USER INTERFACE PATTERNS: A FIELD STUDY EVALUATION

The identification of user interface patterns, organization of patterns languages and the validation of pattern languages for interaction design have been an active research field in the area of human-computer interaction. However, only few researchers have explored the impact of pattern languages when used in the development process of interactive systems in real application domains. This work reports a field study on the development and evaluation of a pattern language in a company developing e-government applications. Conducting expert interviews combined with a field usability study we investigated the usage and adoption of a pattern language by the development team. Results show that pattern languages should take into account the idiosyncrasies of the application domain and results suggest that pattern languages can be a great leverage to improve usability culture in the industry