Design of small interfaces

Abstract

Many modern devices with different kinds of characteristics have been invading the market in recent years and nowadays the market place is flooded with them.Users are experiencing a storm of new technology and a massive variety of new functions. This current work purposes an innovative approach for the design of small interfaces that can be used by a company to increase their own competitiveness or to develop research studies in an academic domain. With a wide range of research about concepts, interfaces, classification, products history, market tendency, user preferences, guidelines examples and ergonomics in visual and touch channels, was developed a new and effective guideline for small interfaces. With the evaluation of two systems (tablet and smartphone), was possible to do improvements on the design in order to garatee an effective guideline as the final result. The guidelines that we set out to create incorporate research into human anatomy as well as behaviour when using the Tablet. This was done with volunteering test subjects as well as close observation of each user and how they reacted to the tablet and how quickly the adapted and recognised icons within the interface. We also looked into other areas such as the social implications of owning a tablet and the typical demographics of tablet users. This research allowed use to gain a better understanding and insight into the mind of the user so we could deliver an interface to user that was not only what they needed but also one that they wanted to use.