Performance Model for Market-Oriented Design of Software Products

Abstract

The design of user interfaces in industrial enterprises is not an isolated task, but is inseparable from product definition and the design and functional aspects of the product concept. To be able to define and ultimately create market-oriented software products, it is necessary to utilize data from market research. This article presents a tool for analyzing such market research data, referred to as the performance model. The performance model enables market research data to be mapped into design-relevant performance categories to produce requirements profiles for various target groups. This is presented with reference to the social sciences institute (SINUS) milieu model, a lifestyle-based market segmentation model for the Federal Republic of Germany (hereinafter referred to as the SINUS milieu model), and is exemplified by the design styles preferred by the different milieus (Flaig, Meyer, & Ueltzhoffer, 1994). The most important findings are that (a) different target groups (here the SINUS milieus) make different demands on software products, (b) the application and economic performances are usually the most important to personal computer users, and (c) different milieus have very different expectations with respect to design styles. Some milieus prefer a cognitive-ergonomic design style, whereas others prefer an emotional-hedonistic design style. The derivation of the performance model, its application, and the empirical evidence demonstrated were described in detail in Degen's (1999) dissertation.