Overview
This study was part of a user experience module at Napier University and investigated whether the coloured tiles of the iNapier app have a negative or positive affect on the way people feel about the app. This was done as I felt that the over use of colour lead to having negative feelings towards the app. An online questionnaire and the Photographic Affect Meter (PAM) were used to determine how the users felt about the use of colour. 5 University students were asked to participate in the questionnaire and PAM research. The questionnaire was analysed using the Content analysis method while the PAM was analysed using the mean values of the images selected to find the average state of valence and arousal of the participants. The information gathered from these research methods were used along with theorise and models such as C.R.A.P, the law of unified connectedness and the isolation law were considered when creating a new colour scheme for the app.
UX Evaluation
The methods chosen to conduct the UX evaluation where through a questionnaire and the Photographic Affect Meter (PAM). The Questionnaire consisted of 19 questions. These questions asked the participants about how they felt about the use of colour for the tabs in the iNapier app. This went to 5 participants all of which were students at Edinburgh Napier as only members of Napier can access the app. The questionnaire consisted of a fairly simple question such as “how does the colour of the check-in tab on the app make you feel about the tab?” this was then followed up with a question asking “please explain why the app makes you feel this way?” for further clarification if needed . This was done to make the participant think more about how the app affected them, which would hopefully provide a more in-depth response
The Photographic Affect Meter is a group of 16 images designed to represents a diverse grouping of emotions. The images are shown is a 4x4 grid and the participant is asked to select a photo that best describes how they feel. The app uses valence(attraction) (negative to positive) and arousal (low activation to high activation) to measure the affect. The PAM app was not available so participants were asked to pick the number of the image that best represents their feelings towards the apps colours.
Recommendation
Based on the knowledge gathered from the questionnaire and the PAM there were a few recommendations given. The first was to reduce the number of colours on the app. They should be dropped to three or five colours with the colours being used to link apps together that cover similar subjects. Apps about university services should be the same colour. For example, email and moodle are different colours but are both connected as they are online services provided by the university. These should be the same colour. The app should use a split complimentary colour scheme with the main colour being the red in the Napier logo. This colour scheme was suggested by one of the participants and also showed the best results(see image). These colours provide an attractive look to the website and are also not too "gloomy" or too "bright" as was described as an issue within the questionnaire. They are also colour’s that participants described as having a positive connection too. The apps should be linked using colour instead of location as the app allows users to change the locations of apps. This is a useful tool as it allows the user to move their most used apps to the top. To link apps with location would require removing this function.