.