Audiovisual Rhetoric: A Pattern Language for Human Computer Interaction

Today, not only the GUI itself, but the interaction between human and computer (HCI) is an important design task for all services and products. For telecommunication services in particular designers have to cope with complex functionality, multimodal input channels and different device properties. But how can we predict the quality perceived by the user? How can we provide systems that satisfy user’s expectations? One theoretical framework addressing this problem is audiovisual rhetoric. This is an approach from design research reflecting on media communication in general, not only on verbal aspects but on visual, auditory and interactive parameters. It is a theory to explore the communicative interaction between user, interface and system. The aim is first, to describe the rules and techniques of HCI, second to provide categories for the analysis and third, to design criteria for the evaluation of communicative interaction. Applying this approach to HCI means to describe this interaction as a form of rhetorical communication. In short, we are exploring the language of HCI. Pattern Language The communication between user, interface and system is based on recurring patterns—this is the primary research statement (see vanWelie, van der Veer, and Eliëns 1999, Hartson 1998). Jenifer Tidwell defines patterns as a description of best practices within a given design domain. “They capture common solutions to design tensions (usually called “forces” in pattern literature)”. (Tidwell 2006, XIV) In the HCI communication model (see illustration) these patterns are a mode to transfer system’s functionality into interaction offers for the user (design patterns). At the same time they are a mode to describe recurring interaction cycles between user and interface (interaction patterns). As an emergent layer we can define process patterns that characterize recurring sequences of interaction and design patterns. As a result, we can interpret the communicative interaction cycle between user, interface and system in terms of design, interaction and process patterns. This is a new terminological framework for HCI and especially for research on usability.