This is the charging dock for the new public transport card in The Netherlands (ov-chipkaart). When designing it the designer seems to have tripped somewhat over the 'cool' possibilities of RFID. Because of the appliction of RFID, the card can simply be placed in the dock and there's no need for exact physical placement of the card, which is fore example required to scan a chip or magnetic strip. Beautiful right? It would be, if you could take the card right after you had paid. However, this is not the case: the card needs to lay there for a few seconds to be charged. But your first instinct of course is to grab your card. Hence the stickers and on-screen warnings saying NOT to pick up your card. And warning stickers are never a good sign. Because of the use of RFID no physical constraint of the card was required, but something physical that prevents you from picking up your card before it is charged actually would have improved the use of the machine.

UPDATE Nov.14: Dutch newspaper the Volkskrant reports that 4000 people filed complaints with a political party that is taking stock of the problems with the OV chipkaart. One of the biggest complaints was about removing the card too soon from the charging dock (the transaction is booked, but the credits are not written to your card.

UPDATE
Now also available as a uselog shirt.

After having been mistakingly identified as a pepper mill and a mobile phone, once again a microphone is mistaken for something it is not. This time on German public television. Seems as someone is running the wrong "subroutine" in his head. And he is sticking to it, ignoring the laughter of the audience. Don't ask me why there is this peculiar greenish/yellowish framing in the screen. Germany is neighbouring the Netherlands, but still there are things about the country I can't figure out.

Technorati Tags: consumer product usability, mobile phones, usability

On the weblog No Ideas But in Things, Dan Saffer (the author of Designing for Interaction) publishes a 'library of controls, animations, layouts, and displays that might be a source of inspiration for interaction designers.' One thing I learned: old aircraft controls rule! I got to get me a car fitted with switches like that.
(thnx to Little Jakob for the tip)

As far as usability goes everyone will probably be using the the iPhone as a benchmark for consumer electronic usability in the coming years. So let's dive a little deeper into some more usability studies and reviews of the iPhone. We're not getting tired of it yet, are we?

iPhone blows away the competition
Computerworld reports on a usability study in which the iPhone was compared the HTC touch and the Nokia N95.

"...Perceptive Sciences, an Austin, Texas-based usability consulting firm was asked to examine and compare the iPhone and two competitors [HTC Touch and the Nokia N95] [...] The results of its tests were unequivocal: While the iPhone is not the most feature-rich device, this group of experts found that when it comes to usability, iPhone does, indeed, live up to its hype."

(via MacDaily).

AskTog
In this AskTog column Bruce Tognazzini reviewed the iPhone when it was just out on the market. Tognazzini is one of the UI/usability gurus from the NN group and former founder of the Apple Human Interface Group.

iPhone Human Interface Guidelines
Finally, do you want to know what makes the iPhone so good? Maybe you can get a hint from the iPhone Human Interface Guidelines that Apple has put online for iPhone software developers. Of course there's a section on simplicity and easy of use:

As you design the flow of your content and its user interface, follow these guidelines to build in simplicity and ease of use:
Make it obvious how to use your content.
Avoid clutter, unused blank space, and busy backgrounds.
Minimize required user input.
Express essential information succinctly.
Provide a fingertip-sized target area for all links and controls.
Avoid unnecessary interactivity.

But I like this more general recommendation as well...

iPhone and Its Place in the User’s World
Almost by definition, users use iPhone while they are mobile. Whether they’re in a car or a train, sitting in a cafe or on a park bench, taking a walk, shopping, or waiting for an appointment, users use iPhone in environments that are likely to be filled with distractions.

Hurray. The product usability weblog has been included in the Top 100 of User-Centered Blogs that Virtual Hosting has published. We find ourselves at number 66. And apart from this news being joyful for me, the list is simply a great resource if you're interested in usability and user-centred design.

