Usability evaluation method employing elements of "thinking" and "seeking"

Abstract

Current usability evaluation approaches are costly, time-consuming and suffer from evaluation subjectivity, and in addition, it is often difficult to acquire the operation logs of existing electrical products. To overcome these limitations, we developed a new method for usability evaluation. During the operation of either an actual product or a reproduced interface on a touch screen, the hand movements of users were recorded with a video camera. Before evaluation of the target interface, the users operated three basic interfaces, classified as "Standard", "Thinking", and "Seeking", and the users' unique elements related to hand movements, which were based on the distribution of stationary time, during operation of the "Thinking" and "Seeking" interfaces were extracted. Finally, usability was evaluated based on the amount of each element ("Thinking" and "Seeking") that was included in the target interface. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.