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International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics

AHFE 2019: Advances in Ergonomics in Design pp 68–78Cite as

Effectiveness of Coach Marks or Instructional Overlay in Smartphone Apps Interfaces

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Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 955))

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.

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Acknowledgements

This work was co-financed by the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology under the project UID/EAT/04008/2013 (CIAUD).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIAUD, Centro de Investigação em Arquitetura Urbanismo e Design, Faculdade de Arquitetura, Universidade de Lisboa, Rua Sá Nogueira, Pólo Universitário, Alto da Ajuda, 1349-063, Lisbon, Portugal

    Paulo Noriega, Tiago Oliveira & Francisco Rebelo

  2. Laboratório de Ergonomia, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Estrada da Costa, 1499-002, Cruz-Quebrada Dafundo, Portugal

    Paulo Noriega, Diana Carvalho, Igor Correia, Jose Luís Alves, Tiago Oliveira & Francisco Rebelo

Authors
  1. Paulo Noriega
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  2. Diana Carvalho
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  3. Igor Correia
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  4. Jose Luís Alves
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  5. Tiago Oliveira
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  6. Francisco Rebelo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paulo Noriega .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculdade de Arquitetura, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Francisco Rebelo

  2. School of Design, Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan, China

    Marcelo M. Soares

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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

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20227-9_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-20226-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-20227-9

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