The effect of Visual Design Quality on Player Experience Components in Tablet Games

Research in the field of Human Computer Interaction Design indicates that there is a need to develop further methods, tools, and frameworks for the design and evaluation of digital game interfaces. This thesis aims to design, develop, and evaluate two different types of tablet games with varying visual design quality interfaces to examine users’ perceptions of hedonic quality, visual design, emotions, and game enjoyment in different channels of experience. The design-oriented approach was adopted to combine both creative practice and scientific inquiry in the game design process and empirical evaluation. Hypotheses were formulated to explore the significance of visual design quality in relation to the components of player experience. The study entailed two phases. In the first phase, participatory design methods were employed to design and develop the tablet games encompassing mind-mapping techniques, focus groups, iterative prototyping with multiple cycles of usability testing of user interfaces. In the second phase, survey instruments were applied to collect and analyze data from 111 participants using tablet games as stimuli in a controlled experimental condition. The main contribution of this research is creation of a player experience model, validated in the domain of tablet gaming, to serve as a new theory. This research will allow for game researchers and practitioners to obtain a deeper understanding of the significance of the player experience framework components to create optimal player experience in tablet games. The finding shows that highly attractive game user interfaces were perceived to have higher utility and ease of use. Participants exhibited higher levels of arousal and valence in the high visual design quality interfaces mediated by hedonic quality. Participants who were highly sensitive to visual design did not necessarily derive the highest level of game enjoyment. Participants derived a heightened level of engagement in the arousal channel of experience and the highest level of enjoyment in the flow state. The use of 2.5D graphics and analogous color schemes created a spatial illusion that captivated users' attention. Practitioners are encouraged to design game artifacts with feature sets and mechanics capable of transporting players into the state of flow, as this is the stage where they experience game control, excitement and relaxation in addition to game immersion in the state of arousal

Aesthetics, affect and user preference - Finding objective measures for subjective experiences

Objectives of the study The Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) field has long concentrated on easily measured variables such as effectiveness, adoption and ease of use to study technology usage. In order to study user preference in particular, the inclusion of more socio-cognitive variables such aesthetics and emotions is necessary. However, these subjective experiences are intrinsically harder to measure: using subjective measures like questionnaires give results that are colored by cognitive processing, whereas subjective evaluations are formed instantly after exposure. The objective is to find what the effect of aesthetics and emotions are to user preference, and to test whether eye movement could provide an objective measure to support and validate subjective measures. Academic background and methodology Based on previous literature and studies, a model predicting user preference is developed. For eye movement tracking, modern abstract and representative art are used as test material. It is hypothesized that user preference is predicted by aesthetics, fixations (static eye movement), valence, arousal and dominance (emotions). The direct effect of these variables as well as the mediating effect of emotions is studied. The direct effect is tested by regression analysis, and the results are used for modify the model accordingly. The results are verified by path analysis which is also used to test the mediation effect of emotions and group differences of abstract and representative images. Findings and conclusions The research hypotheses were mainly confirmed by the study. It was found that aesthetics, valence and arousal explain and predict preference. Only dominance did not significantly predict preference. Aesthetic and affect reactions are formed instantly after viewing an object, they are involuntary in nature and the effect of these rapid evaluations is long lasting. Measuring such swift decisions is challenging, but it was found that eye movement and fixations in particular predict preference. In practical terms, it means fixations can be used along with self-reported measures to corroborate subjective evaluations

Developing and validating an English version of the meCUE questionnaire for measuring user experience

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.Based on the Component model of User Experience (CUE), a standardized questionnaire (meCUE) was developed measuring key aspects of user experience (UX) for interactive products. The questionnaire consists of 34 items and covers four components: product perceptions (usefulness, usability, visual aesthetics, status, commitment), user emotions (positive, negative), consequences of usage (intention to use, product loyalty), and overall judgment. The modules were separately validated in a series of studies. Therefore, meCUE can be easily adapted to specific research goals by simply choosing those modules which are required. The original German questionnaire was translated into an English version that was validated in an online study. Fifty-eight native English speakers assessed a wide variety of interactive products, such as cell phones, digital cameras, PCs, laptops, tablets, software and mobile applications. Results show that the English version reliably assesses the key components of UX and that the internal consistency of its scales is high.DFG, GRK 1013, Prospektive Gestaltung von Mensch-Technik-Interaktion (prometei

The Application of Physiological Metrics in Validating User Experience Evaluation on Automotive Human Machine Interface Systems

Automotive in-vehicle information systems have seen an era of continuous development within the industry and are recognised as a key differentiator for prospective customers. This presents a significant challenge for designers and engineers in producing effective next generation systems which are helpful, novel, exciting, safe and easy to use. The usability of any new human machine interface (HMI) has an implicit cost in terms of the perceived aesthetic perception and associated user experience. Achieving the next engaging automotive interface, not only has to address the user requirements but also has to incorporate established safety standards whilst considering new interaction technologies. An automotive (HMI) evaluation may combine a triad of physiological, subjective and performance-based measurements which are employed to provide relevant and valuable data for product evaluation. However, there is also a growing interest and appreciation that determining real-time quantitative metrics to drivers’ affective responses provide valuable user affective feedback. The aim of this research was to explore to what extent physiological metrics such as heart rate variability could be used to quantify or validate subjective testing of automotive HMIs. This research employed both objective and subjective metrics to assess user engagement during interactions with an automotive infotainment system. The mapping of both physiological and self-report scales was examined over a series of studies in order to provide a greater understanding of users’ responses. By analysing the data collected it may provide guidance within the early stages of in-vehicle design evaluation in terms of usability and user satisfaction. This research explored these metrics as an objective, quantitative, diagnostic measure of affective response, in the assessment of HMIs. Development of a robust methodology was constructed for the application and understanding of these metrics. Findings from the three studies point towards the value of using a combination of methods when examining user interaction with an in-car HMI. For the next generation of interface systems, physiological measures, such as heart rate variability may offer an additional dimension of validity when examining the complexities of the driving task that drivers perform every day. There appears to be no boundaries on technology advancements and with this, comes extra pressure for car manufacturers to produce similar interactive and connective devices to those that are already in use in homes. A successful in-car HMI system will be intuitive to use, aesthetically pleasing and possess an element of pleasure however, the design components that are needed for a highly usable HMI have to be considered within the context of the constraints of the manufacturing process and the risks associated with interacting with an in-car HMI whilst driving. The findings from the studies conducted in this research are discussed in relation to the usability and benefits of incorporating physiological measures that can assist in our understanding of driver interaction with different automotive HMIs

