Mobile Phones and Blood Glucose Meters are widely used personal digital input/output devices of great aesthetic and functional importance to their users. Interactive Genetic Algorithms (IGAs) are used to test for aesthetic preference links between these two devices. IGAs mimic natural selection by repeatedly having a human tester select designs they find the most aesthetically pleasing to serve as the parents of the next generation. The web-based IGA was used by 22 participants; varying button spacing, screen size, and radius of phones and glucose meters over 8 trials. Several links were found between the devices, specifically the screen-area to keypad-area ratio, and screen height to screen width ratio. IGAs show promise as a tool for designers to use a similar product to reduce the risk in a new product’s design by building on user’s current aesthetic experience.

Proceedings of HFES 56th Annual Meeting, 2012.