Design Principles for Error Message Content
Ilomäki, Laura (2024)
2024
Master's Programme in Computing Sciences
Informaatioteknologian ja viestinnän tiedekunta - Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2024-05-29
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202405075492
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202405075492
Tiivistelmä
The goal of the study was to form design principles for error message content for a case company. In this study, design principles are defined as guidelines that are used when designing products or services, and an error message is defined as the information that is shown in software when something unexpected happens. The expert groups for whom the design principles are made are user experience (UX) designers, developers, and technical writers in the case company.
The study is qualitative, and the data was analyzed with content analysis. The data included previous studies on the topic, an interview of a subject expert, and the open form comments of an internal questionnaire. The previous studies on the topic were analyzed first, then the interview results, and finally, the open form comments. The previous studies on the topic were studied with a literature review. During the analysis of the literature, four design principle themes were found. The themes were tone, syntax, terminology, and structure and substance. The themes included these seven design principles: Do not blame the user, Talk to the user like you talk to another person, Do not use humor, Use short and simple sentences, Do not use technical jargon, Do not use strong terms, and Include all necessary information in the error message. After this, the design principles from the analysis of the interview results and open form comments were combined with these previously found design principles. In total, seven design principles for error message content were identified.
Finally, separate design principles were specified for each expert group. This is because the expert groups have different roles and tasks in product development. As the technical writers are responsible for the texts, their set of design principles included all seven design principles. However, as the UX designers’ focus is on the design and developers’ focus is more on the actual facts of the error message, their design principles included only four of the design principles: Use short and simple sentences, Do not use technical jargon, Do not use strong terms, and Include all necessary information in the error message.
The study is qualitative, and the data was analyzed with content analysis. The data included previous studies on the topic, an interview of a subject expert, and the open form comments of an internal questionnaire. The previous studies on the topic were analyzed first, then the interview results, and finally, the open form comments. The previous studies on the topic were studied with a literature review. During the analysis of the literature, four design principle themes were found. The themes were tone, syntax, terminology, and structure and substance. The themes included these seven design principles: Do not blame the user, Talk to the user like you talk to another person, Do not use humor, Use short and simple sentences, Do not use technical jargon, Do not use strong terms, and Include all necessary information in the error message. After this, the design principles from the analysis of the interview results and open form comments were combined with these previously found design principles. In total, seven design principles for error message content were identified.
Finally, separate design principles were specified for each expert group. This is because the expert groups have different roles and tasks in product development. As the technical writers are responsible for the texts, their set of design principles included all seven design principles. However, as the UX designers’ focus is on the design and developers’ focus is more on the actual facts of the error message, their design principles included only four of the design principles: Use short and simple sentences, Do not use technical jargon, Do not use strong terms, and Include all necessary information in the error message.