Hello all,
Inspired by problems I've had developing product interfaces, I've been
discussing perceived usability with some other designers. So far, I've
found some research on the perception of usability and how that relates
to beauty. However, I haven't found anything that answers my question:
How is perceived usability related to number of buttons on a product
(our products are too inexpensive to use a GUI). I would suppose it is
not a directly linear relation. Common sense would say people would
think devices with 1-3 buttons would be equally easy. 3-10/20ish would
be more difficult. Over that would be immensely complex.
I've been thinking of developing an online survey to see if I can
discover any differences that are not influenced by graphics or button
layout. I've been thinking of using a generic look clock radio as a
platform to test, because these products have a very wide amount of
buttons depending on manufacturer. Then, I would ask survey takers to
judge either "usability", "complexity" or "user-friendliness". I
haven't settled on a word yet.
If anyone thinks this would be a valuable topic to research, I'd like
any advice more experienced researchers might have to help me.
Second, I need to measure how valuable features on our products (how
often they are used, how important the end users think the functions
are). I have a few ideas on how to get data, talk to our CS dept., talk
to customers looking at our products in stores, talking to sales dept.
Does anyone have any other good techniques at learning what to keep?
I look forward to hearing your responses!
-Raymond Jepson
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