Interaction Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGkDiBAhaXs

So Easy

Ok, so most of my posts have been critical of designs. So, I figured I would write one about a product that I actually think has a good design and I enjoy using (kind of). That would be my trimmer, the Norelco Acu-Control. I've been using it since high school and have never had a bad trim. The reason I like it so much is because it is so simple to use. There is only one button, the on/off button, so there is absolutely no confusion as to it's function. Besides that, there is a click-wheel that adjusts the height of the shave you will get. I don't know why, but I find it really satisfying to spin the wheel to the right, hear it click, and see the guard move up. I could do it all day. Also, the numbers corresponding to the different heights fit my mental model. There are 9 different settings, 1 corresponding to the lowest setting and 9 to the highest setting. How easy is that? It has no frills, no extra unnecessary features and that's what I like about it. It lets you get the job done quickly and efficiently.

Wasting Money at the Laundromat

So I was doing laundry yesterday at the laundromat near my apartment. After throwing my clothes into the dryer, it came time to insert the quarters into the machine. I was thinking I'd only run the dryer for about 30 min. Looking at the label (pictured), I assumed it cost 25 cents for five minutes. I mean, the picture of the clock is clearly at the 5 minute mark and the price is right next to it. So I dropped 6 quarters, aka $1.50, into the machine. Wow, $1.50 for 30 min, that's expensive. After putting in the coins, I selected the middle temperature. And what happens? The machine is set to run for 1 hour. I overpaid, dammit. I wasted 75 cents. I could have bought a Twix with that. Not to mention all the wasted energy. All because of that label. I have an easy solution though, a sign that says $.25 for 10 min. Problem solved.

Prius Hybrid Gauge

Every time I give somebody a ride in my car, the first thing they ask me about is this gauge on the dashboard. I never know what to tell them because I'm not really sure how it works either. The only thing I know for certain is when the battery is charging because the charging section of the gauge fills up. But, besides that I couldn't tell you what's going on exactly. Sure, when I step on the accelerator the fat section in the middle fills up and the more I depress the pedal the more it fills up. Eventually, the fat section fills up completely and the power part starts to fill. I also notice the "ECO" indicator on the gauge goes off once the power section starts to fill. But, I can't explain a lot of things. Why does the ECO indicator go off? What does it mean when the power section get filled? Why is the fat section divided into two parts?

Let's see what the owner's manual has to say. Looks like the gauge is called the Hybrid System Indicator. The fat section is called the ECO area and shows that the vehicle is being driven in an environmentally friendly manner, hence the ECO indicator is on. Apparently the first half on the ECO area is also called the Hybrid ECO area and indicates that gasoline power is not being used very often. Ok, but doesn't that happen for the whole ECO area? I don't see how the Hybird ECO area is that much different from the rest of the ECO area. Anyways, when the power area starts filling it shows that an environmentally friendly driving range is being exceeded and the ECO indicator goes off.

I guess in retrospect that all makes sense, but I don't think the gauge is all that useful in general. In fact, I usually never watch the gauge when I'm driving. I prefer to watch the fuel consumption gauge, which gives you the real time fuel consumption of the car as opposed to some reference gauge which does necessarily give me an useful information. The fuel consumption gauge also gives more feedback on the environmental friendliness of your driving. If you are getting more mpgs then you are obviously doing more Eco friendly driving. In my opinion, the Hybrid System Indicator serves very little purpose and adds no value to the driving experience.

Beware of Frog

I was looking at Justin's blog post the other day about the mutant bird sign and it reminded me of this sign I saw in Germany. I found it really weird as I've never seen anything like it before. First, I don't recall ever seeing a triangular sign with a red outline in the US. Second, I've never seen a road sign with a frog in it. The shape of the sign made me think it was a "beware of" sign, but a frog seems like a strange thing to be cautious of unless, of course, it's a poisonous frog. But, I don't think Germany is known for poisonous frogs.

