User Experience Design (M. Sc.)
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On the influence of explainable AI and time pressure on confirmation bias in digital pathology
(2024)
The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years has opened the door to its employment for life-saving applications in the medical field. In particular, the increasing prevalence of AI in diagnostic pathology holds the potential to enhance diagnostic accuracy and provide more efficient patient care. While explainability is often identified as a crucial component in terms of safety and AI acceptance for future clinical use, it may also introduce or strengthen human cognitive biases such as the confirmation bias.
Confirmation Bias describes the selective search for and intake of information to strengthen prior existing beliefs, which could be further amplified by the time pressure ubiquitously present in everyday pathology. To date, very few user-centric studies have been carried out in this domain, thus this thesis seeks to empirically examine the effects of explainable AI and time pressure on confirmation bias during the interaction with clinical decision support systems in a mixed-method study and aims to contribute to the safe and efficient development and design of intelligent support systems in the medical sector.
Smart Kiosks are becoming increasingly popular due to their ease of use, accessibility, and cashless payment options. With this technology, User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) design is taken into account to enhance optimal user satisfaction.
This thesis addresses usability issues arising from unclear information and cluttered interfaces in existing webapp of Livello Kiosk’s Webapp. Through user research, competitor analysis, iterative redesign and AB Testing, the aim of this study is improving the User Experience of the entire purchasing process for Livello's Smart Kiosk system.
By understanding user needs and learning from competitor successes and failures, interviews, and surveys from real users, drawing insights from their feedback, the redesigned interface will prioritize clarity, ease of use, and intuitive navigation.
This research has the potential to contribute valuable insights for the development of user-centered and intuitive interfaces for Kiosk Webapp (KWA). Ultimately, it will be enhancing customer satisfaction, reduce frustration and increase task completion rates.
If we, as user experience designers, want to create truly user-centered experiences, we need to understand not only what people want, but what they need and how they behave. Human behavior, however, also results from the choices people make every day. The same applies to the development and design of automated transportation. To achieve and maintain these goals, we need to accept that human decisions are not only made on a rational level, but rather on the basis of mental shortcuts, which may be efficient, but can also lead to cognitive biases and thus to sub-optimal results.
This master’s thesis specifically sheds light on four cognitive biases - truthiness, illusion of control, action bias and automation bias -, their existence in automated driving, as well as their relationship to each other and possible influencing factors. As part of a preliminary study (n=117), which was implemented as an online questionnaire, the existence of the cognitive biases in focus of this work is examined in more detail and initial findings of visualizations and explanations as an influencing factor are collected. In the further course, a user study (n=34) was completed to build on the knowledge gained and examine the accuracy of the mental model of the occupants of an automated ride and their individual personality traits as further influential parameters. This work should serve as a cornerstone to include cognitive biases and their influencing forces in the development of automated vehicles in the future and to use the knowledge gathered to integrate psychological aspects that affect every human being into user-centered humanmachine interactions.
Virtual Reality (VR) has emerged as a promising and effective tool for education. The serenity of nature and the underlying Biophilic design theory promise positive effects on learning by influencing attention, well-being and immersion in advanced technology. However, the specifics of how and under what contexts learning is most effective in VR with a focus on the abstraction level remains to be elucidated. This study aims to determine how radically different virtual environments (VE) - natural vs. abstract - design approaches affect learning and attention and the underlying interplay of these two constructs with attention, comfort, presence, and immersion. A mixed-method design with a comparative exploratory approach within subjects was adopted to explore the influence of different VR settings, one being natural and one being abstractly designed without elements. The study emphasizes the crucial role of interaction between presence and attention in VE design. However, while there were no significant quantitative differences regarding this data set, naturalistic VR environments significantly influenced learning effectiveness and attention spans according to qualitative data about the same result. Also, biophilic elements facilitate emotional comfort while considering user comfort and engagement during thematic analysis. It is also evident that quantitative measuring within Immersion and Presence effects reveal slight trends towards natural VE, while qualitative data favored the abstract VE, which raises the question of sensitivity on the MPS Questionnaire and incorporating and elevating the perspective of Acceptance of Virtual Reality Environments to be more sensitive and valid. Our research confirms VR’s potential in education and highlights that traditional classroom elements should blend with VR capabilities (educational VR spaces should augment, not replace, conventional methods). The broader explorative approach revealed potential gaps in VR research, new perspectives on abstraction levels, and the impact on VR learning.
