Exploring the Differences Between Users' and Designers' Perceptions of App Interface Design: A Case Study of Illumination Dimming and Control Application
This paper presents a case study of comparing users' and designers' perceptions towards user interface (UI) designs of six smart household illumination and control apps. It is intended to provide users' insights into app UI design during an interaction design project. The study consisted of three phases. (1) Familiarization: prototypes of six apps were demonstrated to each participant; (2) Eliciting participants' overall preferences by ranking; and (3) Eliciting participants' idiosyncratic perceptions using the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT) A multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis of preference ranking indicated that designers and users differed in overall perceptions towards to the six UIs. The specifics of inter group perceptual differences were examined by comparing the RGT elicited perceptions, as well as exploring the relationships between UI design features, designers' and users' subjective evaluation, and their overall preferences. This case study illustrates the application of the explorative use of the RGT method as an inspirational tool during the design process.Copyright (c) 2016 by ASME