G. Devries et al., USABILITY LABORATORIES AT PHILIPS - SUPPORTING RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT,AND DESIGN FOR CONSUMER AND PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTS, Behaviour & information technology, 13(1-2), 1994, pp. 119-127
Citations number
9
Categorie Soggetti
Ergonomics,"Information Science & Library Science","Computer Sciences, Special Topics
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.