Users : perception of Muslim centered user interface design prototype

Abstract

As computer interface design and its metaphor world is dominated by western culture and becomes phenomenon there is less attention paid to other cultures or communities to experience it. As a result, the identity of other culture in the interface design is not fully explored. From the researcher’s experiences there is lack of in-depth research and appropriate methods to assist designers on how culture that rich with value added can be consciously integrated in the interface design. As such, it is significant for other culture, specifically Muslims, in a world population to be involved in this rapid change of technology. Therefore, the study focuses on culture-centred design for Muslim users on how to revive the existence of God in every practice as a way of life to be mapped into the spiritual interface design. The development of theoretical framework emphasized on knowledge in Islam as fundamental for the development spiritual based within the domain Human Computer Interaction. Inspired by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) approach to build good moral and Islamic teachings through the first construction of mosque known as Quba Mosque, the abstract image of mosque and icons are designed to represent the spiritual interface prototype as desktop interface. The design rationales of the prototype are supported by Al Quran and Hadiths. The design could act as a medium of daawa to always remember God. The findings reveal that there are strong belief on general perception that mosque is a center of Islamic references and the image of mosque is appropriately selected to represent as theme in the spiritual interface design. Survey with closed card sorting technique is used to test icon recognitions and perceptions. Through the analysis, patterns of icon recognitions and perceptions are summarized. For the qualitative findings, using thematic analysis on user’s perceptions, indicates users could successfully reasoning the correct matching icons Islamically. Furthermore, for the quantitative findings, inferential and description analysis revealed significant differences between two groups of institutions as participants. The novelty contributions of this study include both theoretical framework and spiritual based culture-centred interface design prototype. Experts’ opinions from different niches provide firm support and valuable inputs for this study and they believe this study could act as the foundation for the future research, open for further development to reach the important and high potential impact for the benefits of Muslim community.