As automated driving becomes a closer reality for consumers, accurate understandings of user behavior with and perceptions of automated vehicles are needed. This work investigates the effect of the level of explanation used in automated driving on an individual's perception of control.
Two explore this question, two studies were carried out. The first study (N = 26) was an online survey that measured Locus of Control and Desire to Intervene in relation to automated driving scenarios. A second study was conducted based on the design of the first. This VR Simulation ( N = 14) enabled the level of AI explanation to be tested in a semi-realistic scenario and evaluated levels of explanation in relation to Locus of Control and Desire to Intervene. The first study found no significant between Locus of Control and Desire to Intervene. The second study found a significant difference between the How and Why, and Baseline conditions.
Qualitative findings of both studies suggest a framework for why participants desire to intervene in automated driving scenarios.
Virtual Reality (VR) is an emerging tool that is effective in improving student engagement and learning outcomes in educational settings. Studies show that VR-based education can enhance motivation, critical thinking skills, and learning outcomes. However, further research is still needed to understand VR's impact on long-term memory retention and its effectiveness in education.
This thesis addresses the challenge of engaging students with complex subjects and improving their attention spans. The research has two main objectives: (1) to identify design principles that are essential for creating effective VR learning environments, and (2) to assess the impact of VR on student engagement, motivation, and knowledge retention. The study is focused on exploring how VR can be thoughtfully designed to enhance engagement, motivation, memorization, and understanding of complex educational concepts. A multi-faceted approach was taken to achieve this, including an online survey, expert interviews, and student interviews. The data collected from these sources was used to inform the development process, which involved creating personas and storyboards as a basis for a VR application developed in Unity for offline study. A total of 19 participants were involved in usability testing, providing both qualitative and quantitative feedback.
The results of the study indicated that VR-based learning significantly improved memory retention and enhanced Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction (ARCS) when compared to traditional learning methods. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) revealed high acceptance and usability. The VR system was seen as a valuable educational supplement, motivating students and providing real-world examples through a "learning by doing" approach.
Keywords: Virtual Reality (VR) · Immersive Learning · Concept Memorization · Conceptual Understanding · Active Learner Participation · VR Learning Environment · Educational Simulations · Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) · STEM Education
In recent years the idea of enhancing services with game-like features has gained traction in the field of Human Computer Interactions. This act of using these affordances to heighten motivation in users has been coined "gamification". The process of gamification starts with the "gameful experience" a user has when interacting with these gamified services, which therefore plays a huge role in reaching behavioral change. One domain in which empirical research about gamification overall, but more closely gameful experiences, has been limited is the wide domain of FinTech. In this field services targeting younger users can have huge benefits in the user's financial decision-making. This thesis tries to answer two research questions: (1) can gamified affordances in a FinTech service targeted at younger audiences have a positive effect on the user and (2) can gamified affordances have a positive effect on the perceived user experience in these services. For this, two gamified affordances (achievements and leaderboards) were created, built into prototypes of the FinTech start-up Pigtie and tested with participants in the ages from 18-32 (n=15) in a controlled usability setting. Analysis of the gameful experience questionnaire GAMEFULQUEST, the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ) and qualitative statements showed possible benefits in using gameful affordances in these systems and heightening the perceived gameful experience for end-users. Therefore, this work showed overall positive results on all gameful dimensions of the GAMEFULQUEST as well as a higher perceived hedonic quality. But due to the fact that FinTech is a special domain in regard to privacy, security and user's attitudes toward personal finances and particularities only relating to this field are also discussed. As this work represents only a small segment in the FinTech space with a younger target group, it can be assumed that further research is needed to explore and validate more gameful designs in FinTech.
