Emoticon Input Method Design Based on Theory of Use and Gratification

Abstract: A set of input method prototype for emoticons inputting and modifying is designed to improve user experience of emoticons cross platform. Based on use and gratification theory, core requirements and pain points for emoticons usage were summarized. The core needs of using emoticons include communication efficiency, emotional expression, personality interest and identity recognition. The outstanding problems of emoticon usage are expressing ambiguity, misunderstanding and invalid information, also the closeness and exclusivity of circle culture. According to the found key points, a questionnaire mainly composed of Likert Scale was designed to validify the proposed needs through collecting data of college students’ behavior habits and preferences. To explore the influence of various factors and diversities of different groups on experience when using emoticons, the statistics analysis was then carried out by IBM SPSS Statistics, which included descriptive statistics and regression analysis. 7 interviews were carried out based on results of questionnaire statistics analysis to excavate root causes. The results show that (a) a seek sense of integration exits when using emoticons on social media, which means usage tend to vary from usage sceneries and recipients to perform properly and fit into various groups. (b) personalized expression meets the need of self-identity and entertainment but also suffer the risk of misunderstanding and confusion. (c) cross platform emoticon use and emoticon edit are two main factors that damage convenience of emoticon use.Based on the above conclusions, a way of editing and using expression package was designed to improve the user experience and avoid the problems of complex process of emoticon choosing and editing and vague expression of emoticons. The emoticon input method can effectively solve the cumbersome problem of cross platform expression package collection and sending process combined with the functions of expression package editing and crowd classification which further optimizes the use process and improves the use experience.

Keywords: interaction design, emoticons, use satisfaction theory, college students

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1001971

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