Forget the manual - intuition tells us how to use new technology - 2003

23 December 2003

If you are worried about figuring out how to use the new digital camera you got for Christmas, a QUT study shows it may come down to how familiar you are with other technology.

QUT PhD student Thea Blackler has found familiarity with using a mobile phone or computer could help people figure out how to use other, unrelated products such as digital cameras or touch-screen universal remote controls.

Ms Blackler from the School of Design and Built Environment has been investigating the notion of "intuitive use" of technology, or using knowledge gained through other experiences.

She says it has been known for some time that people rarely read product manuals thoroughly, preferring to rely on their intuition, but little is known about what intuitive use is and how it can be designed into products to make them easier to use.

Ms Blackler surveyed study participants to assess their "technical familiarity (TF)" with a range of products, and then tested their ability to perform tasks using a digital camera or a universal remote control (for TV, video, DVD and stereo).

"In the digital camera study, I found that people who were 'experts' with digital cameras but who had low TF scores performed the tasks more slowly and effortfully than novices who had high TF sores," she said.

"The more relevant past experience a person has of a feature the more quickly and intuitively they're able to use it because they transfer their knowledge of known features to new products."

Ms Blackler said people responded to features that they might have seen on their computer, TV remote or phone keypad such as drop down menus, cursors, on/off power buttons, volume controls, and back and forward buttons.

In performing tasks with the universal remote control, she said, the participants struggled with inconsistent symbols and words, badly positioned buttons and confusing icons.

"If we're to make products more useable, designers need to be consistent between symbols and features," she said.

Ms Blackler said designers should be guided by international standards to ensure useability was not over-ridden by a desire to put their individual mark on things.

"Designers need to use familiar symbols and/or words for well-known functions such as on or off, or forward or rewind, and to make it obvious what less well-known functions will do by demonstrating their function with familiar symbols."

Media contacts: Carmen Myler, QUT Marketing & Communication