UPDATE
Now also available as uselog shirt.

(Though the design process for the Xenta included 'ergonomical studies', the product still doesn't give a clue on which side of the slot the magnetic strip reader is.)

In 2005 I visited the Dutch Design Prizes and saw the Xenta debit card pay terminal get a nomination in the category 'professional products'. It was designed by Well Design for Banksys payment systems. Banksys is pretty proud of the design:

C-ZAM/XENTA: even more user friendly and safer, thanks to new design
Our newest generation of payment terminals, the C-ZAM/XENTA is a poster child for ergonomics. The device has everything to make it easy for you and your clients.
Ergonomically studied: the design of the C-ZAM/XENTA is based on a thorough ergonomical study into the needs of shoppers, consumers, and service engineers. From the very early design phases we executed intensive tests with the target group.

But when I took a look at the device later on I was stunned. If ergonomical studies were conducted, why was the biggest problem with counter-based payment terminals not fixed: on what side of the slot does the magnetic strip of your banking card go? In shops, on existing terminals, you could see little custom-made stickers appearing saying "magnetic strip on this side". Some companies used logos on their devices that were supposed to explain on which side to put the magnetic strip, but those were as puzzling phenomenon in itself. Donald Norman wrote that if users start putting notes or stickers on products, there's something wrong with the design.

Technorati Tags: business and usability, consumer product usability, usability events, user interface design, user-centred design

(Picture: The VW Transporter fuel tank cap could be placed on the lid, if the strap would have been longer)

In the Holiday Report series I posted about convenient details on the Volkswage Polo. One of those details was that you can place the fuel tank cap on the lid that covers it, because the cap has some grooves in it. Bob saw that post, took a look at his VW transporter only to discover that his fuel tank cap has the same design, but it has a strap attached to it that is too short. Consequence: you can't rest the cap on the lid (see picture above), as is the case with the Polo and my old good old Golf mark II. (The Polo has the same strap, but that one's long enough).

You could say, because you have the strap, you don't need the grooves to place it on the lid. However, the grooves are still in the cap, which is probably standard issue for all VWs. And - being German and all - VW engineers added another way to rest the fuel tank cap: over the fuel tank opening, there is a space where the cap fits exactly. However, to Bob, the feature was so inconspicuous that he didn't notice it for a year.

So here we have a fuel tank cap that can be rested in three different ways, with two of those ways intervening (the strap and the grooves). As Bob indicated in his comment, it makes you wonder: were those grooves actually intended to allow you to rest the cap on the lid? Anyone who works at Volkswagen wants to clear that up?

(Thanx to Bob for the info and the photos)

Technorati Tags: automotive, consumer product usability, design, usability, user-centred design

Interested in events on HCI, information architecture (*yawn*), user experience (yey!) and more (more?): try the interaction-design.org calendar. A very complete overview of congresses, symposia, and other you-really-need-to-be-there events related to - you guessed it - interaction design.
(thanx to: steven for the link)

Technorati Tags: interaction design, usability, usability events, user-centred design

In the Academic Hospital in Maastricht (the Netherlands) a flame erupted in the abdominal cavity of a woman who was on the operating table for a viewing operation. The cause for the eruption of the flame was that, by accident, instead of inflating the abdominal cavity with CO2 (carbon-dioxide), oxygen was used. A spark erupted from the electrical system that's used to close up arteries, causing the flame in the woman's abdomen. It turned out the carbon-dioxide tube was mistakingly connected to the oxygen outlet in the wall. After having heard the woman did not sustain permanent injuries, I was just left with one question: why does the CO2 tube fit to the O2 outlet?

Source: De Volkskrant (in Dutch)

UPDATE
The Dutch Healthcare Inspection was also amazed by this incident. In De Volkskrant (August 10, 2007) a spokesman comments on the incident, saying: "From 2001 onwards it is required that O2 and CO2 tubes have different colors." And (more importantly in my opinion, ed.): "Manufacturers are required to take care that the CO2 tube does not fit the oxygen outlet and vice versa." It's nice to see they do some thinking at the inspection. As all to often, the idea is there, but it's implementation, getting that idea into the real world, that's the bottle neck.

Technorati Tags: interaction design, usability

In the news in the Netherlands: the company Payter will start a test in Rotterdam, allowing for people to pay with their mobile phone in a participating shops. Thousand Rotterdammers will receive a special mobile phone, that they can charge and then pay with. Because it's summer, and there's no news, newspapers actually used headlines saying 'in the future we all pay with our mobile phone'. Ok, I'll be cooperative this time, and go along with the presumption. I just have one question: how do I pay when the batteries on my mobile run out? I think I'll keep some cash ready.

In the meantime, KPN seems to be interested in the concept, and a graduation student of theirs has put a rather elaborate survey online, asking people about their attitude towards paying with your mobile phone.

Technorati Tags: business and usability, consumer product usability, usability, user research, user-centred design

TomTom Fails: Call for Help
Every summer the Dutch Motorist Organization (anwb) has a crisis centre in France. A lot of Dutch tourists go on holiday there, and if they run into trouble - your caravan gets smashed in an accident, the engine explodes, or it turns out you have a dangerous infection and end up in the hospital - you can call the ANWB crisis centre. This year the centre received a lot of calls from people who's personal navigation system had stopped working, which left them in utter panic. "we don't know where we are, and we don't know where we should go!" (article in De Volkskrant, Dutch only) Apparently it did not occur to these people to go to gas station, buy a map, ask the personnel to point out on the map where they were at the moment and proceed onwards. Because of the advent of personal navigation devices, these people forgot how they (or others like them) used to navigate and when their tool broke down, they were helpless.

Do Not Watch the Road
Another effect of personal navigation devices seems to be that people are less inclined to look at the road and read traffic signs, judging from recent accidents (see this one, and that one), caused by drivers that were completely focused on the instructions from their navigation devices. Strangely enough, both accidents included people driving (rather expensive) Mercedeses. So perhaps it's just people with higher incomes that are prone to relying on technology too much. (found on these stories on www.bright.nl).

Products That Change Us
Technology Philosopher Peter-Paul Verbeek studies this phenomenon: how does technology or do products change our behavior. He refers to it as 'product impact'. And if you look at product use you can come up with huge amount of examples of products that have changed our behavior or capabilities. For example, I could not give you a phone number of any of my friends, or even my girlfriend, without consulting my mobile phone. Is that strange? Yes, in a sense. Because before I owned mobile phone I used to know the phone numbers of all the people that were close to me by heart. The electronic calculator, I guess that one dramatically reduced the capabilities to do calculations of whole generations, and generations to come. But as long as we have calculators everywhere, that's not really a problem, is it?

Technorati Tags: consumer product usability, usability, user research, user-centred design

Mysterious things find their way to your mailbox. A friend of mine got this card from TNT (Dutch Postal Services) in his mailbox. The text within the red markings is saying the following:

Correct mail delivery is checked by us in several ways.
This quality card is one of the means we use to do so.
You can just throw this card away.
For any experienced inconvenience, I apologize.

So, what does the card do, exactly? I really wish the TNT Area Director (who signed the card) would use normal-people-language when they try to explain things like this to me.

Technorati Tags: consumer product usability, usability, user-centred design