Beyond usability -- affect in web browsing

This research concentrates on the visual aesthetics of a website, investigating the web user's affective/emotional reactions to different designs of web homepage aesthetics and their influence on subsequent behaviors of web users. Drawing on the existing theories and empirical findings in environmental psychology, human-computer interaction, aesthetics, and marketing research literature, a research model is developed to explore the relationships between the visual aesthetic qualities of a website homepage - webpage visual complexity and order, induced emotional states in users, and users' approach behaviors toward the website. The model predicts that the visual aesthetics of a web homepage elicit specific emotional responses by provoking intrinsic feelings of pleasantness / unpleasantness, arousal, as well as motivational pleasantness / unpleasantness in web users. These elicited emotional responses, which mediate the effect of homepage aesthetic features, in turn affect web users' subsequent behaviors toward the website, such as further approaching/exploring or avoiding the website. A set of pilot studies and a main laboratory experiment were conducted to test the model and its associated hypotheses. Based on the results of pilot studies, 12 versions of a Gift website's homepage, which varied at four levels of complexity and three levels of order, were selected the stimuli materials for the main experiment. A total of 467 undergraduate students participated in the main study. During the main study, we instructed the participants to browse the homepage stimuli for a goal-oriented web search activity or an excitement/enjoyment-seeking web browsing activity, measured how they felt about the homepage and their degree of approach/avoidance tendencies toward the entire website. The results of the study generally confirmed the belief that a web user's initial emotional responses (i.e., pleasantness and arousal) evoked by the aesthetic qualities of a website's homepage he/she first encounters will have carry-over effects on his/her subsequent approach behaviors toward the website

Aesthetic Approaches to Human-Computer Interaction

Proceedings of the NordiCHI 2004 Workshop, Tampere, Finland, October 24, 200

Engaged or Frustrated? Disambiguating Engagement and Frustration in Search

One of the primary ways researchers have characterized engagement is by an increase in search actions. Another possibility is that instead of experiencing increased engagement, people who click and query frequently are actually frustrated; several studies have shown that frustration is also characterized by increases in clicking and querying behaviors. This research seeks to illuminate the differences in search behavior between participants who are engaged and frustrated, as well as investigate the effect of task interest on engagement and frustration. To accomplish this, a laboratory experiment was conducted with 40 participants. Participants completed four tasks, and responded to questionnaires that measured their engagement, frustration, and stress. Participants were asked to rank eight topics based on interest, and were given their two most interesting and two least interesting tasks. Poor search result quality was introduced to induce frustration during their most interesting and least interesting tasks. This study found that physiological signals hold some promise for disambiguating engagement and frustration, but this depends on the time frame and manner in which they are examined. Frustrated participants had significantly more skin conductance responses during the task, while engaged participants had greater increases in skin conductance during the first 60 seconds of the task. Significant main and interaction effects for interest and frustration were found for heart rate in the window analysis, indicating that heart rate fluctuations over time can be most effective in distinguishing engagement from frustration. The multilevel modeling of engagement and frustration confirmed this, showing that interest contributed significantly to the model of skin conductance, while frustration contributed significantly to the model of heart rate. This study also found that interest had a significant effect on engagement, while the frustrator effectively created frustration. Frustration also had a significant effect on self-reported stress. Participants exhibited increases in search actions such as clicks and scrolls during periods of both engagement and frustration, but a regression analyses showed that scrolls, clicks on documents, and SERP clicks were most predictive of a frustrating episode. A significant main effect for interest was found for time between queries, indicating that this could be a useful signal of engagement. A model including the physiological signals and search behaviors showed that physiological signals aided in the prediction of engagement and frustration. Findings of this research have provided insight into the utility of physiological signals in distinguishing emotional states as well as provided evidence about the relationship among search actions, engagement and frustration. These findings have also increased our understanding of the role emotions play in search behavior and how information about a searcher’s emotional state can be used to improve the search experience.Doctor of Philosoph

Centaur VGI: Evaluating a human-machine workflow for increased productivity during humanitarian mapping campaigns

The spatial and temporal distribution of global map data is highly unequal, with large areas of the world suffering from a paucity of data. Volunteered geographic information (VGI) has been vaunted as a potential solution, but is also criticised for reinforcing rather than alleviating inequalities. Human- machine workflows have been suggested to improve the speed and quality of VGI production for poorly mapped regions, but this ability is yet to be fully evaluated. This paper provides the first detailed evaluation of a human-machine workflow, testing its ability to produce high quality, timely data in remote regions often neglected by humanitarian mapping campaigns