User-centered design of graphical user interfaces

In user interface design a common pitfall is to use the technical properties of the device as basis for the design, which easily causes a user interface to become too complicated and hard to use. Also, the great development in the area of different hand-held terminal devices has set new requirements for user interfaces: screen sizes of devices are very small, advanced I/O devices are used instead of ordinary mouse and keyboard and the operating environment of the devices differs significantly from familiar PCs and laptops. However, governmental and in particular military communications systems often trail behind this development. To be able to overcome the aforementioned challenges and take usability of governmental communication systems to a new level, a new approach is needed. This paper covers user-centered design of graphical user interfaces to advanced communication devices designed to be used in challenging environment, e.g., in moving vehicles and outdoors in any season, and to support devices with limited screen size and touch screen technology. We also introduce a proof-of-concept implementation and show through a user test that general principles introduced in the paper can easily be applied to a specialized communication device.