User Interface Design for Product Comparison from the Perspective of Consumer Demands

• Main Authors: Chia-Chi Chang, 張家齊
• Other Authors: Li-Chieh Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/92314834645235072415

碩士 === 大同大學 === 工業設計學系(所) === 100 === Consumers always purchase products based on personal needs and compare alternatives according to the relative importance of different demands. However, in many cases, consumers are not clear about the precise functions and features of the products they need. The demands are always vague and multidimensional. Furthermore, the degrees of importance for different demands are always implicit and dynamic. With the advance of technologies, more and more alternatives exist in the market places. The specifications and functions of these products always contain terminologies that are difficult to understand. Given the large amount of product information and deluding advertisements, it is impossible to make correct decisions if the consumers are not aware of their precise demands. In order to help people make rational decisions, the objective of this research is to study the information visualization and user interfaces for product comparisons. There are three stages in this research. The problems of product comparison are identified based on the results of literature review, observation, and interview. Typical graphs, charts and tables for product comparison are analyzed to extract necessary components for information visualization. Two user interfaces with different interaction styles are designed and constructed for experiments. Three tasks of product comparison are carried out by participants. The results of experiments reveal some directions of improvement in information visualization and user interface design. First, the linkage between demands and product specifications should be visible. The user interface for adjusting the degree of importance among different demands should be natural and intuitive. For example, using the pinch gesture to adjust the scale of charts that represent the degree of importance is considered intuitive. Second, different colors could be applied to the text of product specifications to distinguish items with different rankings. Third, pictures for demonstrating different features of products should be displayed in separate pages, with similar features on different products shown in the same page.