Keywords

1 Introduction

Nowadays, new technologies can transmit massive amounts of information to each and every corner of the world in a very short period of time, with all possible aspects of human activities the manifestations of interaction of information. At this age and time, the carrier of information becomes the interactive platform for all kinds of activities of human and begins to partake in human cognition, human behavior and human communication [1]. This is gradually changing the way people live. Under the impact of the massive amounts of information, people’s forms of life gradually transform from material to non-material society. A form of society that centers around the interaction of information, provides information services and produces information technology gradually takes form, steering design from the static, single and materialized modeling design to the dynamic, complex, dematerialized information design. Design patterns change from the one-way output to the two-way interactive communication [2].

After the entry into the non-material society, the way that people cognize information has changed with the revolution of the transmittal of information. The application of interactive technology leads to equality and freedom of relationships involved in information interaction and breaks down the limitations of time and space in the transmittal of information. Nowadays, harmonious information interaction is a great vision that people have for information acquisition and recognition. Scientific, efficient and systematic software interface design has become the ultimate goal interface of interface designers. Satisfaction of users’ physical, psychological and behavioral demands, characteristics of user experience, and realization of rapid, accurate, efficient and comfortable acquisition and identification of information by software interfaces have become a necessity of the society (Fig. 1).

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Background about software interface design

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2 User-Centered Software Interface Design Strategy

The most fundamental requirement for designing software interaction interfaces is to understand the subject of the information interaction process, namely, the users. In the initial stage of the interface design life cycle, users’ demands should make the basic motive and the ultimate purpose of the design strategy [3]. In the process designing and developing the interface, the researching into and understanding of users should be considered as the basis for various design decisions. At the same time, the principle of evaluation for each phase of interface design should also be derived from the user’s feedback of demand. Therefore, the research and analysis of human as users is the core of the whole process of software interaction interface design and evaluation.

2.1 Characteristics of User Experience in Software Interaction Interface Design

User experience is the emotion or mood that users experience in specific temporal, spatial and environmental conditions. The characteristics of user experience are as follow [4] (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2.
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The characteristics of user experience

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Situatedness.

User experience is closely related to a specific situation. In different situations, users have different feelings. With time and situation different, the same interaction can produce different effects in terms of experience.

Uniqueness.

User experience is closely related to users’ individual physical characteristics. Different users may have completely different experience towards the same interaction.

Persistence.

User experience can be conserved, accumulated and persisted in the continuous interactions that the users performed with the interface. When the expected goal of interaction is fulfilled, the whole experience does not end. Instead, the interaction gives the users a feeling of fulfillment and realization.

Particularity.

User experience has its own unique characteristics. Each experience, spreading over the whole interaction process, is different from another.

Innovativeness.

Interactive experience does not only derive from the spontaneous feelings of users. Users need to be stimulated in diversified and innovative ways.

2.2 User’s Perception, Cognition, Emotion of Information

Perception is at the beginning of users’ understanding and identification of information in the process of information interaction. The cognitive activities of users for more advanced and more complex information are generated on the basis of perception [5]. The users’ perception, which is directly correlated with the representation of information and methods of interaction in the design of software interaction interface, is quite superficial. Designers should fully consider the characteristics of users’ organs of perception and the process in which the perception is processed. Attention should be paid to the following:

  • Designers should fully consider the mutual influences, the compensation effects, and the association of different means of perception. Designers should fully consider the significance and the priority of information, and choose different ways to represent different information according to the attributes thereof, so as to achieve orderly and effective communication of information on the interface.

  • When the same receptor receives strong and continuous stimulation of the same information from the interface, the experience of the user towards the message transmitted from the interface changes, impeding information to be identified. This kind of perceptual adaptation is mainly reflected in the application of color and sound stimuli of information representation.

  • Sensitivity of the user’s same receptor to the stimulation of information in different interfaces changes in intensity and nature. To some extent, the users’ perception of contrast is an illusion. This can affect the user’s information identification, so designers should reasonably design the interface, guided by the content of information and users’ demand, to meet users’ demand for perceived contrast.

