Interactive Design Evaluation

Interactive design evaluation seeks to assess the usability of the design by measuring its acceptability by end users (Kendall et al, 1992). The evaluation involves analysis of the errors made by users while using the design, the extent to which it matches the requirements and how pleasant the design is. An interaction design has two major goals that it seeks to fulfill. They are usability and user experience goals. The interactive design evaluations will, therefore, leverage on the extent to which the goals have been achieved.

Usability Goals

These goals outline the criteria within which the design is usable. The usability goals include;

Effectiveness: this evaluates how well the design accomplishes its intended purpose. In this scenario, the evaluation would look into the extent to which the phone satisfies the needs of the elderly people.

Efficiency: this goal seeks to answer the question, how does the system support its users in executing their tasks? Evaluation of efficiency establishes the level of productivity of the elderly people after learning how to use the smartphone.

Safety: this goal seeks to evaluate the measures put in place to protect the user from dangerous conditions arising from the use of the design. It identifies mechanisms put in place to prevent the end users from making errors and the ease of recovering.

Utility: this evaluates the magnitude to which the smartphone design provides the right type of functionality to meet the elderly people’s needs. Evaluation of the utility goal seeks to establish whether the smartphone design has suitable functions that allow the users to execute their tasks in their desired way (Kendall et al, 1992).

Learnability: evaluation of this goal seeks to outline the ease of learning how to use the design among the elderly. The amount of time taken to learn how to use the design should be considered in this goal’s evaluation.

Memorability: this goal outlines the ease of remembering how to use the design. In this scenario, the evaluation would seek to identify how easy it is for the elderly to recall how to use the smartphone design. Additionally, it attempts to establish the nature of interface support provided to help the users in recollecting how to use the smartphone.

User Experience Goals: evaluation of these goals seeks to establish how the users feel as a result of interacting with the design. The evaluation identifies how enjoyable and satisfying it is to use the design as well as determining the motivational and emotional fulfillment derived from using the smartphone (Dennis et al, 2015). The usability evaluation of the smartphone prototype can also be done using the usability principles which include;

Visibility of system status: this evaluation seeks to establish whether the system keeps the users informed through suitable feedback and on time.

The match between system and real world:  an evaluation on this principle identifies whether the system applies the user’s language in a manner known to the user as opposed to system oriented forms.

User control and freedom: this evaluation establishes whether the system provides undo and redo commands.

Consistency and standards:  an evaluation on this principle seeks to answer questions on whether the system design follows platform conventions.

Error prevention:  the design should prevent the occurrence of errors.

The goals and principles of usability provide the most reliable and an accurate mechanism for evaluating interactive designs since their analysis entails their compatibility with the user requirements.

References

Dennis, A., Wixom, B. H., & Tegarden, D. (2015). Systems analysis and design: An object-oriented approach with UML. John Wiley & Sons.

Kendall, K. E., Kendall, J. E., Kendall, E. J., & Kendall, J. A. (1992). Systems analysis and design (Vol. 2). Prentice-Hall.