Auditory display design—An investigation of a design pattern approach

We present the evaluation of a methodological design framework that supports expert and novice designers in creating auditory artefacts in human–technology interaction. We first motivate the development of our framework by analysing available guidance and the current practice in the field. Subsequently, we recapitulate on the design of the framework—paco, pattern design in the context space—and present its key concepts and methods. The evaluation of paco aimed to investigate how useful this framework is in a real-world environment. It was conducted in two phases: experts in auditory display design first captured successful designs through paco and created a body of design patterns. These patterns were subsequently used in a controlled experiment with novice designers who were given a design task that forced them to use audio. The results demonstrate that paco has facilitated the transfer of design knowledge and good practice from experts to novices through design patterns. The context space, a key concept in paco, improves the contextual awareness of designers and provides an organising principle for problems, patterns and artefacts. We close by reflecting on the results and discussing future lines of research.