Abstract
Some mobile applications present a level of complexity with respect to the functionalities of the graphical interface that are not easily understood by all users in a first approach. The use of instructional overlays (IO) or coach marks is a technique used to guide users to where these features are located in the interface by using a darker layer superimposed to the interface (overlay) where elements are placed such as arrows and text (instructional elements). The effectiveness of the IO was tested by measuring the completion time of a pre-established flow in a prototype. A between-subject design was used, with one experimental group completing four tasks with the help of IO, and the control without. Results show a tendency for lower times to complete tasks with instructional overlays, however, due to the reduced sample, a larger study is needed to confirm this result statistically. Interaction design of non-trivial interfaces should consider the implementation of instructional overlays.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anon.: number of apps available in leading app stores as of 3rd quarter 2018 (2018). https://www.statista.com/statistics/276623/number-of-apps-available-in-leading-app-stores/. Accessed 1 Feb 2019
Anon.: Number of smartphone users worldwide (2019). https://www.statista.com/statistics/330695/number-of-smartphone-users-worldwide/. Accessed 1 Feb 2019
Kim, K.J., Sundar, S.S.: Mobile persuasion: can screen size and presentation mode make a difference to trust? Hum. Commun. Res. 42, 45–70 (2016)
Raptis, D., Tselios, N., Kjeldskov, J., Skov, M.B.: Does size matter? investigating the impact of mobile phone screen size on users’ perceived usability, effectiveness and efficiency. In: MobileHCI 2013 Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, pp. 127–136 (2013)
Karlson, A., Meyers, B., Jacobs, A., Johns, P., Kane, S.: Working overtime: patterns of smartphone and PC usage in the day of an information worker. In: Tokuda, H., Beigl, M., Friday, A., Brush, Tobe, Y. (eds.) Pervasive Computing, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 5538, pp. 398–405. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)
Chittaro, L.: Visualizing information on mobile devices. Computer 39(3), 40–45 (2006)
Sarcar, S., Munteanu, C., Jokinen, J.P.P., Oulasvirta, A., Silpasuwanchai, C., Charness, N., Dunlop, M., Ren, X.: Designing mobile interactions for the ageing populations. In: Proceedings of CHI EA 2017, pp. 1131–1134. ACM, New York (2017). https://doi.org/10.1145/3027063.3027074
Levine, B.K., Beason-Held, L.L., Purpura, K.P., Aronchick, D.M., Optican, L.M., Alexander, G.E., et al.: Age-related differences in visual perception: a PET study. Neurobiol. Aging 21, 577–584 (2000)
Krug, S.: Don’t Make Me Think. New Riders, Berkeley (2006)
Barr, N., Pennycook, G., Stolz, J.A., Fugelsang, J.A.: The brain in your pocket: evidence that smartphones are used to supplant thinking. Comput. Hum. Behav. 48, 473–480 (2015)
Ward, A.F., Duke, K., Gneezy, A., Bos, M.W.: Brain drain: the mere presence of one’s own smartphone reduces available cognitive capacity. J. Assoc. Consum. Res. 2(2), 140–154 (2017)
Carr, N.: Is Google making us stupid? Atlantic Monthly 302(1), 56–62 (2008)
Trapp, M., Schneider, L., Holz, N., Döllner, J.: Strategies for visualizing points-of-interest of 3D virtual environments on mobile devices. In: 6th International Symposium on LBS & TeleCartography. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)
Gustafson, S., Baudisch, P., Gutwin, C., Irani, P.: Wedge: clutter-free visualization of off-screen locations. In: CHI 2008, pp. 787–796. ACM, New York (2008)
Hashemi, M., Herbert, J.: UIXSim: a user interface experience analysis framework. In: Fifth International Conference on Intelligent Systems, Modeling and Simulation, pp. 29–34. IEEE (2014)
Vrugte, J., de Jong, T., Vandercruysse, S., Wouters, P., van Oostendorp, H.: Computer game-based mathematics education: embedded faded worked examples facilitate knowledge acquisition. Learn. Instr. 50, 44–53 (2017)
Atkinson, R.K., Renkl, A., Merrill, M.M.: Transitioning from studying examples to solving problems: effects of self explanation prompts and fading worked-out steps. J. Educ. Psychol. 95, 774–783 (2003)
Urbaniak, G.C., Plous, S.: Research Randomizer (Version 4.0) [Computer software] (2013). http://www.randomizer.org/. Accessed 1 Feb 2019
Anon.: correct name of transparent instructional overlays/coach marks for announcing new features or first time use (2018). https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/91586/correct-name-of-transparent-instructional-overlays-coach-marks-for-announcing/. Accessed 1 Feb 2019
Rebelo, F., Noriega, P., Oliveira, T., Santos, D., Oliveira, S.: Expected user acceptance of an augmented reality service for a smart city. In: Marcus, A., Wang, W. (eds.) Design, User Experience, and Usability: Users, Contexts and Case Studies. DUXU. LNCS, vol. 10920, pp. 703–714. Springer, Cham (2018)
Alvarez, G.A., Cavanagh, P.: The capacity of visual short-term memory is set both by visual information load and by number of objects. Psychol. Sci. 15, 106–111 (2004)
Luck, S.J., Vogel, E.K.: The capacity of visual working memory for features and conjunctions. Nature 390, 279–281 (1997)
Acknowledgements
This work was co-financed by the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology under the project UID/EAT/04008/2013 (CIAUD).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Noriega, P., Carvalho, D., Correia, I., Alves, J.L., Oliveira, T., Rebelo, F. (2020). Effectiveness of Coach Marks or Instructional Overlay in Smartphone Apps Interfaces. In: Rebelo, F., Soares, M. (eds) Advances in Ergonomics in Design. AHFE 2019. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 955. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20227-9_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20227-9_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-20226-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-20227-9
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)