Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 1.3 Possible views of a US penny. Without looking in your pocket choose the correct one.
Taken from a study by Nickerson and Adams ( 1979 ). (Used with permission of Elsevier)
1.2.3 Designing Coins
For our third example, we would like to look at coins. Can you pick out which is a
US penny in Fig. 1.3 without looking at a real one?
Most Americans would think that they could recognize a US penny, but more
than half of Nickerson and Adams' ( 1979 ) American subjects shown the pennies in
Fig. 1.3 could not pick out the penny from a set of 15 examples. The correct
answer is given at the end of this chapter in Exercise 1.2.
We all know well enough what a penny looks like—relative to the other coins
we might encounter—but not in any more detail than is necessary. With the set of
alternatives provided by Nickerson and Adams, the choice has to be based on
recalling specific features of a penny, which most people have never memorized
and have never needed to memorize. You can see similar effects in computer
interfaces where users cannot recall which commands are located on which menus
(Exercise 1.2 explores this question further).
Although coinage systems may appear a long way removed from the design of
user interfaces, they provide good examples of how and why we can benefit from
considering the users' perspective in design to avoid system failure. France and the
Search WWH ::




Custom Search