Applying the Proximity Compatibility and the Control-Display Compatibility Principles Toward Engineering Design Using Configural Interfaces

Abstract

This paper presents a study to investigate the applicability of two display design principles toward the development of interfaces for engineering design. The first principle, called the Proximity Compatibility Principle, specifies that displays relevant to a common task or mental operation should be rendered close together in perceptual space. The second principle, called the Control-Display Compatibility Principle, stipulates that the spatial arrangement and manipulation of controls should be easily distinguishable. We conducted an experiment comparing the ability of subjects to search for effective designs using a separable versus two configural interfaces in a multiple-objective engineering design task. Results suggest that the Proximity Compatibility Principle is an effective indicator of task performance. Moreover, we found that the Control-Display Compatibility Principle can be used as an indicator of performance efficiency.