The Physics of Notations: Improving the Usability and Communicability of Visual Notations in Requirements Engineering

Summary form only given. Visual notations form an integral part of the language of requirements engineering (RE), and have dominated RE research and practice from its earliest beginnings. An RE method without a visual representation is almost unheard-of. The primary reason for using visual notations is to exploit the power of human visual processing and thereby optimise human communication and problem solving. Visual representations play a particularly critical role in communicating with end users and customers, as diagrams are believed to convey information more effectively to non-technical people than text. This paper describes a set of principles for designing cognitively effective visual notations: ones that are optimised for human communication and problem solving. Together these form a design theory, which is called the Physics of Notations as it focuses on the physical (perceptual) properties of notations rather than their logical (semantic) properties.