  • Lack of certain feeling or inadequacy of certain function of the user may lead to the enhancement of the faculty of other sensory organs, compensating for the perception. Designer should employ ways of representation that certain user groups are familiar with to increase the interactivity of the interface.

  • Human’s perception can be enhanced and developed through daily life and work. With some special training, one person’s ability of perception and cognition to such an extent that an average person is unlikely to be level. Designers should enhance the usability of the interactive interface by selecting the methods of interaction and information representation to adjust to the actual conditions of these users.

The user experience can be very complex in the process of information interaction, and the emotions of users towards the surrounding conditions also impact the user’s information cognition process [6]. Positive emotions allow the user to think about things in a more imaginative way and enable them to identify complicated information. When the user is relaxed, the identification of the information may be easier. Users’ emotions relate to their own physical conditions, but also relate to the design in which transmittal of information is achieved on the interface. The two factors greatly impact users’ the ability to identify information and the effect thereof, thereby affecting the interaction between the users and the computer [7]. Designers should fully consider the users’ emotional factors and create an interactive interface environment that can improve the user’s positive reactions. Only in this way can the interaction be more successful and effective.

2.3 User-Centeredness as the Basic Design Strategy

The user-centered design is an important part of the whole software interaction interface design process. It should always be followed rigorously and implemented effectively [8]. User-centered design should take into account: repeated designing, timely acceptation of feedbacks from users, effective communication among team members, as well as coordination and balance of potential problems. In general, the principle of user-centered design is a practical, effective guarantee for software interaction interface design (Fig. 3).

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The user research model for user analysis

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The principle of user-centered design should be combined into the whole process of designing and developing software interface, which include: analysis of user’s background, determination of user’s demand for information, designing and implementation, testing and evaluation, and improvement of the design based on users demand, integration of user-centered design principle with other design activities; identification of individuals or organizations in the user-centered design process and the scope of support they can provide; establishment of effective mechanism of feedback and methods of communication in the process of user-centered design process; alternation of the design or incorporation of the feedback into the appropriate phase of the entire software interaction interface design. The following figure illustrates the user research model for user analysis:

User-centered interface design should effectively make available users’ access to information and inspire users to learn. It is a principle that should be carried out through the whole life cycle of software interface designing [9]. The following design strategies can be employed to ensure implementation of the principle:

Actively Foster User Participation.

Users’ participation provides valuable sources of information on users’ background, users’ demand, possible ways of interactions, and users’ patterns of cognition. The nature of user participation should be consistent with the design requirements of different phases of design. This approach, in which the actual users participate in the evaluation of the design, enhances the user’s acceptance and satisfaction of the product.

Appropriately Distribute Interactive Behaviors.

Designers should specify which behavior in the interface should be done by the users and which should be done by the computer. These design decisions determine the degree to which information is automatically or manually identified. The distribution of interaction behaviors depends on a number of factors, such as, faithfulness of information transmittal, the speed thereof, the accuracy thereof and flexibility of giving feedback, etc.

Repeatedly Design in a Reasonable Way.

Repeated design should be combined with the user’s active partaking. Users’ feedback, which minimizes the risk of the interface not meeting the demand of the user for information, is a very important factor. The method of repeated design should be combined with other design methods to achieve the completeness of interactive interface design.

Emphasize the Application of Multi-disciplinary Knowledge.

User-centered interactive interface design requires guidance from and application of knowledge of a wide variety of subjects. A multi-disciplinary design team does not necessarily need to be packed with people, but its team composition needs to meet the diversity requirements of interface system design, so that reasonable design schemes and effective trade-offs can be realized.

3 Design Strategy of Software Interaction Interface Based on Information Identification

3.1 The Categories and Features of Information in the Software Interfaces

In the design of software interaction interfaces, the information can be divided into: first-time information, second-time information and third-time information [10]. The information can also be divided into: digital information, textual information, image information and sound information. These types of information can be transformed and expressed through effective design methods (Table 1).

