The interplay between perceived usability and visual design quality in tablet game interfaces

Research in Human Computer Interaction has shown inconsistencies in the relationship between the perception of usability and visual design in digital products. Research is lacking in the domain of tablet gaming related to the visual design of screen user interfaces. Despite extensive research on visual aesthetics and perceived usability, limited best practice guidance from a user-centered design perspective exists.

The objectives of this study are twofold: firstly, to employ design-oriented methodology to create a real iOS tablet game app starting from ideation, focus groups, iterative prototyping, usability testing, followed by an empirical evaluation with game participants. Secondly, to use experimental methods to examine the role of visual design quality on perceived usability and user engagement in tablet game interfaces.

In phase I, we designed and developed a real iOS game; the user interface was rendered into two visual design conditions for hypothesis testing. In phase II, we recruited 56 participants designated to play each game condition for 10 minutes using a within-subject design. We administered the Multidimensional Mood, Attrakdiff, and User Engagement Scale questionnaires for data collection.

Findings demonstrate that a higher visual design quality does not necessarily promote perceived usability and both low and high visual design quality significantly influenced perceive usability. Participants experienced a higher level of user engagement in the high visual design game interface.

Game learnability, an attribute of inherent product usability, played an important part as participants quickly became familiar with the game mechanics. They rated perceived usability of the game conditions to be equivalent.