Situation dependent design goals

Typical Interaction Modes

Interaction modes may be defined as classes of interaction activities. Typically, users are engaged in one of three interaction modes:

Routine interaction, such as in data entry, monitoring or supervision
Alert recognition, such as perception of system alert messages, recognizing risky situations or recognizing errors
Recovery interaction, such as error correction, resolving data problems or emergency operation.

Design Goals for Routine Operation

In routine operation the users are busy doing their jobs. The objective of the design is to free the users' mental resources so that they can focus on their main tasks. The main design goal for this interaction mode is to enable seamless routine operation.

Design Goals for alert Recognition

When in routine operation, users do not need to pay much attention to the user interface, because they are devoted to their main job. Occasionally, the users may deviate from the routine operation, for example, in situations when the operation becomes risky.

When deviation from routine operation is required, the system should notify the users about the situation change. The users need to notice the system messages and respond accordingly.

The main design goal for this interaction mode is to alert the users about the deviation so they can stop routine operation and switch their focus.

Design Goals for Recovery Interaction

After noticing the system alert, the users need to change their interaction mode. If the alert is about a risky situation, then the change is often from routine operation to recovery. The main design goal for this stage is to enable seamless operation under stress.

Guidelines

The operator interface screens, forms and messages should be optimized individually for each of the three interaction mode s: routine operation, risk recognition and recovery interaction.
Screens designed for one interaction mode should not be used for the other interaction modes.