Iterative methodology and designer training in human-computer interface design

The need for improvement in human computer interaction has been widely recognized. Many methods and theories have been proposed to help ensure that software applications are usable. This paper discusses many of these methods and theories in terms of their ability to help practitioners design systems. The relationship between the applied field of user interface design and the formal science of psychology is also discussed.; Many of the formal theories are not directly useful to practitioners in real design situations. On the other hand, many of the methods employed in actual user interface design do not produce generalizable results. Thus, practitioners are continually wrestling with the same issues in different contexts. Not only is it difficult to generalize results from many of the design practices, it is not clear which methods are most successful.; One of the most promising methods for user interface design is the iterative design methodology. To this point only case study support for this method has been given. There are still many unanswered questions about the effectiveness of this method.; Another difficulty encountered in user interface design is knowing what set of knowledge and skill the designer must possess to ensure good user interface design. Many different people have designed user interfaces for computer systems. These people came from a variety of backgrounds and viewpoints. Two of the most common groups involved in user interface design are human factors specialists and programmers.; To this point there has only been anecdotal evidence to suggest that user interface specialists can produce better user interface designs than programmers. It is not clear if a specialized knowledge of user interface design actually leads to improved designs.; This study investigates these two issues. One factor in this study is the iterative design methodology. An empirical evaluation of this method was conducted. The strengths and weaknesses of this method are discussed. A second factor in this study is a comparison of human factors specialists and programmers in an actual user interface design task. The value of human factors specialists is also discussed. Finally, the needs and directions for the future are offered.; The results of this study indicate that iterative design methodology can improve the usability of a product. The amount of the improvement may be constrained by the original design. This study also supports the use of human factors specialists in user interface design. A significant difference between designs produced by human factors specialists and programmers was found.