News and Insights

By Arathi Sethumadhavan Undoubtedly, icons have obvious advantages. They can be visually appealing and an effective way to communicate with users They can replace the need to translate text to several languages when your users come from all parts of the globe They can convey an idea in a matter of seconds compared to elaborate text They can show the strength of your brand They can be more aesthetic appealing They can create a more engaging experience for users Though icons have several advantages, these have obvious disadvantages as well. First, there are very few icons that are comprehensible by people all over the world. Second, when misinterpreted, users can infer the information that is being relayed to them erroneously, impacting the user experience (e.g., a shopper misinterpreting the security of a shopping site) as well as have severe consequences in safety-critical domains (e. g., a patient misinterpreting an icon). So, is the adage “a picture worth a thousa...

By Arathi Sethumadhavan The employees at Core Human Factors celebrated their Annual Holiday Party at a Philadelphia local restaurant with a New Orleans flavor called Bourbon Blue.  Great food and festive spirits abound, the fun culminated with a raffle drawing!

By Marc Egeth The FDA  asks  “consumers” to report “unexpected side effects after using a medical product, or experiencing other problems with any products that the agency regulates.” This includes “product quality problems and product use errors involving human health care products.” FDA directs “consumers” to  MedWatch , which provides on a  webform  the option to indicate, “Used a product incorrectly which could have or led to a problem.” A few minutes ago – after writing the previous paragraph, but before writing this paragraph – I went to get some lunch. On the way, I saw a man in an electric wheelchair stopped in the middle of a parking lot. I asked if he needed help, he said he did, and I pushed him to an electric outlet nearby. He said he thought he had charged it recently. I thought about asking him about whether he would be reporting his problem to MedWatch, but I figured the odds were basically 0% that is what he would be doing next, and furt...

Written by Sam Sye Recently, I was working on a project where the product under research involved removable components. During the study, it became increasingly apparent that many users encountered difficulty recognizing the need to remove such components, or how such a task could be accomplished. Color is a magnificent way to catch users’ attention and direct them to a course of action. However, as we soon discovered, color may carry unintended connotations for end users, which may ultimately backfire. In particular, this product used black arrows to indicate how to remove certain components of the device. The rationale for this particular choice of hue was that it provided the greatest contrast to the white background of the device. Under this criterion, the color of the arrows worked fabulously. Participants indicated this design was eye-catching, easy to see and understand. In the US, the design was vastly preferred to other alternatives. When we tested the same de...

Written by Arathi Sethumadhavan This guidance   was issued by the FDA last month and provides answers to the following: What is Patient Preference Information (PPI)? Refers to patients’ experiences with a disease or condition and its management Can also include the assessments of care partners Can be quantitative or qualitative What will PPI be used for? PPI may be used to understand a disease and the impact it has on patients PPI may be used to understand the risk-benefit tradeoffs for treatment from the patient’s viewpoint. Specifically, if a large number of well-informed patients believe that the benefits of the product far outweigh the risks, FDA can use this information to influence their decision PPI may be used to understand how different sub-groups of the patient population view a product PPI will be useful for devices with a direct patient interface, devices with an impact on patient’s quality of life, life-saving devices with a high risk profile,...

Written by Andrea Mirin Both in the course of designing studies and as an IRB, questions arise that lead us to contemplate what may be “best practices” or “best ethical practices” for appropriately recruiting participants. One area of frequent discussion, particularly as an IRB, is related to the “honoraria” [1]  or “incentives” [2]  that are offered. While the amounts offered for a particular participant group are guided by “Fair Market Value,” we should also consider if  when  the compensation for participation is offered, under ethical principles, may be construed as an “unjust inducement.” Unlike clinical trials (at least later stage clinical trials) which may hold out some potential benefit to a participant, human factors studies (a majority of which are simulated studies), will likely have no direct benefit to the participant (Since frequently user groups are those who may or will use a device, their participation and feedback may influence the...

Written by Naomi Cherne When participants in our studies use a product and skip a step or do something that the product’s designer did not intend, we ask them about it. In the discussion that follows they often tell us, very confidently, that they would have known what to do if the manual had emphasized that particular instruction, for example by making it bold, printing it in red, and/or underlining it. This may seem to make sense: the idea is that if some text did not grab your attention, it should be made grabbier. The manual’s designer may hear this feedback and immediately reach for ctrl-B. After all, the point of talking to these participants is to use the information we get from them, right? Yes and no. This feedback is speculative. We have no idea if that participant would actually have known to take that particular action if that particular instruction had been presented in the way they describe. We have no idea if  any  difference in presentation w...