Characterising Users

The characteristics of end users are dicated by

• Physiology: Size and Strength, ambient light and temperature etc.
• Sensory/motor: Limitations of hearing, touch etc. People have little control over this.
• Cognitive: The ways in which people process information, their use of memory. Although this is often a conscious activity it may be hard for. users to control. In part this is because learned methods become somewhat unconscious.
• Cultural: Many associations are culture dependent. The color white for example has quite different connotations in the West from those found in China.

It is important to take all these things into account when designing a system.

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Last Changed: 18 April 1995