In mass customization, software configurators enable novice end-users to design customized products and services according to their needs and preferences. However, traditional configurators hardly provide an engaging experience while avoiding the burden of choice. We propose a Design Participation Model to facilitate navigating the design space, based on two modules. Modeler enables designers to create customizable designs as parametric models, and Navigator subsequently permits novice end-users to explore these designs. While most parametric designs support direct manipulation of low-level features, we propose interpolation features to give customers more flexibility. In this paper, we focus on the implementation of such interpolation features into Navigator and its user interface. To assess our approach, we designed and performed user experiments to test and compare Modeler and Navigator, thus providing insights for further developments of our approach. Our results suggest that barycentric interpolation between qualitative parameters provides a more easily understandable interface that empowers novice customers to explore the design space expeditiously.

中文翻译：

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支持非设计师进行参数化设计空间探索

在大规模定制中，软件配置器使新手最终用户能够根据他们的需求和偏好设计定制的产品和服务。然而，传统的配置器在避免选择负担的同时，很难提供引人入胜的体验。我们提出了一个设计参与模型，以方便导航设计空间，基于两个模块。Modeler 使设计人员能够将可定制的设计创建为参数模型，而 Navigator 随后允许新手最终用户探索这些设计。虽然大多数参数化设计都支持对低级特征的直接操作，但我们建议使用插值特征来为客户提供更大的灵活性。在本文中，我们专注于在 Navigator 及其用户界面中实现此类插值功能。为了评估我们的方法，我们设计并执行了用户实验来测试和比较 Modeler 和 Navigator，从而为我们的方法的进一步发展提供见解。我们的结果表明，定性参数之间的重心插值提供了一个更易于理解的界面，使新手客户能够快速探索设计空间。