Comparing Design Metaphors and User-Driven Metaphors for Interaction Design

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Bullock, Beleicia, Landay, James A., Bernstein, Michael S.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Bullock, Beleicia
Landay, James A.
Bernstein, Michael S.
author_facet Bullock, Beleicia
Landay, James A.
Bernstein, Michael S.
contents Metaphors enable designers to communicate their ideal user experience for platforms. Yet, we often do not know if these design metaphors match users' actual experiences. In this work, we compare design and user metaphors across three different platforms: ChatGPT, Twitter, and YouTube. We build on prior methods to elicit 554 user metaphors, as well as ratings on how well each metaphor describes users' experiences. We then identify 21 design metaphors by analyzing each platform's historical web presence since their launch date. We find that design metaphors often do not match the metaphors that users use to describe their experiences. Even when design and user metaphors do match, the metaphors do not always resonate universally. Through these findings, we highlight how comparing design and user metaphors can help to evaluate and refine metaphors for user experience.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_27908
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Comparing Design Metaphors and User-Driven Metaphors for Interaction Design
Bullock, Beleicia
Landay, James A.
Bernstein, Michael S.
Human-Computer Interaction
Metaphors enable designers to communicate their ideal user experience for platforms. Yet, we often do not know if these design metaphors match users' actual experiences. In this work, we compare design and user metaphors across three different platforms: ChatGPT, Twitter, and YouTube. We build on prior methods to elicit 554 user metaphors, as well as ratings on how well each metaphor describes users' experiences. We then identify 21 design metaphors by analyzing each platform's historical web presence since their launch date. We find that design metaphors often do not match the metaphors that users use to describe their experiences. Even when design and user metaphors do match, the metaphors do not always resonate universally. Through these findings, we highlight how comparing design and user metaphors can help to evaluate and refine metaphors for user experience.
title Comparing Design Metaphors and User-Driven Metaphors for Interaction Design
topic Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.27908