Table 1. Characteristics of information in software interactive interface design [11]
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In the design of software interaction interfaces, information has the following characteristics:

3.2 Design Principles Based on Information Identification in Software Interface

Easiness to be Perceived.

Designers should choose reasonable, effective and easily perceivable ways to convey information according to the content of the information. Having information on the interface that is easy to perceive is the key. This is not sufficient for but a requisite to a good software interface design.

Understanding of Habits.

Users often perceive and understand the information conveyed based on past experience and habitual expectations. Good interface design should accept and adopt the habits that users tend to keep. The way in which certain information is conveyed should be consistent with other ways in which the information may be represented at the same time or with the way in which the information is expressed most recently.

Proper Recurrence.

In a design, the information appearing more than once tend to be understood correctly by the user. This is especially true when the same piece of information is expressed in many different ways at the same time. However, redundancy is not simply repeating the same things.

Distinguishability.

Similar representations of certain information easily lead to confusion. Designers need to use distinguishable elements to express and handle information. For certain representations of information that may lead to confusion, designer should create some particularity in the way that each piece of information is represented. Deletion of information representation of similar characteristics and emphasis on different characteristics help make information distinguishable.

4 Principles and Strategy of Software Interaction Interface Design

In the process of software interface design, the whole design process must be an integral totality with each and every phase closely connected, instead of with each phase existing separately. The whole design process must be based on demand analysis, which is the prerequisite and foundation of the interface design. The whole design process should focus around the user’s acquisition of information, which is the goal of the interface design. The entire design process should be iterative so as the design can be improved. The demand analysis module is the foundation of the whole process of software interaction interface design. The design and implementation module is the key to realize the design whereas the testing and evaluation module is the effective guarantee for the success of the interface design. Designers should abide by the following principles so that the design of the interface is well guided.

4.1 Application of the Principle of Visibility of the Interface

Principle of Being Visually Pleasant.

The employment of visual elements should be able to stimulate users’ visual sensory organs accordingly. Designers should give full consideration to users’ the physiological and psychological reaction to visual stimuli, thereby reasonably maneuvering the display elements such as category, shape, size and color, etc.

Principle of Reasonable Layout.

Complex and various visual information should be reasonably divided and orderly arranged so that users have a sense of completeness towards the interface. The simplest, most stable and the most wholistic arrangement of information should be adopted to help users understand and identify the structure and content of the information on the interface.

Principle of Harmony of Colors.

Designers should be familiar with the attributes of colors, fully grasp the influence of colors on users’ physiology, psychology and emotion status, and understand the representation and association of colors. Designers need to ensure the conformity of the aesthetic tendency of the user with the stimulation that the color of the information incurs, to ensure the conformity of the content of information interface on the interface with the stimulation that the color of the information incurs, to ensure the conformity of the function of information with the stimulation that the color of the information incurs, and to ensure unity of structural organization of the information on the interface with the stimulation that the color of the information incurs.

Principle of Aesthetics.

The aesthetics of the interface depends on the designer’s artistic taste and his or her designing ability. Beautiful interface design provide users with a comfortable interactive environment, which will effectively boost users’ information cognition and increase their sense of satisfaction.

4.2 Application of the Principle of Interactivity of the Interface

Principle of Learnability.

This principle makes the interactive interface almost intuitive. Only when the function intuitive, the operation simple and the status clear, can the user understand upon first sight and master upon first attempt. The interactive interface should provide users with operational rules and basic concepts that are very easy to learn, learning methods of many varieties, tools for relearning and ways for users to familiarize themselves with the elements of the interaction.

Principle of Flexibility.

Flexibility is an important manifestation of the interactivity of software interface. Flexible software interaction interfaces can be used in a variety of environments and they acclimate themselves to a wide variety of demands of the users. Users should be allowed to determine how they would like to interact with the computer based on their respective needs. The design should adapt to users’ language, culture, knowledge, experience, as well as the user’s perception, feeling and cognition ability. Interactive interface enables users to process information in accordance with their preferences and allows users to introduce their own way of representation onto the interface. In this way, a personalized interactive mode of the user can take form.

