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Haruhito Matsunami |
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Department of Design and Environmental Analysis |
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Chair person: Prof. Alan Hedge |
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Member: Prof. David Field |
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Control panels are widely used in Japan for air
conditioning, floor heating, and bathing system. |
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ISO 13407 (Human Centered Design Processes for
Interactive Systems) -
manufacturers must evaluate usability of interactive systems. |
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Many kinds of home appliances with similar
functions have different control panel designs. |
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Users are often confused about how to operate
control panels well (especially the timer programming task). |
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Importance principle |
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Important components -> convenient
locations |
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Frequency-of-Use principle |
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Frequently used components ->
convenient locations |
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Functional principle |
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Grouping of components according to
their function |
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Sequence-of-Use principle |
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Arrangement by sequences or patterns in
operation |
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CAPABLE - a computer program that produces good
layouts based on the relative importance of design criteria. (Bonney et al.
1977) |
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Application of CSP technique for
multi-constraints layout problem
(Jung et al. 1995) |
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Numerous studies on military equipment design
during WWII (Bartlett, 1943),
(Vince, 1945) |
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Relationship between a control movement and its
effect (Fitts, 1951) |
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Population stereotypes concerning the
associations of color with various concepts. (Bergum et al., 1981)
(Courtney, 1986) |
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Identify stereotypes and mental models that
users have for control panels with basic functions |
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Designing their own control panel |
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Stereotypes
for control panels were investigated by letting subjects design their own
control panel. |
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Questionnaire |
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After the designing, lists of questions were distributed to assess
“ease of use” and familiarity with control panels. |
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20 Japanese subjects |
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(10 female + 10 male) |
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average age: 30.2 (SD=3.18) |
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20 American subjects |
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(10 female + 10 male) |
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average age: 28.7 (SD=4.07) |
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Explanation of the purpose of the study |
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Explanation of the procedure |
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Four basic functions |
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Easy to use for the subject |
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Pieces of paper for buttons and displays |
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Designing |
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Explanation of how-to-use procedures of the
control panel by the subject. |
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Questionnaire |
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Kinds of paper for design |
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Basic construction factors |
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Number of buttons and displays |
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Layout of buttons and displays |
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Sequence of operation |
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How-to-use procedure |
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Additional information factors |
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Shape, color, size, and labels of buttons |
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Function grouping lines |
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66% - minimum expected proportion needed to be
considered a population stereotype. |
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The obtained proportion was tested against 66%
for significance. |
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Proportions that were equal to or greater than
66% but not significant were considered a non-significant tendency. |
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Chi-square analysis and z-test for significance
of difference between Japanese and Americans |
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On/Off |
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Pushing one button to switch on and one button
to switch off (100%) |
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Temperature Control |
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Pushing one button to increase temperature and
one button to decrease (92.5%) |
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one button to change timer mode (63%) |
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one button to enter for timer setting (80%*) |
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Inputting hour and minute separately (60%) |
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Two directions for time control (63%) |
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Unique mode button for clock setting (58%) |
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Sharing time inputting button(s) for clock
setting and timer setting (80%*) |
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On/Off |
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Shape: circle (59%) |
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Color: red (33%) |
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Size: 22.2 mm (41%) |
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Label: “On/Off” (67%) |
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Temperature control |
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Shape: triangle (95%***) |
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Color: red (50%) for +, blue (70%) for - |
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Size: 19.1 mm (30%) |
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Label: “UP” (28%) for +, “DOWN” (28%) for - |
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Timer setting mode button |
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Shape: circle (61%) |
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Color: white (46%) |
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Size: 12.7 mm (50%) |
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Label: “TIMER” (21%) |
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Time control button |
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Shape: triangle (96%) |
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Color: green (28%) |
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Size: 12.7 mm (60%) |
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Label: “+” (36%) for +, “-” (36%) for - |
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Timer setting enter button |
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Shape: square (61%) |
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Color: white (39%) |
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Size: 12.7 mm (72%) |
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Label: “SET” (67%) |
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Clock setting mode button |
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Shape: circle (70%) |
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Color: white (39%) |
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Size: 12.7 mm (65%) |
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Label: “CLOCK” (39%) |
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Some stereotypes of design factors were found. |
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The significant difference between Japanese and
American subjects were found in |
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basic sequential flow for clock setting |
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sharing enter button for clock setting |
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labels for temperature control |
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Small number of subjects |
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Only well-educated subjects |
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The subjects might select colors from the color
contrast. |
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Unorganized measurement of feedback information
on display |
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Usability evaluation of the stereotype control
panel based on this study |
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Examination of the validity of the four metrics
for control panel evaluation |
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Overall density |
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Local density |
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Display grouping |
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Layout complexity |
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Examination of an original metric |
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Sequence complexity |
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Notes