Book Review: APA Handbook of Human Systems Integration

Abstract

-Reviewed by Kapil Chalil MadathilPeople from diverse cultural backgrounds use software systems with their standard user interfaces (UIs) around the globe. As a result, crosscultural interface design is an important factor when developing such UIs. Much research has been conducted to understand how people perceive UI elements and how they make decisions based on those perceptions.In his book, Jan Brejcha presents an overview of semiotic and linguistic theories, placing them in the context of human-computer interaction (HCI), specifically on UI design and evaluation. Primarily intended for user experience (UX) researchers and interaction designers, this book was written on the premise that linguistics and semiotics can provide effective methods for mitigating problems in interaction and communication design.The book also provides a semiotic design and evaluation framework, various examples on perception development based on the UI language, and case studies on the application of semiotic analyses of user interfaces and systematic comparisons with heuristic evaluation. I found the systematic approach provided for semiotic analysis very relevant for both my research andgraduate-level class in human-centered system design.The case studies suggest that an integrated approach that includes heuristic evaluation and semiotic analysis of the interfaces has the potential to enhance the findings from the expert evaluation phase. Further, the book delves deeply into a case study that applied a semiotic method in the design and evaluation of interfaces using participants from two cultural backgrounds: the Czech Republic and China. Although the sample size in the study was limited, its results showed interesting and actionable insights on cross-cultural differences.This book is a good read for experienced UX researchers and interaction designers who are developing systems and applications for users from different cultural backgrounds. Much has been written about cross-cultural UX, highlighting the increasing attention and importance it has experienced in recent years. However, it is not something that UX researchers need to study comprehensively in order to get it right; once you have read this book, you will have a good starting point. Kapil Chalil Madathil