Principle of Memorability.

This can be used to boost the efficiency of users’ information interaction. It means the interface being easy to learn to use and operate. Designers should place specific informational objects in a fixed position. Also, designers should logically categorize visual information if they use graphics or symbols to express it. If the designer uses a variety of ways to convey information, users will choose the way to perceive the information based on their personal preference, which will strengthen the user’s long-term memory.

Principle of Predictability.

Predictable representations of information is considerably easy for users to perceive. The results of its representation can be predicted by users. Predictable representation of information engenders a sense of security and makes the process of user interaction more effective. This sense of security will encourage users to explore some unfamiliar ways of interaction on the interface, thereby enhancing the usability of the interface. The predictability of interactive interfaces can be enhanced by the utility principle of the interface. In the meantime, familiarity can also increase the predictability of the information on the interface.

Principle of Tolerance for Fault-Operation.

This helps prevent the user from fault operations and make room for the erroneous operations, preventing critical information from being destroyed on the interface. Designers should remind users of the possible consequences of their actions; gives tips on possible operation for users’ negligence and omission; allows the users to withdraw an already-executed command; gives interpretations for users’ mistakes and help users to correct mistakes. It is also possible to extend the fault situation for a period of time so that users have enough time to decide what should be done. Also, correction of a fault operation should be conducted without altering the current state of the user interaction.

Principle of Feedback.

Feedback information should be expressed in a consistent way. Feedback should be used as an auxiliary means for the training of the users and should be designed according to the users’ expected level of knowledge. The types and expressions of the feedback provided should be in accordance with the user’s needs and characteristics thereof; The interface should provide timely information feedback and so on.

4.3 Principle of Usability of the Interface

Principle of Consistency.

Multiple components and the design objectives of interaction of multiple components need to be unanimous. The same kinds of software should be designed consistently in terms of style. When users perform interactive behavior in relation to different types of elements, the patterns of interaction need to be consistent accordingly. This requires the designer to keep all the select menus, the input and output of commands, the representations of information and other functions of the interface consistent in style. In the design of interface, the consistency of diction of certain information should be kept; the consistency of methods of operation should be maintained; the consistency of layout of interface should be maintained; the consistency of representation of information should be maintained; the consistency of the response to certain information should be kept. Only by keeping the interface design consistent can the interface be more usable.

Principle of Simplicity.

Interactive interface should be compact, making it easy for users to understand information, to learn, memorize and to predict the functions and effects of the interface. However, simplicity does not always mean simplification. Simplification often leads to a mediocre interface design, which should be avoided. A simple and compact design can accomplish complex tasks in a reasonable way.

Principle of Usability.

Information on the interface should be expressed in a way that is easy for users to comprehend and to read. These ways of representations include: demonstration of control of functions, methods of operation; display of results of information and the current status; display of tips, helpful information, erroneous operation etc. The realization of functions of interactive interface should be simple, convenient and effective. The interface ought to convey the exact information to the users and reveals the status of interaction to the user in a timely manner in the interaction process, so that the user do not feel confused.

Principle of Pertinence.

The designer must know who the users are and fully understand the user’s intentions, the technology the users master and their existing experience. The designers need to get hold of what the users want. Different types of users and environments make different requirements for the software interface. The emphasis of software interaction interface design should vary accordingly.

5 Establishment of Software Interaction Interface Design Model Based on User Experience

5.1 Establishment of Systematic Research Methods and Implementation Model of Software Interaction Interface Design

In the process of software interface design, the keys are: participation of typical users in the whole design cycle, (a must to ensure that the designer can understand the needs of the user interface for interaction design in a timely manner); appropriate guidelines and principles in the re-design process to ensure the feasibility and effectiveness of the design; Repeated usability testing to guarantee the usability of the design. Considering the foregoing, the model that the paper proposes mainly consists of four parts: demand analysis, interface implementation, testing and evaluation, and in-time iteration. The model as shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 4.
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Principles and strategy of software interaction interface design

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Demand analysis is the stage where research into possible users and environment of the software interaction interface is conducted. The purpose of this stage is to specify the requirements of the design of interactive interfaces. The problem to be solved by the demand analysis module is to clarify the environment in which the software interface is used; to pinpoint the user group that make use of the software interaction interface; to identify the requirements that conditions that the software interaction interface is used imposes on the design; to bring clear of the users’ requirements for the design of software interaction interface; to make explicit all the factors that impact the design of software interaction interface (Fig. 5).

