“We Need a Big Revolution in Email Advertising”: Users’ Perception of Persuasion in Permission-based Advertising Emails

Persuasive tactics intend to encourage users to open advertising emails. However, these tactics can overwhelm users, which makes them frustrated and leads to lower open rates. This paper intends to understand which persuasive tactics are used and how they are perceived by users. We first developed a categorization of inbox-level persuasive tactics in permission-based advertising emails. We then asked participants to interact with an email inbox prototype, combined with interviews (N=32), to investigate their opinions towards advertising emails and underlying persuasive tactics. Our qualitative findings reveal poor user experience with advertising emails, which was related to feeling surveilled by companies, forced subscriptions, high prior knowledge about persuasive tactics, and a desire for more agency. We also found that using certain persuasive tactics on the inbox level is perceived as ethically inappropriate. Based on these insights, we provide design recommendations to improve advertising communication and make such emails more valuable to users

The effects of privacy-non-invasive interventions on cheating prevention and user experience in unproctored online assessments: An empirical study

peer reviewedPreventing cheating without invading test-takers’ privacy in high-stakes online summative assessments poses a challenge, especially when the assessment is remote and unproctored. We conducted a between-subjects experiment (N = 997) in a realistic online test simulation to investigate the effects of three privacy-non-invasive anti-cheating interventions (honor code reminder, warning message, and monitoring message) on cheating prevention from a user-centered perspective. The quantitative results indicated that, compared to a control condition, displaying a honor code reminder during an online test worked best in lowering the odds of cheating. None of the interventions affected user experience and test-taking self-efficacy significantly. Further open-ended questions revealed that interventions can cause distraction which in turn could potentially evoke negative emotions. The decision to cheat was influenced by the extent to which interventions conveyed that cheating is wrong and also by test-takers’ perception of getting caught if they cheated. We derived recommendations for a fair and cheating-preventive unproctored online assessment for researchers and practitioners

Creating positive learning experiences with technology: A field study on the effects of user experience for digital concept mapping

Learning and assessment are increasingly mediated by digital technologies. Thus, learners’ experiences with these digital technologies are growing in importance, as they might affect learning and assessment. The present paper explores the impact of user experience on digital concept mapping. It builds on user experience theory to explain variance in the intention to use digital concept mapping tools and in concept map-based assessment scores. Furthermore, it identifies fulfillment of psychological needs as an important driver of positive experiences. In a field study in three schools and a university (N = 71), we tested two concept mapping prototypes on computers and tablets. We found that user experience is a significant factor explaining variance in intention to use. User experience also explained variance in three out of four concept mapping scores on tablets, potentially related to the lower pragmatic quality of the tablet prototypes. Fulfillment of psychological needs strongly affected perceptions of different qualities of user experience with digital concept mapping. These results indicate that user experience needs to be considered in digital concept mapping to provide a positive and successful environment for learning and assessment. Finally, we discuss implications for designers of digital learning and assessment tools

Exploring Intended Functions of Indoor Flying Robots Interacting With Humans in Proximity

peer reviewedWhat will people experience when drones become common in home environments? How will their functions and distances impact human experiences? To explore the potential usage of indoor drones, we conducted a mixed-methods study (N=60) on the reported perceptions of a small flying robot. We employed a factorial experimental design, involving four intended drone functions (camera, education, pet, unknown) at two distances (near, far). Our findings suggest that intended functions significantly influence participants' perceptions. Among the functions examined, participants found the camera useful but annoying, and the pet useless but pleasant. The education emerged as the most favored function, while the unknown function was the least preferred one. Based on these findings, we discuss implications for designing positive interactions between humans and indoor drones, considering aspects such as context, transparency, privacy, technical factors, and personalization

"Do we need an entire course about it?": Evaluating two years of teaching HCI in computer science

Educators increasingly agree on the importance of teaching Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) to Computer Science (CS) students, but there is debate on how to best integrate HCI into CS curricula. Unfortunately, standard course evaluations typically do not provide sufficient insights for improving HCI classes. In the present article, we used a human-centered design approach to evaluate our HCI classes, building on a qualitative study with CS students from four introductory HCI classes over two years. We report on a qualitative assessment through interviews, photo elicitation and sentence completion. Specifically, we addressed four research questions: which contents were the most relevant, how students experienced the courses, how they view the role of HCI in CS, and which outcomes they perceived from the HCI courses. We gathered rich qualitative insights beyond the standard course evaluations and derived concrete enhancements for future course iterations. We discuss implications for other HCI educators and contribute recommendations for the living HCI curriculum. Furthermore, we reflect on the usefulness of our methodological approach to collect in-depth constructive feedback from students

Typografie im Webdesign: So kannst du Schriftarten kombinieren

Dank Webfonts hält typografische Vielfalt seit einigen Jahren auch im Web Einzug. Worauf man bei der Kombination unterschiedlicher Fonts achten sollte

Diversity in UX design: Variety for better experiences

In a connected world, target audiences are more diverse than ever before. In UX design, this complexity is a major challenge. However, the right tools allow creating digital services and products that stand out positively from the rest.Die Zielgruppen sind in einer vernetzten Welt so divers wie nie zuvor. Im UX-Design ist diese Komplexität eine große Herausforderung. Wer die richtigen Tools kennt, kann allerdings digitale Services und Produkte schaffen, die sich positiv vom Rest abheben

Microsofts Modern-UI-Design: Moderne Metro-Raster

Microsoft hat mit ihrem modernen Design (vormals „Metro“ genannt) einen gestalterischen Meilenstein von großem Einfluss gesetzt. Wie werden die Metro-Raster im Webdesign verwendet

Wie digitale Marken von Interaktionsdesign profitieren

Für Marken ist es online immer schwieriger, ein Alleinstellungsmerkmal zu bieten. Eine richtig gute User Experience kann Unternehmen dennoch unverwechselbar machen. Wie man Interaktionsdesign so einsetzt, dass ein bleibender, positiver Eindruck der Marke in den Köpfen der Nutzer entsteht

Richtige Bildsprache im Webdesign

Bilder informieren, schaffen Emotionen, steuern die Aufmerksamkeit der Nutzer oder bauen eine Marke auf. Wie kann eine gelungene Bildsprache zu einer guten User Experience im Webdesign beitragen? Worauf müssen Webdesigner achten, um ihre Besucher visuell zu überzeugen? Ein Leitfaden mit vielen praktischen Beispielen