Dual-layered Mobile User Interface Design for Reducing Cognitive Load
Kiyotaka Takahashi (PM), Tetsuo Yamabe
Current mobile interaction is not designed with mobility in mind. The usability of a mobile service degrades while the user is on the move, since users cannot pay enough attention to the service in such a dynamic and complicated mobile context. In this paper, we propose a mobile service design framework that improves usability on the move by reducing the user’s cognitive load. Our approach provides mobile services with two interaction modes (i.e., a simple interaction mode and a normal interaction mode) so that the user can retrieve important information with less attention. Moreover, the service’s events are simplified to support several modalities, so the user can be notified in the way best suited to the situation. To evaluate the feasibility of our approach through field experiments, we developed a pedestrian navigation service as part of the framework. The results showed that the simple interaction mode successfully reduced the attention users had to pay to the service. We also discuss future directions for improvement based on the subjects’ comments.