by julia.trummer -

#4 Mental Models

As I realized that the problem might lie in the mental models of older people, I wanted to research this topic more deeply to understand what’s really behind it.

The mental models of technology held by elderly individuals differ significantly from those used by younger generations and software designers, largely due to their unique past experiences, cognitive capabilities and learning processes. [1]

Conceptual Models of Interaction and Interfaces

Older adults’ conceptual models of user interfaces and human-computer interaction, are generally influenced by their accumulated knowledge, skills and past experiences. This results in models that often diverge from modern application design:

  • Linear, Text-Based Prototypes (Storytelling Approach): Participants, particularly in the beginners group but also evident in the advanced group, demonstrated a tendency to produce linear, text-based prototypes resembling the transcription of a storytelling session rather than screen-based, UI-oriented solutions. [1]
  • Difficulty Separating Frontend from Backend: Seniors struggled with the abstract concept of application design by finding it difficult to separate the frontend from the backend (technical implementation) and the possibility of designing them separately.[1]
  • Focus on Detailed Wording and Politeness: When discussing UI elements, seniors often paid immense attention to the wording used in the interface and thoroughly debated it.[1]

Conceptualizing System Functionality

When interacting with or designing technology, the elderly’s mental models reveal specific patterns regarding scope and detail:

  • Over-Generalization and Scope Limitation Issues: Both groups found it challenging to prioritize usage scenarios and limit the scope of their solutions to address only the most important use cases.[1]
  • Focus on External Familiarity: Novice technology users, when designing an ATM interface, first attempted to recreate the interface based on the limited knowledge they had about real ATMs (e.g., from observing younger people use them) and only later tried to design their own solutions.[1]
  • bsence of Error Handling in Models: While focusing heavily on wording and usability issues they deemed relevant (like card insertion direction), seniors generally did not consciously look for corner cases or pay much attention to error handling (e.g., providing a way for the user to undo an action) in their prototypes.[1]

Understanding Abstract Concepts and Tools

  • Struggles with Abstract Design Concepts: When learning UI design, seniors often struggled with abstract concepts.[1] (What are abstract concepts?)
  • Confusing Similar UI Elements: Older adults may not grasp different contexts and thus confuse similar UI elements (e.g., the search and address fields in a web browser). [1]
  • Viewing Prototyping Tools as Graphic Editors: Even after instruction, at least one senior viewed the prototyping tool (Adobe XD) as a graphics editor rather than a prototyping tool that connects interactive screens.[1]

Sources

[1] D. Orzeszek et al., ‘Beyond Participatory Design: Towards a Model for Teaching Seniors Application Design’, arXiv [cs.CY]. 2017.

[2] L. Kane, “Usability for Seniors: Challenges and Changes,” Nielsen Norman Group, Sep. 08, 2019. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-for-senior-citizens/

[3] G. A. Wildenbos, L. Peute, and M. Jaspers, ‘Aging barriers influencing mobile health usability for older adults: A literature based framework (MOLD-US)’, International Journal of Medical Informatics, vol. 114, pp. 66–75, 2018.

[4] J. Nielsen, “Usability for Senior Citizens: Improved, But Still Lacking,” Nielsen Norman Group, May 28, 2013. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-seniors-improvements/

[5] Thefinchdesignagency, “Building User Trust in UX Design: Proven Strategies for Better Engagement,” Medium, Feb. 05, 2025. https://medium.com/@thefinchdesignagency/building-user-trust-in-ux-design-proven-strategies-for-better-engagement-c975aa381516

by anja.kljajic -

User Interfaces in Video Games

user interface design
game design
UI elements
accessibility
usability

User Interfaces in Video Games – The quest for genre-appropriate and usable game UI

This thesis would explore the relationship between video games, user interfaces and users, in the context of genres and usability. It would place a focus on the history, genres and UI elements and their functions in games, as well as examine accessibility options and overall usability. Some games have interfaces with very small text, which is a result of no standardised guidelines. Some games also have user interfaces that are completely divorced from the style of the game, making them look jarring and potentially taking away from the overall user experience.

At the beginning, UI wasn’t an established field in the game development industry, but has since evolved to slowly include not only UI but also UX [1]. I want to explore how UX/UI manifests itself in this medium while taking a look at the industry, past and present.

Research questions

How can user interface in games be designed to be genre appropriate?

How can user interfaces in games be designed to achieve usability and accessibility without compromising genre identity?

  • How can user interfaces in video games harmonise with the aesthetics of the game and to provide a seamless experience? How do they become one with the game?
  • How do genre conventions influence user interface design choices in video games?
  • Should games sacrifice functionality for style and vice versa? Do accessibility options affect the art being made?
Figure 1: MGS1 Screenshot
Source: [2]
Figure 2: Persona 3 Portable Screenshot
Source: [3]

Design Relevance

The relevance of this topic comes down to the different ways UX/UI principles can be reinforced within games, a huge medium that often gets ignored in academic contexts for being too playful.

Human-centered design bases itself on, among other things, existing patterns . These patterns can be hard to grasp in more complex interfaces such as games, where standardisation isn’t reinforced, or expected, in the same way it is with websites. Regulations don’t exist for games like they do for websites, because websites are an essential part of everyday life, but games aren’t. I still think that they are an important everyday medium that should be accessible to anyone and not shut anyone out.

It’s also relevant to examine the aesthetics, personality and style of these interfaces which is the more graphical angle to approaching game user interfaces. Knowing how to ride the line can be difficult. So, should games sacrifice functionality for style and vice versa?

Interaction design could help to deal with these issues by using existing knowledge, guidelines and research about usable interfaces and cross examining them with game interfaces. User experience design would help with making sure the interfaces are usable and clear, while user interface (and general graphic design) would help with making them aesthetic and cohesive.

Challenges

The biggest challenge I have right now is to narrow down the scope of the project and see a clear path. Theres many things I want to touch upon, and I’m not sure yet how they will come together. Initially, I wanted to also examine the “responsive” angle of video game user interfaces, by exploring desktop, mobile and console games. While I’m still interested in this and the differences in developing interfaces for such varying screen and control schemes, I’m not sure where the focus would lie in the end.

Another challenge would be how to produce qualitative and quantitative data from my analysis efforts, and if I will actually find discrepancies and scientific value. The biggest challenge I will have in the future is deciding on an outcome/workpiece, as I’m not sure how to target this overall research into a design outcome.

Upcoming Research Steps

In my next steps I would like to:

  • start actual research and try to build my literature collection on the topic
  • gain proper knowledge on the history of games, UI elements and their functions as well as accessibility issues
  • familiarise myself with the current state and find best practice examples
  • maybe even play games and note down experiences

Personal Motivation

My personal motivation lies in my immense enjoyment of games in the past year. They have improved my quality of life ten-fold, became a part of my routine and, for that reason, I would love to make games a good experience for everyone. I’ve been noticing that games have accessibility options such as subtitles available but then the subtitles are incredibly hard to read due to their size, font choices or contrast. This always bothered me and eventually I started thinking about how most people even play games when the interfaces don’t help but rather distract. I would love to combine my passion for usable user interfaces with games, which are full of interface elements.

Relevant Instituations

Game UI Database – initially, building a database was also part of my probable outcome, but since I have come across this giant database of screenshots of various menus and game states for thousands of games

References