From monochrome to color - Exploring the effects of different colorizations on process model comprehension

Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) 2.0 is applied to create process models for documentation, communication, and collaboration. Usually, these models are often presented in a black-and-white colorization. However, the literature states that individuals can process colored information more efficiently. Therefore, this paper presents an empirical study, in which different colorizations (i.e., black-and-white, partially colorized, colorized, and disfluent) in BPMN process models and their effects on the cognitive load, processing time, and comprehension performance were evaluated. The results showed that colorization influenced the intrinsic and germane cognitive load. Further, colorization did not significantly affect processing time and comprehension performance. However, disfluent process models resulted in a higher extraneous cognitive load and lower ease of understanding. Contrary to the Disfluency Theory, it does not foster the comprehension of such models. In addition, Disfluency Theory exerts only a fraction of the benefits on readers with prior expertise in working with process models. The insights highlight especially the application of partially colorized process models. Altogether, implications for research and practice, as well as directions for future work, are discussed in this paper.