Research on Chinese computer users' mental models in software interface design

摘要

The purpose of this research is to investigate Chinese computer users' mental models by measuring their understanding of interface icons. Because most interface icons have been created by foreign software companies, Chinese computer users may interpret these interface icons in different ways. The research findings reveal that Chinese computer uses were able to assign various meanings or associations to each of the 57 interface icons generated from Adobe Photoshop software. However, based on their mental models, they rated only 15 out of the 57 icons as easy-to-understand icons.