Technorati Tags: consumer product usability, usability

"What Turns Usability On?" is a two-minute presentation about the goals and setup of my PhD research on usability in the development of electronic consumer products at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering in Delft, The Netherlands. My project is a practice-oriented study in which we aim to uncover how product development organizations deal with usability. I gave the presentation during our 2007 PhD Day, where all the PhD candidates explained their research in two minutes. If you want to know more about my research and publications, take a look at my research page. (And that was it for this small moment of shameless self-promotion...)

Technorati Tags: business and usability, consumer product usability, design research, usability

If you have a home theater system at home, you might not remember what your coffee table looks like anymore, as it's buried under remote controls. However, salvation is at hand: the universal remote. It's been asked for very often, it's been tried very often, but lately the product category seems to be becoming a little more mature. Remotecentral reviews remote controls, and one of the headings in the reviews is 'ergonomics and design'. So, you can see how they got my attention. See for example this review of the Sony VL900:

The VL900’s design features nothing but hard buttons – the kind that can be used in the dark or even without looking. [...] You’ll find system macro and power buttons at the top, followed by component selection, keypad, transport, menu and volume/channel controls at the bottom, all grouped in distinctive ergonomic layouts. Although no keypad backlighting is provided, they will glow-in-the-dark for some time after the lights go down.

Technorati Tags: consumer electronics, consumer product usability, interaction design, usability

You don't expect automotive designers to pay attention to anything else than styling. At least I don't. If there's anyone who's horny for chrome it's those guys from Art Center and their gang. Or at least, those were my preconceptions. And whoever should be more obsessed with the design/styling than Giorgetto Giugiaro, the founder of ItalDesign and designer of the Ferrari 250 GT and the Bugatti EB 112. But the fact that he also is the creator of the first VW Golf, the Fiat Panda and the Fiat Punto is already a pointer that this man is not just about styling:

When the modern times broke, designers came up with products in the strangest forms. Spoons with a round handle for example. But a spoon with a round handle will roll out of your hand while eating. If I draw a spoon it has a wide handle - it's as simple as that, that's the best for eating. It fits right between your thumb and index-finger and simply can't roll off. So whatever flashing designs you want to make, you should remember that a spoon is for eating.
The car is somewhere between the functionality of the spoon and an over-designed, clumsy thing. When I design, I follow functional demands. The movements of the driver, from steering wheel to gear shift and to the traffic indicator, for example, are executed according to ergonomical logic. And the distance from the door, and the height of the threshold are first and foremost determined by physical limitations and possibilities. You should simply be able to enter and exit the car comfortably.

(Source: Interview with Giorgette Giugiaro in Elsevier Thema Auto, April 2006)

Also check this interview with Giugiaro at Designboom.

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

www.redesignme.org is a website where you can submit pictures or movies of products that you think have poor usability.

A bit similar to www.thisisbroken.com, but redesignme.org seems to offer a little bit more control over the content to the users, and you can submit redesigns (as well as comments of course). And the whole thing has a YouTube-like look and feel to it.
At redesign.org they think that products are hard to use because they are designed by engineers who are oblivious of what users want. It is not ill will, it is ignorance. And by having the website they hope to 'send a signal to industry'. I agree with the latter; it's always good to get/give feedback. However, on the first part (engineers being to blame etc.) I'll get back to you in a few months when I have completed my first case study on usability in product development.

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

I held the iPhone yesterday. Nothing special you would say. Well, I'm in the Netherlands. So we get all the exciting stuff a little bit later than in the US. But a friend of mine was in New York, bought an iPhone and 'hacked' it to run on European mobile phone networks. The upside of using an iPhone in the Netherlands is: we DO have umts networks here. A little faster than edge...

Back to holding the iPhone. The fluency (is that a word?) of the interaction prompted one reaction with me: I need to have this device. One amazing detail: from what my friend told me - the device comes without a manual: no booklet. Talking about self-confidence with regard to ease of use at Apple...

Technorati Tags: consumer product usability, consumer products, mobile phones, usability