The aim of this master thesis is to develop and evaluate a private digital companion for the specific needs of women to increase the women's individual sense of safety in shared automated vehicles (SAVs). To do this, the essential aspects of SAVs, perceived safety and digital assistants will be explained, and women’s needs will be highlighted in the context of shared mobility. To gain an even better understanding of women's con-cerns and needs regarding SAVs and to learn what women understand as a feeling of safety, a workshop (N = 5) that was held will be described. Further will be explored how women envision personal digital companionship in the context of a ride in SAVs. The three prototypes of a private digital companion that were developed on basis of the workshop will be introduced and the user study (N = 13) in which these companions were testes will be described. The user study aims to explore the usability and accepta-bility of digital companions, the level of trust placed in them, and the impact they have on women's overall anxiety. In addition, the emotional response to digital companions will be assessed to avoid a sense of uncanniness that can occur with artificial beings.
The aim of this master's thesis is to explore the impact of technology design on users and its ethical implications. The research question posed is: "How does the design of technology influence user behavior, and how are designers allowed to influence the user?" In order to answer the research question, a literature review and a quantitative user study with 135 participants that targeted general technology users were conducted. The results highlight that design has a significant impact on user decision-making. Users tend to prefer colors that have positive associations, such as green, over colors that are associated with negative emotions, like red. Additionally, users tend to prefer larger, round buttons over smaller, square ones. The user study also found that trust is a critical factor in how susceptible a user is to the influence of design. The overall impact of technology on users is influenced by several factors, including aesthetics, usability, trust, credibility, and the user's personality, emotions, and context. The literature revealed that the use of technology could have negative consequences such as addiction, financial harm, loss of autonomy, violation of privacy, and negative impacts on society and the environment, such as waste. If technology is consciously designed and applied positively, it can also have positive outcomes. How technology affects the user and society depends, among other things, on its design. Therefore, designers have a high responsibility to be mindful of their designs. However, ethical design is not a straightforward process as a design can be beneficial for an individual, society, or economic purposes. What may be good for one may be bad for another. Therefore, it is crucial for technology designers to possess the necessary knowledge and motivation to incorporate ethical values into their designs.
This master thesis explores the implementation of digital accessibility into software development projects. The business benefits of accessibility get recognized more and more. One of the most pressing issues for the industry is integrating accessibility practices successfully on a project level. The goal is to incorporate accessibility as a standard practice in the daily activities of designers and developers. Therefore, we explored the needs and challenges they may face.
DB Cargo, a prominent player in the international transport and logistics industry and responsible for rail freight activities of Deutsche Bahn worldwide, has adopted camera bridges and AI software to enhance maintenance and offer innovative services to cargo customers. However, the current process of detecting damage using these Intelligent Video Gateways (IVGs) is outdated and requires significant technical expertise, leading to inefficiencies.
This thesis aims to streamline the damage detection process, minimize the efforts of DB Cargo employees in this area, address visualization challenges related to wagon damage detection, and effectively represent data on damaged wagons through an AI-generated user interface. With the support of Bavaria's Digital Minister Judith Gerlach, this technology is being implemented nationwide, creating new opportunities for the freight rail sector.
The study employs the Stanford Design Thinking Process to identify and analyze viable solutions for improving user experience in locomotive damage detection. It explores innovative approaches for interactive applications and intuitive data visualization to analyze damaged wagon data effectively.
Prototype design solutions introduce a novel 3D model-based approach, leveraging Artificial Intelligence for wagon visualization and damage identification. Expert users evaluated these solutions using the Wizard-of-Oz approach, showing positive outcomes in terms of improved user experience, ease of use, learnability, interaction design, and time efficiency.
Moreover, the study explores the potential of expanding this concept as a foundation for enhancing other wagon operations.
This paper explores the redesign process of the VESTIGAS mobile application and investigates the significance of user-centeredness in the business-to-business (B2B) sector. VESTIGAS is a startup aiming to revolutionize the construction sector by offering a supply chain operating system. However, many users within the VESTIGAS user group lacked motivation to use the app and continued to rely on paper alternatives. The redesign aimed to address this issue by improving the app's usability and user-friendliness to increase user engagement. To achieve this, low-budget UX methods, including qualitative user interviews and UX-expert interviews, were employed to guide the creative process. Subsequently, a user study was conducted to compare the new app with the old app. The study revealed significant improvements as users were able to complete tasks more efficiently and expressed a preference for the new app. Contrary to previous assumptions by VESTIGAS employees, the study demonstrated that users highly value the user-centeredness of the new app. These findings suggest that the user-centered design process holds value in the B2B sector and provide an initial foundation for VESTIGAS to further explore this dimension.
