The new issue of the Journal of Usability Studies (JUS) is available online. Volume 2, Issue 1 covers the following:

Arnie Lund's invited essay on "Post-Modern Usability," which reflects upon the usability discipline, as well as peer-reviewed articles on empirical testing of voting systems, ethno-methodological WAP research, and a mobile phone usability questionnaire.

JUS is a UPA peer-reviewed online journal dedicated to promoting and enhancing the practice, research, ethics, and education of usability engineering.

Last wednesday Nicole Busch got here PhD at Industrial Design Engineering in Delft. She studied the possibilities of making the washing machine more ergonomical, focussing on the physical ergonomics. It turns out that by putting the access door at about a heigt of about 1 meter, and tilting the drum 30 degrees, and installing a platform to rest the washing basket on, you can provide a comfortable way of loading the washing machine for allmost all users. It turns out that in this case, one size does fit all.

TU Delft press-release (unfortunately in Dutch only).

Update: English press-release added.

See how it ends here.

Product development has grown to a stage where designers from all over the world work in multiple countries to design products for all over the word. The symposium Cultural Diversity & Design puts focus on issues that arise when performing global product development. It takes place on December 8 2006 in the aula of Delft University of Technology.

Embedded in the symposium the head of the research group Applied Ergonomics & Design (of which I'm part), Professor Daan van Eijk, will hold his inaugural lecture. Van Eijk will focus on usage issues in cross-cultural product use. Other speakers are Petran Kockelkoren and Marieke de Mooij. Entrance to the symposium is free, though people are requested to register on the symposium website.

Technorati Tags: consumer product usability, design, usability, user centered design

One of my first posts on uselog was about a study of the Dutch association for car owners (ANWB) of which one of the results was that for some car models it's almost impossible to replace the headlights without an extensive toolkit or professional help. The problem is getting more and more widespread. Check the discussion thread on this forum. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so sad. One of the forum members says:

...to change a passenger side headlight you've got to either a) remove the battery (not recommended as disconnecting it can mess up the engine management) and a few other bits to get better access or b) remove the whole headlamp unit which would then need re-aligning.

Another contribution

in many countries it is an offense to not carry a set of spare bulbs for your car, yet the majority of people have little or no chance of replacing the bulbs themselves anyway, let alone on the road side!

Today is World Usability Day. As good a reason as any to give you my two cents on the eject button of cd-rom drives.

Why is the eject button of cd-rom drives located under the tray? When you open the tray it's almost impossible to comfortably reach the button, let alone see it. And this is just when you're computer is located on your desk. If you have your computer under the desk, things are even worse. I'm not complaining (well, yes I am), but there were other options right? The eject button could have been above the tray or to the side of it. In both cases we would have had a great deal less trouble.

And don't tell me it's because of technical reasons. You think it annoys me any less if I know it annoys me because of technical reasons?

Technorati Tags: consumer electronics, consumer product usability, design example, usability, user centered design, user centred design

A rather enjoyable demonstration of the automatic parking functionality on Lexus LS460 in this movie.

Technorati Tags: consumer product usability, usability

Destination input for the Audi Multi Media Interface (source: wikipedia)

Expanding on my new fascination for the usability of in-car audio, communication and navigation systems: an article on a usability evaluation of multimedia interfaces for cars in a study by the Division of Engineering Psychology of Lulea University and Volvo Cars entitled 'Usability Evaluation of Multifunctional Systems in Vehicles'. It includes the BMW's 'legendary' iDrive system.

The results from the usability test indicated that the naive users interacted more rapidly with the touch screen interface. Trained users, on the other hand, had more even results over the systems. The problems found in the usability inspection gave explanations to some of the longer task times in the usability test.

See also the previous post on in-car usability: Dashboard usability: comparing Volvo S80, Citroen C6, and Lancia Thesis. On a slightly more personal note: gotta love Volvo's new C30!

Technorati Tags: consumer product usability, consumer products, usability, usability study

The Usability Professionals Association annual conference is scheduled this year for June 11-15 2007 in Austin, Texas. Find the conference website here. Once again in the US. I wonder when the UPA will come to Europe or Asia.



Also from the UPA is World Usability Day, taking place on November 14 2006. It's intended to raise awareness and visibility of usability engineering and user centered design.

Technorati Tags: usability, usability events