Anyways, after some research I found out the sign meant that road was a frog crossing. Apparently, the road ahead is used by migrating frogs (I didn't know frogs migrated...). Still, you don't normally see warning signs for such small animals, usually you see them for deer or other larger animals. I just thought it was a really interesting sign and wanted to share it. I guess the moral of the story is when you're in Germany watch out for migrating frogs on the road.

Life as a WNUR DJ

I'd like you to take a step into the WNUR control room with me for a second. This is where the DJs sit, talk on the air, and frequently play obscure music. This is also where the DJ has to interact with the OACR Control Board, a nightmare in user centered design. This thing has 100s of different buttons and knobs. That's a whole lot of stuff to press and turn. Having had a show for 2 years now, I'm still not sure what the majority of the buttons do. As I was starring at the Control Board last Wednesday there were a few simple features that I thought were very counterintuitive and could easily be improved upon.


First, in order to get a channel to be on air you need to press either the red or the green buttons at the bottom the Control Board. If you had never used this piece of equipment before, which button would you think put the channel on air? If you said green then you would be wrong. This obviously conflicts with our mental model of what a green light and red light mean. One would think green would be go (or ON in this case), but in this case it is actually red that means go. I wish I knew how they decided on that.

The sliding buttons just above the red/green buttons used to control the volume of the channel also needs improvement. When you have the button pushed all the way to the bottom there is no volume on that channel. As you push the button farther up, the volume increases until you reach the top. Ok, that makes sense. Until you take a look at the scale alongside the button. The scale reads 70 at the bottom (when there is no sound) and 0 at the top (maximum volume). I don't know about you but that seems kind of strange to me. I would have expected the button to go from 0 at the bottom and then increase to 70 as the button was moved up. But hey, that's just me.

Luckily, all DJs are trained on the board and it's pretty easy to get the hang of. Just like some of the users of the Miller welding machines, you get a sense of where to place the sliding volume button based on experience. And just like the Miller welding machines, this control board can benefit from a redesign of the user interface.

Oh, and if you're not busy Wednesdays from 9-10, check out our show.

C'mon Comcast

So I was watching Monday Night Countdown a few weeks ago. As per usual, I was sitting on the couch, laptop in hand, looking through emails and surfing the interweb. I took a break from looking up words on urban dictionary to watch the Countdown's best segment, "C'mon Man!" For those of you unfamiliar with it, "C'mon Man!" is when the Countdown crew (which includes Keyshawn "Key" Johnson, Chris Berman, and the great Mike Ditka) go over the dumbest plays of the NFL weekend and then at the end of the play yell, "C'mon Man!!" It's awsome. Trust me. After the segment, fully satisfied with the week's dumbest plays, I returned to my computer only to find that I was no longer connected to the internet. C'mon Man! So, I consulted with my roommate to make sure it wasn't just my computer not getting the internet. Indeed, he was internet-less as well. Alright, we thought, let's see what the Comcast modem has to say about this. Here's what we saw when we took a look at the modem.

Ok great...5 lights...that helps a lot. What the heck do these mean? So, we tried to decipher the modem's lights. First, we have a green light under the Power label. Nice, this must mean the modem is getting power. A good start. Next, we have two lights that aren't going on under the Data Send and Data Received labels. Ah, that must mean there's no signal. Hmm, I think I already knew that. Thanks for confirming it though. After that, we have a fourth green light under the Cable label. I guess that means the cable is plugged in. Sounds good. Finally, we have a blinking green light under PC. Yeah, I have no idea what that means. Does it always blink or is it blinking because there's a problem with it? I have no idea. Alright, so here's what we think we know: the power is on, the cable seems to be plugged in, there's no data being transferred, and there may or may not be a problem between the router and the modem. What am I supposed to do with that? C'mon Man!

Comcast, all I ask for is a modem that's easier to understand. If there is a problem with a modem, I'd like to be able to figure it out. If something is not communicating correctly, give me a red light or something. Perhaps you could make the labels a little clearer, too? And no blinking lights. I don't know what blinking lights are telling me. Now, to be fair, the modem was manufactured by Scientific-Atlantic, not Comcast. But seriously, Comcast chose the modems. And to that, I say, C'mon Man!