Mental Models of Chinese and German Users and Their Implications for MMI: Experiences from the Case Study Navigation System

摘要

This paper presents the results of an empirical study on some aspects of user-centered design of products for the global market. In the context of the case study “navigation system” Chinese and German users were each confronted with an experimental prototype being structured either according to German users’ mental models of a navigation system or to Chinese users’ mental models. Performance in operating the systems and perceived system attractiveness were measured. Results suggest that the Chinese user group’s performance and the German user group’s perceived attractiveness of the navigation system was negatively affected if the system was based on the other group’s mental model.