Effects of Affordance State and Operation Mode on a Smart Washing Machine Touch Sensitive User Interface Design

Smart touch-sensitive screens provide a wide range of possibilities. Compared with static icons, animated icons should be effective in terms of narrative function learning and visual pleasure to provide a good interactive experience. The purpose of this study was to explore the affordance of animated visual cues for the interface design of smart washing machines. A
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mixed factorial design was planned to help explore whether different affordance states and operation modes may affect users’ task performance and subjective evaluation. Adopting the convenience sampling method, 24 participants were recruited to take part in the experiment. The experimental data were collected pertinent to task performance using the system usability scale (SUS) and a 7-point Likert scale of subjective evaluation, as well as semi-structured interviews. The generated results revealed that: (1) There was a significant difference in the affordance states. Animated icons significantly affect the heuristic processing of the smart washing machine interface, and enhance the usefulness of icons, which helps improve operational efficiency. (2) There were significant differences among different operation modes. The Square type interface combines the modern smart mode and traditional learning performance to help users improve task performance. (3) The overall analysis of task performance and satisfaction consistently showed that the Square type is better than the Circle and Mesh types in all aspects, and the animated affordance had the best task performance. (4) A smart user interface design should combine user experience and touch-sensitive screen product characteristics to help improve users’ affordance perception.