Perceptual Information for User-Product Interaction: Using Vacuum Cleaner as Example

The purpose of this study is to identify which product designs for parts and directions are most effective, and then propose how perceptional information could best be designed to facilitate user-product interaction. Three categories of perceptional information for product operational tasks were proposed in this study. Task analysis and usability evaluations were carried out to analyze what information users required while they practiced the operational tasks. Finally, a primary model was proposed that revealed and defined specific types of entities and different perceptual information— Behavioural Information (BI), Assemblage Information (AI), and Conventional Information (CI)— to be significant elements for the model. Information for specific applications that is available for various types of vacuum cleaner parts is described below: 1) for specific operational tasks, these applications for operability, functionality and operational directions are required for the user-part category, and BI and CI provide effective support for the applications; 2) the application for assembly-ability is required for the part-part category, and AI and CI provide effective support for this application; and 3) the applications for operability, functionality, operational directions, and assembly-ability are required for the user-part-part category. BI and CI provide effective support for the applications for operability, functionality, whereas operational directions, and AI and CI provide effective support for the application for assembly-ability.

[1]  Colin Ware,et al.  Information Visualization: Perception for Design , 2000 .

[2]  Marc Silver.  Exploring Interface Design , 2004 .

[3]  Bruce Thomas,et al.  User Interface Design for Electronic Appliances , 2001 .

[4]  B. Rundle.  James J. Gibson and the Psychology of Perception , 1992 .

[5]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  Affordance, conventions, and design , 1999, INTR.

[6]  J. P. Djajadiningrat.  Cubby: What you see is where you act. Interlacing the display and manipulation spaces. , 1998 .

[7]  Austin Henderson,et al.  Interaction design: beyond human-computer interaction , 2002, UBIQ.

[8]  E. Reed.  James J. Gibson and the psychology of perception , 1988 .

[9]  J. Gibson.  The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception , 1979 .

[10]  Janice Redish,et al.  User and task analysis for interface design , 1998 .

[11]  Larry L. Constantine,et al.  Software for Use - A Practical Guide to the Models and Methods of Usage-Centered Design , 1999 .

[12]  Alan Cooper,et al.  About Face: The Essentials of User Interface Design , 1995 .

[13]  Joep Frens,et al.  Designing for rich interaction : integrating form, interaction, and function , 2006 .

[14]  Harold W. Thimbleby,et al.  User interface design , 1990, ACM Press Frontier Series.

[15]  Catherine Courage,et al.  Understanding Your Users: A Practical Guide to User Requirements Methods, Tools, and Techniques , 2005 .

[16]  Keiichi Sato,et al.  Affordances in Product Architecture: Linking Technical Functions and Users’ Tasks , 2005 .

[17]  William W. Gaver.  Technology affordances , 1991, CHI.

[18]  Joel Spolsky,et al.  User Interface Design for Programmers , 2001, Apress.

[19]  Judith Hills,et al.  The semantic turn: A new foundation for design , 2008 .

[20]  Colin Potts,et al.  Design of Everyday Things , 1988 .

[21]  A. Borghi.  Object concepts and action: extracting affordances from objects parts. , 2004, Acta psychologica.

[22]  Jan Noyes,et al.  User interface design for electronic appliances , 2001 .

[23]  K. Krippendorff.  The Semantic Turn: A New Foundation For Design , 2005 .

[24]  Kuohsiang Chen,et al.  Applications of affordance and semantics in product design , 2007 .

[25]  H. Rex Hartson,et al.  Cognitive, physical, sensory, and functional affordances in interaction design , 2003, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[26]  Virginia Howlett.  Visual Interface Design for Windows: Effective User Interfaces for Windows 95, Windows NT, and Windows 3.1 , 1996 .

[27]  William K. Horton,et al.  The Icon Book: Visual Symbols for Computer Systems and Documentation , 1994 .