Cognitive Approach to the Design of Information Graphics

摘要

Graphical representations popularly thought to be useful for communicating andprocessing Information yield mixed results when tested with real users. Cognitive research suggests that current design methodologies fall to exploit the potentials of graphics for expediting human performance of information-processing tasks: (1) allowing users to substitute less effortful visual procedures in place of more demanding non-visual procedures; and (2) streamlining users' search for information by supporting visual search heuristics. BOZ is a design algorithm that constructively applies cognitive principles of the efficiencies that graphical displays can offer to the problem of discovering novel displays to support specific user tasks. BOZ analyzes formal task descriptions and proposes visual displays and procedures that can help streamline performance of a task. BOZ is used to generate graphical alternatives to a standard tabular display of airline schedule information to support a set of common airline reservation tasks. Reaction time studies done with real users are reported that show that the BOZ-designed displays significantly reduce users' performance time to the task. Regression analyses link the observed efficiency savings to visual procedure substitutions and pruning of research. BOZ is also shown to be useful for analyzing existing displays to discover clever design features that can then be subsequently incorporated into BOZ's design algorithm. Design, Human Factors, Algorithms, Theory, Graphics Design, Task Analysis, Perception, Visual Languages, User Interface.