Ergonomic Analysis of Mobile Phone Apps free essay sample

Reliability and speed in mobile operations and data synchronization are also decisive for the ergonomics of a software product . CLASSIFICATION Ergonomic approach User Interface(UI) User Centered Design Approach(Cognitive Response) Study of mobile applications Technology Smart App (Back end application) Product Engineering USER INTERFACE(UI) ? When we talk of mobile interface design we often think that the big challenge of the small screen is squeezing the app into tiny quarters. In fact ,designing a handheld mobile app involves far more subtle considerations of context and ergonomics. Hoe to make the interface irresistible ? How to craft comfortable ergonomics for fingers and thumbs? How to dodge the usability gotchas of handheld devices? How to turn tiny-touchscreen constraint to your advantage? ? ? ? ? Continued†¦ ? ? The look of the app is important. For users, it’s the first quality indicator they see. Attractive design, clear and effective layouts that feel optimal on the user’s device, and high quality icons ,graphics and images ,send clear quality messages. Visual quality also contributes to both functionality and usability of the app. For example, legible fonts and font sizes ,and color palettes that enhances legibility, are functionally essential , not just nice-to-haves. FACTORS AFFECTING INTERFACE DESIGN User Interface Design ARRANGEMENT APPEARANCE OF ICONS EASE OF ACCESS LAYOUT e. g. Group Functionally related elements e. g. Use Of Contrast Effects to improve readability e. g. Body Constraints A-EASE OF ACCESS GENERAL CLASSIFICATION Group functionally related elements on the user interface In case of In case of touch screen Ensure that UI ,the size of sequential Use of flow of action the the user variable font tap/clickable ,need to size to ensure interface region is maintain flow readability elements of the ergonomic should be application optimized CASE STUDY-1 ? CAMERA APP Consider the built in Camera application that Apple provides. The application is simple and attractive but the buttons for the application are in exactly wrong place. To take a proper picture you need to hold the phone perfectly vertical(unless you are taking the picture of the floor) . The slippery edges of the Difficulty in holding phone requires you to hold the phone firmly making it difficult to tap the camera or alternatively balance the camera precariously on your pinkie finger. CASE STUDY-2 ? ? We can’t easily tap every region of the phone with equal ease . Our hand isn’t designed for this. Yes our thumb is opposable but unless it’s double jointed there will still be parts of the phone that are harder to tap. The mechanics of how you hold your phone make it much harder to grip the device in certain orientations. It makes it particularly difficult to reach lower corners by your thumb . COMPARITIVE CASE STUDY-Self Samsung Galaxy S2 †¢ Page by Page approach to interface design †¢ Notice the sensitivity of Touch Friendly regions. †¢ Provides the developer to group functionally similar options together Continued†¦ †¢ Nokia Lumnia †¢ All on One Page Interface †¢ Touch Gesture Vertical †¢ Not so good in gr ouping similar functions together ,so if user wants to use two networking options then it might be possible that they are far apart from each other. LAYOUT †¢ Search for Touch friendly regions Difficulty in reach †¢ Considers the options lying on one page instead of the ‘Ease of access’ part where we were considering the overall arrangement Less preferable Touch friendly COMPARITIVE CASE STUDY-self Case A †¢ Alarm Clock feature on Samsung Galaxy S3 †¢ Tap button lies in ‘Easy’ region of the interface †¢ Notice the gesture to control the clock †¢ Instead of just tapping the button ,the user must slide through the region to stop the alarm which prevents accidental pressing Continued†¦ Case B †¢ Alarm Clock on Nokia Lumnia †¢ Tap feature to stop the clock Can lead to user accidently stopping the alarm without knowing †¢ Notice the difficulty in approaching the snooze button †¦ Case C †¢ Nokia Xpress music †¢ Slide Gesture to stop the clock B-SCALING ? ? ? Why use of variable font sizes? You tube Banner Why avoid use of small fonts? How the solution lies in the Use of ‘Golden Ratio’ typography CASE STUDY-Scaling on Android ? The biggest issue affecting how and android looks on a given device is scaling. Compared to other platforms(iOS or Blackberry), the variation in physical display characteristics between devices based on same compatible Android software version ,can be much greater. Android solves this problem by applying a scaling model to your app’s UI layouts and graphic resources. To achieve consistent quality on all devices ,you need to ensure that your app scales correctly. Android implements a simple display abstraction model that enables it to scale UI layouts and resources at runtime, to fit wide range of different physical displays found on Android devices ? Screen Size/Density C-APPEARANCE OF ICONS ? ? ? To