CAFE OF EVE: a method for designing and evaluating interfaces

Few would doubt the need for good interface design. When we use software over an extended period we may come to appreciate some aspects of the interface whilst abhorring others. We can also appreciate that some software packages are better than others although they perform essentially the same function. Intuitively, we are aware that good interface design enhances the usability of software and makes its functions more accessible to the user. The often quoted knock-on benefits include; greater productivity, fewer errors, and greater user satisfaction. What is needed however, is a mechanism for ensuring that newly designed software encapsulates the positive aspects of interface design whilst minimising the negative. This undertaking requires us to understand what is meant by usability. The CAFE OF EVE project seeks to draw together a normal working context and a controlled laboratory to create a special human factors environment, capitalising on the benefits of ecological validity and experimental control, while seeking to avoid the disadvantages of the two contrasting approaches. In so doing, the research benefits should surpass the benefits typically yielded by either approach taken separately or sequentially. What we are proposing and its emergent properties could constitute a minor revolution in human factors research