Objective - This research paper introduces Xpert, an all-encompassing platform conceived to augment UX designers’ educational journey and employment-seeking process. The platform’s design and development were guided by a user-centric approach, primarily focusing on delivering personalized experiences and global acknowledgement through UX certification.
Methodology - The research commenced with a comprehensive examination of the unique needs and challenges faced by UX designers during their educational and professional pursuits. This was accomplished through expert consultations, digital surveys, and interactive workshops involving UX designers at various career stages. The insights gleaned from this research were instrumental in shaping the initial prototype of the platform, which was subsequently evaluated by industry experts and tested by potential users.
Results - Post the initial evaluation, high-fidelity prototypes were developed and subjected to additional rounds of evaluation and user testing. The final design of the platform was then assessed by experts and representative users employing the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ).
Findings - The UEQ study results revealed that the platform performed exceptionally well across most of the selected scales, indicating a high degree of user satisfaction with the platform’s functionalities and user experience. However, areas such as efficiency and trust were identified as potential avenues for improvement, which will be addressed in future iterations of the platform.
Conclusion - In summary, the Xpert platform has shown considerable promise in transforming the educational journey and job-seeking process for UX designers. The user-centric design approach, coupled with an emphasis on personalized experiences and global recognition through UX certification has significantly contributed to the platform’s success. Future enhancements to the app will focus on expanding its functionalities and user experience, with plans for collaboration with educational institutions and companies and the development of personalized dashboards for recruiters and mentors.
Keywords: User Experience Design, Personalized Learning, Job Search, UX Certification, UserCentric Design, Platform Development, User Experience Questionnaire, UX Designers, Educational Journey, Employment Seeking Process, Platform Evaluation.
Paper Type: Research Paper
Organizations increasingly rely on technology to stay competitive in today’s fast-paced business environment. Implementing new software solutions is a common strategy for organizations to enhance productivity, streamline processes, and improve overall performance. However, learning new business software can be time-consuming and may cause frustration among new users. To counteract this, gamification can be used, which has been proven to affect motivation, user experience, and usability positively. In order to understand the effects of game elements on the onboarding experience and learning curve of new users in a business context, an onboarding process called the Basic Onboarding was developed for the METUS software and tested during a between-subjects user study. METUS is a methodology and software solution by PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH WPG to create and manage products by creating an aligned 360-degree perspective connecting the market and product view. The onboarding development was based on literature analysis, an expert interview, and a survey among experienced METUS users. The study results showed no significant impact, only discernible trends, of game elements on the perceived user experience, usability, learning curve, and mental workload. Based on the quantitative and qualitative data, recommendations are given to improve the Basic Onboarding, the METUS software, and the overall experience.
The present master’s thesis investigates the idea of a tool focusing on the challenges of interdisciplinary work, including interdisciplinary communication, adaptation management in iterative work processes, and their documentation. The human-centred design process is used as the basis for planning and executing project activities. As a result, context of use interviews are conducted to build a basis for deriving needs and requirements. Wireframes are iteratively created and explored with the expert users of the practice partner (Die Plusbringer GmbH). The theoretical foundation mainly includes the aspects of the working areas of programming and design, as these disciplines are mainly involved in the UX (user experience) projects of Die Plusbringer GmbH. Since communication builds a foundation of interdisciplinary projects, underlying linguistic concepts are presented and considered within the derivation of a corresponding concept. An evaluation of the suitability of derived functions as well as their technical feasibility and a SWOT analysis conclude the thesis.
Digital Memories
(2023)
"Digital Memories - Designing an interactive wellbeing concept for people with dementia and their family members" is a master’s thesis that investigates how to design an interactive wellbeing concept for people with dementia and their family members. Qualitative and quantitative research was conducted to study the needs and experiences of people with dementia and their family members.
Based on the results, a prototypical concept was developed that offers various functions and tools that promotes shared remembering and communication. These includes a memory section, activities, and a individual home-screen. The concept was successfully tested in a study with family members and an expert and received positive feedback.
