Instructions on a Windows Phone 8 Application : Design Strategies and Application Principles

Abstract: Making an application user-friendly is a key goal when it comes to the experience it intends to deliver. There are numerous factors that have to be taken into account when a design is developed. One of those is simplicity. The application has to be simple enough to ensure the expected user experience. This is often solved by applying instructions. To what extent does the application have to mediate instructions of functionality to the user? That question is the underlying purpose of this thesis. The thesis studies three common ways of presenting instructions to arrive at a concluding result: the use of a popup window, an added information button to the design or relying on the design to present itself. The gathered results show a need for instructions to ensure a user-friendly environment. A further analysis of the results concludes that presenting instructions using an information button is the most prominent option.