USABILITY LABORATORIES AT PHILIPS - SUPPORTING RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT,AND DESIGN FOR CONSUMER AND PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTS

This paper describes two of the usability laboratories at Philips, dis cusses practical issues arising from our experience using the faciliti es, gives an example of a typical usability evaluation, and briefly ou tlines our vision for the future of the laboratories. Usability tests at Philips can involve any product from a portfolio ranging from Compa ct Disc Interactive (CD-I) to electron microscopes. Performing usabili ty tests for consumer electronic products poses a number of specific p roblems: our user group is broad and diverse, the context in which our products are used is highly variable, and it is difficult to determin e the importance of usability relative to other design goals. In the f urther development of our facilities, the efficient planning and the e xecution of usability test is of particular concern since we are drive n by demanding time schedules. In the future, we expect a shift in foc us towards testing more products and product concepts in their actual context of use.