Thursday, December 13, 2007
(picture by vesuvius)
I like it if a product does not enable you to do something stupid with it. Or if it at least discourages it. Let me take a really simple example. If I start my car to go driving at night, and I forget to turn the headlamps on, my dashboard stays dark. This is logical, as you only need dashboard illumination if it's dark, and most people only turn the lights on when it's dark. But to me, a dark dashboard is also a warning that my outside lights are not on yet. I could of course know that by simply looking out the front window, or looking at the switch, but to me the dashboard illumination is this nice extra but unobtrusive warning.
On the other hand, this whole situation does not apply if you drive with your headlights on during daytime, as quite a few people do here in the Netherlands (it makes your car more visible). But then, if driving with the lights on is obligated, as it is in Sweden, most cars will automatically switch the lights on as you start the car. So for those people my whole argument above is basically a mute point.
A nice would-be detail in dashboard design I found in this post on core77. If you look at the fuel icon on your dashboard, the idea is that on which side the hose is on in the icon, indicates on which side of your car the fuel cap is. I wonder whether a lot of people would notice such a subtle visual reminder, so prompted by this post I told my friends about my new discovery and was eager to try it out. Too bad that the first car that I tried this on (a Daihatsu Sirion) disappointed me: the fuel cap was on the other side than what the icon indicated. A lot of readers of core77 discovered the same thing:
> Car Usability
> Dashboard Usability: Comparing Volvo S80, Citroën C6 and Lancia Thesis
> Usability Evaluation of Multifunctional Systems in Vehicles
(picture by vesuvius)
I like it if a product does not enable you to do something stupid with it. Or if it at least discourages it. Let me take a really simple example. If I start my car to go driving at night, and I forget to turn the headlamps on, my dashboard stays dark. This is logical, as you only need dashboard illumination if it's dark, and most people only turn the lights on when it's dark. But to me, a dark dashboard is also a warning that my outside lights are not on yet. I could of course know that by simply looking out the front window, or looking at the switch, but to me the dashboard illumination is this nice extra but unobtrusive warning.
On the other hand, this whole situation does not apply if you drive with your headlights on during daytime, as quite a few people do here in the Netherlands (it makes your car more visible). But then, if driving with the lights on is obligated, as it is in Sweden, most cars will automatically switch the lights on as you start the car. So for those people my whole argument above is basically a mute point.
A nice would-be detail in dashboard design I found in this post on core77. If you look at the fuel icon on your dashboard, the idea is that on which side the hose is on in the icon, indicates on which side of your car the fuel cap is. I wonder whether a lot of people would notice such a subtle visual reminder, so prompted by this post I told my friends about my new discovery and was eager to try it out. Too bad that the first car that I tried this on (a Daihatsu Sirion) disappointed me: the fuel cap was on the other side than what the icon indicated. A lot of readers of core77 discovered the same thing:
As numerous readers with access to actual automobiles have informed us, the tip mentioned above simply isn't always true. But it'd be nice, wouldn't it?Related posts:
> Car Usability
> Dashboard Usability: Comparing Volvo S80, Citroën C6 and Lancia Thesis
> Usability Evaluation of Multifunctional Systems in Vehicles
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6 reactions:
My car (a Mazda 2004 3 hatchback) has an arrow next to the gas icon indicating what side the tank is on. I never even thought to look at the icon itself to determine that!
Ah, but does the icon tell you where the cap is on your car or what type of pump you need?
So, does the Icon with the hose on the right mean
A) Your fuelcap is on the right of yoru car.
B) You need to park at a pump with the hose on the right side, because your cap is on the left?
@Bob: good point. It would actually make sense. though the post at core77 did suggest the reverse system (see also the illustration I posted). But let's make a deal. We each look at whether this system works on all the cars we will be in from now on and we report back here with car type and configuration issues. See you back here soon ;-)
And for all other people who are reading this: let us know what your experiences are on this particular 'use cue'.
If the left icon would appear on my dashboard I would stop for fuel, as it indicates that I need to take out the hose. On the left icon the hose is still in the pump, so apparently there is no need for tanking yet. However, my car is so old that I rather rely on the amount of kilometers I have driven...
Both of my cars have a small triangle next to the fuel icon; one is on the right, the other on the left. The position of the triangle corresponds to the side of the vehicle that the gas tank is on.
Hi Scott, what type of cars are we talking about? Would be interesting to look them up.
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