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Systematic research methods and implementation model of software interaction interface design

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The implementation of interface design is composed of three parts: conceptual design, structural design and representational design. For conceptual design, designers primarily need to determine the roles for the virtual users, and set the tasks and goals for the roles. For structural design, the main task is to determine the methods of interaction for the interface and to create specific elements of interaction. The purpose of this stage is to ensure the feasibility of the conceptual design and the realization thereof to a feasible framework or a prototype. Representational design, mainly concerns the final display of information demanded by the users on the interface, include: the representation of visual and auditory information and layout design thereof, the use of colors and metaphors on the interface, etc. The problems need to be solved in the design and implementation module are: determination of the roles of the virtual users guided by the demand analysis; determination of the goals and tasks of different roles; classification of different types of demands for information and establishment of the framework and prototype of the interface; determination of the methods of interaction that the interface adopts; determination of the content and methods of the representation of interface design.

The Final phase, the testing and evaluation phase is the phase where each part of the interface and its totality go through testing and evaluation of usability. The purpose of this phase is to clarify how this design is better than other designs, to get authentic feedback from users, and to apply the usability testing to the whole design process. The problems to be solved by the testing and evaluation module are: Formation of the visual evaluation results of the interactive interface and employment thereof to guide the redesigning process; Formation of the interactivity evaluation results of the software interface and employment thereof to guide the redesigning process; Formation of the usability evaluation results of the software interface and employment thereof to guide the redesigning process; Formation of the user satisfaction evaluation results of the software interface and employment thereof to guide the redesigning process.

Iteration at any time among the former three phases, is the process where the designers find problems, discover demands and perform repeated design in a timely manner. The purpose of this phase is to remedy the flaws in the design and to optimize the final scheme. The problems need to be solved in the iteration module is to find the problems existing in each stage of the whole design process; to adjust and redesign in a timely manner; to discover new demands for the design that appear at any time during the design process, and to tinker of redesign in time.

5.2 Optimization Theory of Software Interface

Software Interface Design Should Transform from “Endurable” to “Intelligent” to Achieve the Fusion of Human and Machine.

Users’ operation of computers, using software with interactive interface in its inchoate stages, is conducted in a considerably passive way. The operation is realized by the users’ constant adaption to the computer. Users are required to understand all existing functions and ways of interaction on the interface and to go through a long period of time of learning so as to operate the computer. The representation, the transmission and response of information were limited to the computer’s scope of capacity of realization its functions and the range of ability of the software interface possesses. It was impossible to consummate the interaction in accordance with the users’ needs. Users have been enduring this.

The new generation of software with interactive interface should offer means of information acquisition and recognition corresponding with the user’s demands, and the users are going to become the real subjects of the interactive process. Therefore, the design of interactive interface should transform from “endurable” to “intelligent”. To achieve harmonious human-computer interaction, it does not only simply take the adaptation of the computer to human’s needs, but also the organic fusion of human and computer, that is, the mutual aid of the two in complement. Only by doing so, can the accessibility of information transmittal and the fusion of computer and human be truly achieved.

Software Interface Design Should be Changed from “Chaos” to “Orderly” to Achieve the Fusion of Art and Technology.

Nowadays, to meet the needs of the people to improve their lives, products of functionality multiply rapidly. Similarly, complicated technical functions are listed on the interface of software in order to meet the demands of users to materialize many functions. The rise of complicated additional functions makes the software interface appear to be chaotic.

