Design methods for personified interfaces

Abstract

Recent advances in natural language processing, computer graphics, and mobile computing are driving a new wave of interfaces, called here personified interfaces, which have clear and distinctive human-like characteristics. The paper argues that personified interfaces need to portray coherent human traits, deal with conflict, and handle drama, driving a need of new design methods. Using theoretical frameworks drawn from different disciplines, concisely described in the paper, four design methods are presented to support the design of personified interfaces, merging traditional design techniques with the use of personality models, improvisational theater techniques, comics-inspired storyboards, and even some ideas from puppetry and movie animation. The design methods are exemplified with results from three student workshops aimed at designing a service recovery interface for e-commerce.