Designing an interactive comic for mobile phones based on user preferences in Malaysia

The current trend shows a transition of information and entertainment media into handheld devices. This also attracts the development of comics from printed book and digital form in larger PCs screen into mobile phones, introducing mobile comics. Taking the direct advantages of mobile phones (i.e. vast mobile phone market, portability, and the advancement of mobile phone technology), mobile comics offers certain advantages including lightness and the ability to read the comic anytime and anywhere. However, it is also found that the shift into mobile phone influences how the comic is presented. The limited display size introduces readability and visibility issues in displaying the entire comic sequence. At the present moment, there have been many different techniques to improve readership convenience such as the extraction of the individual panels from the page and the addition of motion, sound and zooming feature. However, these techniques are lacking in considering the basic nature of comics in the production process which could influence the overall arrangement and the impact of the comic story. In addition to that, taking a variety of approaches may not necessarily be as effective in addressing the user preferences. Therefore, this study takes into consideration three areas: essential elements of comics, mobile phone user interface design and Malaysian user preferences for designing new mobile comic interface. Two approaches are implemented in this study, including the combination of ancient linear narrative and panel-by-panel approach; and Infinite Canvas approach. These approaches are argued to maintain the continuity of the story over conventional z-path reading sequence. Moreover, interface design guidelines are considered in the development process to improve the quality of the interface design and reduce some potential usability issues when reading on small screen. In the later designing process, the two designs are combined and presented as options for viewing the same comic content. This option could provide freedom for users to choose the most suitable display layout. With the combination of both initial designs and further refinements, the final design could successfully provide better interfaces with faster completion times, enhanced consistency and visibility. The results reveal positive responses for 'innovative', 'user friendly', 'new interface' and 'interactive'. This outcome supports the argument that the understanding of the essential elements of comics, mobile phone user interface design and Malaysian user preferences is necessary, and these are important design considerations in creating new reading comic experience for mobile phones.