Michal Lev Shwartzman

Masters degree program

Supervisor
Prof. Ezri Tarazi

Bio
Michal  is a master’s student at the Technion Institute of Technology Israel. She studied her BSc degree at the Technion as well and she is an Information System Engineer.

These days she works as a Business Intelligence developer and has an experience in the fields of data analysis, programming, and entrepreneurship.

Michal chose this degree to learn more about the human factors and how to design a better user experience in computer interfaces.

Comparison of user performance in different age groups between a flat design interface and a skeuomorphic design interface.

In Michal’s research, she investigates two types of digital design: the flat design and the skeuomorphic design. These design types also exist in the non-digital world, but the emphasis in her project was on the digital interfaces.

Each of these designs has advantages and disadvantages. In the experiment that Michal conducted she wanted to examine age-related differences between the skeuomorphic design interface and the flat design interface. The subjects in her study were evaluated in tasks of speed and accuracy as well as in examining the functional perception and aesthetic preference of the subjects towards each of the designs.

Michal’s research hypothesis was that young subjects would be able to perform the tasks in the flat design more quickly and with a small amount of errors compared to their performance in the skeuomorphic design interface and among the older subjects, she thought the performance would be the opposite. That they will be able to perform the tasks in the skeuomorphic design in a better way compared to their performances in the flat design both in terms of speed and accuracy.

Also she thought that different age groups will tend to choose a different design as more efficient and aesthetic from a different perception of reality. The younger age groups will see the flat design as more aesthetic and functional while the older age groups will see the skeuomorphic design as more aesthetic and functional.

In this project, Michal designed the skeuomorphic icons that were presented to the subjects in the experiment while developing principles for a correct skeuomorphic design.

Interest

User Experience, User Interface Design, Human Computer Interaction, Human factors engineering, Game Development, Information systems, entrepreneurship, data analysis and visualization.

Email
Michal.lev95@gmail.com