The UX team of the web trading software company Caplin Systems designed in 2013 “Hit the Numbers”, a series of games aimed at obtaining quantitative data about speed, accuracy and error rates of users trying to spot numbers with certain characteristics. The games incorporated different typographies, colours, movements and layouts. All these are key components of any UI, but they were detached from trading connotations, which might have biased the participants.
Using "Hit the numbers" as a starting point, I developed a user resarch plan to learn more about how perceptions, feelings and personal tastes may affect the user experience in trading platforms. This research project involves designing three different interfaces, asking participants to play several versions of the game, registering their performance and following up their interactions with the games with semi-structured debriefing interviews to gather qualitative data about their perceptions.
A pilot study conducted with prototypes revealed that when asked to choose the interface they preferred, users often didn't consider the designs in which they scored better, guiding their choices solely by personal preference and not by objective criteria.