ensure usability in variable conditions, including for daylight glare and changed angle of viewing and orientation, by paying attention to color and contrast Design for Glance-ability and quick scanning. Glance-ability refers to how quickly and easily the visual design conveys information. As colors appear differently on different mobiles according to their displays, so avoid use of color conventions for the icons Examples†¦ Survey Report ? survey. docx Survey Results ? More than 60% users casually use a particular app User Knowledge Level Expert User Casual User ? Almost all the user prefers Customizing the frequently used icon with wanted changes like Icon Properties †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Contrast Size Region All of the Above Constrast Size Region Manipulation All Of the above ? More than 75% user Prefer ‘Sliding’ Than ‘Tapping’ an option Gesture Comparison Sliding Tapping ? Users have equal ease in sliding ‘Top to Bottom’ as to ‘Bottom to Top Approach’. With slight preference to Top to Bottom approach Gesture Preference Top to Bottom Bottom to Top †¦Grid Analysis of Icon Size Variation A C E B D F Region Prefe rence A B C D E F G G H †¦ Region Preference A B D C A B C D *Centre Of ScreenA-1,B-1,C-1,D-1 *AnywhereA-1,B-1,C-1,D-1 Design Framework for the ‘Perfect’ App Conclusion 1-More ‘Slide’ less ‘Tap’ ? ? ? ? Tapping number of options is more typical then move sliding to it ‘Gesture Jujitsu’ to help the user avoid misstraps and other touch screen errors. Also ‘sliding’ is more deliberate than ‘tapping’ ,which may be accidental in some critical cases ‘Sliding’ also provides flow of action which a person prefers in his subconscious Conclusion 2-Flow of Gesture 1. Flow of gesture is important e. g. if the option opens by sliding right side ,then it is preferable that the next option should open by right side slide only. Conclusion 3-Identitfy’Touch friendly’ regions ? 1. 2. Designing for touch means designing for the thumb Must consider the length of the thumb Consider for the ‘anthropometric’ data of male and female hand sizes ? ? We can’t tap every region of the screen with equal ease. Our hand isn’t designed for this. So layout must resolve this issue Conclusion 4-Scaling of Fonts/Icons ? ? ? ? Making the options compact doesnt mean that user be led into miss-traps Use of variable Fonts sizes to emphasize on specific areas of the text Use of ‘Golden Ratio’ in typography is quite helpful here Use of high contrast colors and organic shapes as icons helps in setting the mindset of user Conclusions 5-’App Adaptable to the User’ 1. 2. †¢ Since the mobile is more personal to the user ,it has to be more adaptable to him. Done either by providing settings and personalization at step after step Since the success of an app depends on how well the app motivates the user to select the particular option ,if the correction is made according to the user it will help in increasing the efficiency of the cycle E. g. If the touch sensitivity of screen is not calibrated or trained according to the user ,the user may find it difficult to operate fast on any app †¢ E. g. The use of phone accelerometer to identify the phone’s orientation while playing app like NFS(Gaming) for turning around corners is an excellent example of adapting to the user and making it more fun to use the application Conclusion 6-User Identification ? †¢ †¢ †¢ Different user want different levels of feedback from the app. Some of them are afraid to use a service dir ectly ,such kinds of user must be provided with small steps to keep them under confidence. Then there are the other kind of person (Expert Users) who just want to jump straight to the conclusion. They don’t want feedback step by step †¦ ? So the Proposed solution will be to provide a step where a user will be prompted to identify the level of expertise he holds in using the app before Installation ,which then can be used in providing steps thereafter. Conclusion 7-Icon Manipulation ? Based on the extent to which a particular icon is being used we can vary its size in comparison to other . This not only solves the problem of ease of access but also improves the feel of app as a whole. ? †¢ †¢ Constraints Varying the icon size in comparison to others must be done keeping in mind that the app should be as usable to an expert user as to a new user Other possible solution to this problem may be to allow the user to vary the size of icons by themselves and not on the basis of use we suggest . It should be user customizable and not advisory Conclusion 8- Keep It Simple ? ? To make the app more used by the people, we need to make it as simple as possible . Not only in terms of appearance also in terms of use. Ease =gt; Motivation Motivation=gt;More Sales Sample Model Fabrication-Based on form of the Device Conclusions†¢ Form of the device=gt; Size of the Touch screen Hence Size of the icon =gt; Size of the device For ease access ? †¦ †¢ †¢ Screen Size=gt; Time to complete an operation Icon size =gt;1/Chances of error ? THANK YOU