The Design of a Squishy Mouse

Abstract

Five research studies were conducted to specify the physical description of a novel mouse for an office computer. The mouse had side buttons that when pressed at the same time, moved or scrolled the contents of the active window. The studies examined accidental activation of both the side buttons and the top buttons, whether the mouse should be single button or have multiple buttons on its top surface, the back width dimension, volume and silhouette, top button position, and side button size and position. Each study provided data that was used in the next study, after it was reviewed by a design team. This case study shows that in design/development environments, quick, iterative studies serve the needs of design teams by providing successive approximations to the final design in a timely fashion. The utility of this method is compared to a multifactorial design.