Electronic mail has become the most widely-used application for business productivity and communication, yet many people are frustrated with their email. Though email usage has changed, our email clients largely have not. In this paper, we describe a prototype email client developed out of a multi-year iterative design process aimed at providing those who “live in their email” with an improved, integrated email experience. We highlight innovative features and describe the user trials for each version of the prototype with resulting modifications. Finally, we discuss how these studies have recast our understanding of the email “habitat” and user needs. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.3.3 [Information Storage and Retrieval]: Information search and retrieval – clustering, information filtering, search process; H.4.3 [Information Systems Applications]: Communications applications – electronic mail; H.5.2 [Information Interfaces and Presentations]: User interfaces – eval...
Dan Gruen, Steven L. Rohall, Suzanne O. Minassian,