A “user-flow description” method for usability investigation

Abstract

This study proposes user-flow (UF) description, a new method for investigating usability. UF is defined as a series of user operations. A delay in flow in one part of a task procedure can reveal the interface problem in that part of the task. A UF description is a method for investigating usability by measuring and describing a user’s operation flow. The method has three parts: (1) a time-series description consisting of a table that lists user’s operation along the time series; (2) a personal UF description summarizing the time line for a flow diagram of the operation and describing each individual’s UF; and (3) a population UF description integrating the individual UF description for one figure to measure the usability of the all user’s operation. This study describes the method’s purpose and explains the procedure of the UF description method. Finally, we discuss a problem and its solution using the method.