The results of this thesis shows that the concept can be a valuable approach to supporting the wellbeing of people with dementia and their family members. It offers the opportunity to share joint memories and experiences and promote communication and interaction. The developed prototypical application could serve as a basis for further research and the development of wellbeing concepts for people with dementia.
The use of technology to improve the wellbeing of persons with dementia and their family members is a growing focus in the field. This master thesis explores the design of an interactive concept called "Digital Memories" that aims to support the physical, emotional, and social wellbeing of dementia patients and their loved ones through the use of digital memories. Through a combination of theoretical analysis and practical design research, the study aims to contribute to the understanding of how digital technologies can be used to support the well-being of individuals with dementia and their families. The focus of the study is on the family members of dementia patients and seeks to answer the research question of how an interactive application can be designed to support the well-being of these individuals. The study will explore current approaches in the field, identify key challenges and opportunities for design, and examine various design strategies for creating effective and meaningful interventions.
With the rapid development of technology in recent years, telemetry has become one of the most important components in motorsport. The remote collection of telemetry data is crucial to the success of each team. In addition, full compliance with technical and safety regulations by all vehicles must be monitored at any time by the race scrutineers. This master's thesis concerns interactive visualisation of telemetry data on the web for scrutineers.
The first part of the thesis deals with basic UX concepts that describe how huge amount of data sets can be visualised as comprehensively as possible in a performant and clear manner in the web. Furthermore, it is investigated whether it is possible to visualise large amounts of data interactively with web technologies.
Building on this, the second part of the thesis describes the conception and realisation of prototypical virtualisation components for the web. For this purpose, software systems and technologies are evaluated based on requirements previously defined using the qualitative methods of expert interviews and the contextual inquiry method at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022.
This master thesis is about the design of a new interaction concept and visual design for the trace tool TraceViewer of the company e.solutions GmbH. This program is used for trace analysis in the automotive environment and should support the user in the analysis and evaluation of traces.
The work is based on the User Centered Design process to ensure the best possible user experience. To implement this approach, user requirements are identified and defined, an exemplary scenario is planned, and a concept is created. The visual design and interaction are based on this concept. An expert analysis and the final evaluation were conducted with eight participants each. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. The final usability study is a comparative study between the TraceViewer and the newly developed concept. The most important results are that the new concept, in contrast to the TraceViewer, has a significantly better usability and user experience. In addition, the new concept is more intuitive and easier to use.
Development of a smartphone app for managing non-public charge points with a focus on a high UUX
(2022)
The market for electromobility has almost taken off in recent years. Developments in the area of environmental and climate protection have only accelerated this trend. At the same time, it can be observed that many aspects of this area are new and that experience must first be gained with them bit by bit. Thus it happens that the management software of the charging infrastructure has been optimized for the big players on the market, but now one has to realize that there are many small operators of charging stations in addition to the big ones. And precisely these have their problems with the applications of the big players. Too complex, not understandable, and not very intuitive to use are just a few of the points one hears there. This master thesis has taken on this problem and has set itself the goal of identifying and defining this target group precisely and then developing a concept for an application on the smartphone that optimizes the operation of one's own charging infrastructure in the non-public sector with a special focus on high usability and user experience. During the process of this master thesis, the requirements and needs of this target group were worked out in a comprehensive analysis and then prototypically implemented and tested. The results show that the target group concerned can be identified as non-professional operators, a smartphone app is a well-suited implementation for the management system, and the functional scope should be limited to the essentials, requiring only basic information and interactions. The implemented prototype could already show very good values regarding usability and user experience and the results of the study brought equally valuable information, which can be used in the future to further develop the application based on the result of this master thesis.
The aim of this master thesis is to rethink, restructure and redesign an existing software management tool for planning employee resources based on user experience in order to strengthen the business processes within a company.
The user centered design process goes through eight phases, from planning, understanding, ideation, conception, design, and evaluation of the project with the user. Working directly with end users, project managers, and developers allowed for usability testing, surveys, and discussions to make the application and system supportive and intuitive. These insights created a system that can be used by new customers, but also reused by existing customers.
The results of the literature and field research show that the needs and also the user behavior adapted design is significantly more popular and thus better accepted compared to the current solution. The entire user experience and not only the visual design is included. The final output are purposes, concepts, misfits, and a whole redesign of the employee planning tool.