Usability - User-Interface Design

Software makers, in particular, have seen the signs of the times and have poured money into usability research. They are reacting to alarming statements like one issued by the Nielsen Norman Group, a California-based consulting firm, that reported that e-commerce companies are losing half of their potential sales because website visitors are having a hard time finding their way around.

At such U.S. companies as Oracle, Microsoft and usability consultant Human Factors International, hundreds of psychologists, designers and engineers are busy working on user-friendliness, as well as methods of presenting software. Despite the economic potential of this area (see Facts and Forecasts: The Value of Easy-to-Use Products), only a few major companies, along with the online sector, have actually paid serious attention to the question of user-friendliness. "It has only been in the past three years that large numbers of companies have recognized what this is all about," says Kerstin Röse, Assistant Professor for user-focused product development at the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany. "And we are still a long way from the optimal implementation of usability."

Putting the User in the Product. "Technology should be designed with the needs and wishes of the users in mind," says Prof. Michael Burmester, a usability expert at the Hochschule der Medien in Stuttgart, Germany (see interview with Prof. Burmester). Stefan Schoen, head of the User Interface Design (UID) Center at Siemens Corporate Technology, agrees. His experience has produced a creed. "The technology can be tremendously impressive. But if it is not easy to operate, it means nothing to the user," he says.

Siemens experts have been working on the ergonomy of devices and workstations for more than 30 years. In the 1980s they also turned their focus to user interface design. Schoen and his team, deeply immersed in development processes, serve as advisers to the Siemens Groups. They analyze customers' needs by watching them in their daily lives and asking them questions. Afterwards, they put together user interfaces – the parts of machines that users interact with – from concept to prototype and finally to implementation, regardless of whether the product is a cell phone, a computer tomograph or automation software. The UID Center has locations in Munich, Princeton, New Jersey and Beijing and has about 40 employees.

"It does very little good when a technician drops by to see us with some nearly finished software in his hand and then asks us to do something to improve its usability," says Nuray Aykin, head of the UID Center in Princeton. "Usability only works when it is integrated into all phases of development." That's when it pays off, Aykin says. The product can be brought to market faster because solid research has identified early in the process how the user interface has to be designed. Last-minute changes that can drastically slow the product's introduction can often be avoided. "The quality of the product is also better when the user's needs are taken into consideration from the start," adds Schoen (see Laboratory Testing: What Customers Want).

Exacting Demands. In June, more than 100 experts from nearly all Siemens Groups gathered in New York to discuss their efforts to design user interfaces with the consumer in mind. Everything from cell phones and medical equipment to operator menus for building management systems was on the agenda.

"As a technology leader, Siemens has to meet exacting design demands," says Ruth Soenius, whose focal point is the presentation of the Siemens brand. Soenius wants all Siemens products to have a distinct design. Unfortunately, that's not always the case today at Siemens. But the advantages of such a commitment can be decisive. Microsoft, for instance, has created a valuable identity for its brand, Soenius points out.

This concept has been applied to syngo and Soarian, software platforms from Siemens Medical Solutions. Each imaging process, whether designed for computer tomography, angiography, or magnetic resonance tomography, has the same operating interface. In more than 45 medical-technology systems, syngo helps users to become oriented and learn the equipment's operation more quickly. Doctors can manage their patients' radiological data and evaluate images in order to gain additional information regarding conditions such as tumors. Soarian is based on the principles of the syngo design. This comprehensive software for hospitals focuses on work flow and synchronizes all stages of treatment in a way that makes medical and economic sense.

Axel Platz of Siemens Corporate Technology conceived syngo with the help of medical technology experts. "Design is all about dancing with shackles on," he says. Platz uses this quotation from Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius to describe his work. That is because superior usability is governed by stringent criteria. ISO norms even require that, among other things, systems must be self-descriptive and controllable. That means that a computer program should tell the user what sort of input it expects at certain junctures. Added to these criteria are the requirements of developers, who want to pack in as many functions as possible, and the expectations of users, who want to have an easy-to-use product. People like Platz have to take this jumble of contradictory demands and transform it into a link between technology and human beings that is also appealing to the eye.

As far as syngo is concerned, it proved possible to meet all these demands. As an example, Platz shows an input mask with which doctors can superimpose two computer images (see illustrations, below). The user must be able to turn and move the image in all three directions. The original design consisted of six control levers with a vague description and countless buttons. "Of course, we could have made the headings more readable, the buttons bigger and the colors different," Platz says. But this approach would have restricted the optimal operation of the system. To make meaningful improvements, totally new ways of thinking are necessary. Now, a stylized patient has been added to the button display. With the help of advanced graphics, the patient appears to be floating in a ball. Located on the ball are three controllers that can rotate the image, while the three controllers used to shift it point in the three directions. "The design is self-explanatory to doctors," Platz says. The work that went into conceiving syngo yielded huge amounts of knowledge, which will be beneficial for future projects, regardless of which Siemens Group is involved. Automation experts have already started working with Platz on innovative user-interface concepts.

"As I see it, we aren't building. We're making things disappear,"says Platz. "If we do our work well, it's nearly invisible." His statements clearly show that good user-interface design is dependent on soft factors, a fact that requires a sixth sense. As a result, a particularly striking look can actually have a bad effect because users might not take the product seriously. "The connection between function and design has to be evident," explains Platz. "But we also have to create something that doesn't look as if it is just being driven by operational requirements."

The shackles are loosening, though. Technology is advancing and giving usability experts more leeway – but it is also creating new challenges. The easiest way to operate devices or computers would be with spoken commands. Today, voice-operated cell phones and automotive navigation systems are already available. But experts predict that it will be several years before systems will be equipped to recognize everyday speech. In the context of a German research project known as "Embassi," which was completed in June, participants developed a living room of the future in which the video recorder, television, fan, light and blinds obeyed spoken commands. Users can supplement their verbal commands by pointing to or using a remote control to do things like turn on lights. These combinable input options can be supported by avatars, which serve as interfaces to the Internet (see Virtual Beings: Creatures in Computers). A role is also being played by the integration of communication devices. In a few years, users will be able to download music from the Internet to their cell phones, PDAs, notebooks, personal computers, car computers and even televisions.

Personalized Products. One trend that is being taken seriously by experts at Siemens' UID Center and by many others is product personalization. Today, individual ring tones for cell phones are a big hit. In the future, products will have even more design possibilities. Such devices are attractive and fun to use, whether it is the unique way that a cell phone rings or computers that recognize a user's voices and then load the appropriate programs. Researchers have found that "fun of use" makes a crucial contribution to a product's attractiveness.

"It's still unclear how you can produce things that are fun to work with," says Michael Burmester. In the quest to find out, usability tests are gaining more and more significance. In so-called "Wizard of Oz" tests, a user is made to believe that the system is outfitted with complete voice control. This is a way of testing the everyday usability of tomorrow's technology. An interesting finding: Many users are simply not ready to have a dialogue with a computer. Instead of using normal sentences – which many systems can process today – they used clipped one-word commands. But that's not the only surprise. In the area of usability, a lot of psychology is at work. Humans often act differently from the way they say they will. And the work of designers is sometimes in vain. From a usability point of view, it would be desirable to create a cell phone with a simple design. That would help many users (see Accessibility: An Internet for Everyone). But when standing in a store, forced to choose between a phone with 50 functions and one with 100, a customer is likely to buy the more complex phone, even if it is more difficult to use. Unless that changes, complex interfaces may be with us for a long time.

Norbert Aschenbrenner