Evaluation of Anthropomorphic User Interface Feedback in an Email Client Context and Affordances

This paper describes an experiment and its results concerning research that has been going on for a number of years in the area of anthropomorphic user interface feedback. The main aims of the research have been to examine the effectiveness and user satisfaction of anthropomorphic feedback. The results are of use to all user interface designers. Currently the work in the area of anthropomorphic feedback does not have any global conclusions concerning its effectiveness and user satisfaction capabilities. This research is investigating finding a way for reaching some global conclusions concerning this type of feedback. This experiment, concerned the context of downloading, installing and configuring an email client which is part of the domain of software for systems usage. Anthropomorphic feedback was compared against an equivalent non-anthropomorphic feedback. The results indicated the anthropomorphic feedback to be more effective and preferred by users. It was also the aim to examine the types of feedback in relation to Affordances. The results obtained can be explained in terms of the Theory of Affordances.