To deal with these chaotic situation, designers are required to make use of simple and compact design methods and interaction design to compensate for the chaos caused by complex functions on the interface. It allows users to get the “essential” information they need from the interface, rather than the accumulation of repressed, chaotic, non-prioritized information. This requires the design to transform from “chaotic” to “orderly”. The user’s demands for various functions are real. Nevertheless, the “orderly” design is a practical requirement of the design of software interfaces. In order to achieve various functions in an “orderly” design, designers should strive to realize an fusion of art and technology, which is also the fundamental requirement for the design of diversified software interaction interfaces in the future.

Software Interface Design Should Realize the Transformation from “Shape” to “Soul” to Achieve the Fusion of Material and Spirit.

Various forms of software interfaces exist and designers should not only treat these interfaces as the realization of functions or the artistic effects thereof, i.e. the representation of “the shape”. The interface design should also meet users’ demands for spiritual and emotional experience, to assist users to obtain and identify information accurately, namely response to “the soul”. This is also the requirement by modern users on interface design.

The interface that meets the spiritual and emotional demands of users should put particular emphasis on o researching into the psychological features of users’ emotional activities. Designers should consider the changing patterns of users’ psychological and emotional status and pay attention to their spiritual inclination. Designers should make sure that users feel as free, safe, friendly, comfortable and pleasant as possible in the process of interaction and make possible a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction derived from the interaction, so as to make users resonate with the interactive behaviors, thereby realizing the design’s transformation from “shape” to “soul”.

Humans are animals with rich psychological activities and emotions. People have demands of a higher level, that is, the psychological, spiritual and emotional demands, in the process of human-computer interaction. Therefore, the future design of software interaction interfaces should realize the fusion of users’ material and spiritual needs (Fig. 6).

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The optimization theory of “three transformation and fusion” of software interaction interface design

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6 The Trend of Software Interaction Interface Design Based on User Experience

Nowadays, the ubiquity of human-computer interaction systems increases the speed of people’s communication to such an extent that used to be beyond imagination. The keys to future software interface design are: the application of new technology, the improvement of the users’ ability to perform information interaction between the computer, the fully realization of the software interface to meet the various needs of users, so as to achieve the ultimate purpose of harmonious interaction. Therefore, the design of future software interaction interfaces should be more universal, intelligent and authentic.

The design of future software interfaces should fully consider its universality. Designers should take into consideration of the universality of the software interface design and cater to the needs of different groups of users. The design of software interaction interfaces is not only relevant to the display of the interface or to the feeling that it gives the user, but also relevant to the creation of peculiarity and design of intelligence. Designers should familiarize the interactive interfaces with the users, make them understand the users’ needs, recognize the users’ language, facial representation and body movements, etc.; The software interfaces should be able to adjust themselves to a user or a task by altering its working status [12]. Designers should make use of the users’ multiple sensory faculties and channels of behavior to enable interaction thereof with the computer system in parallel and non-precise ways in order to improve the naturality and efficiency of human-computer interaction and ultimately realize better usability, effectiveness and naturalness of software interface [13]. Ideal environment for interactive interfaces should transcend the realistic conditions, and should immerse the users in multi-dimensional space of information. Relying on their own perception and cognition to acquire information from the interface from all aspects and in every possible way, the users will exert their voluntary initiative as the core of interaction, thus come the natural, reasonable and effective solution for problem and acquisition of information.

7 Conclusion

In this paper, we study and integrate the systematic research methods of the design of interactive interfaces based on user experience in the process of human-computer interaction, making up for the systematic and methodical defects in the researches based on design principles of software interface design. After theoretical analysis combined with practical experience, a thorough analysis of design of software interactive interface in the process of human-computer interaction is proposed. Based on the research content put forward, reasonable and feasible design strategies are proposed. A relatively complete and systematic software interface design model is established. Also, the optimization theory of “three transformation and fusion” set up for software interface design come into being. The essay puts forward opinions on and suggestions for the future of software interface design. Interactive interfaces in the future will be more closely adapted to people’s natural way of work and life. Natural and efficient software interaction interface design is the major demand of future users.