uselog.com | the product usability weblog

New Consumer Electronics Outwit 50% of Users

2008-11-21T09:13:00.009+01:00

Half of the buyers of a computer, mobile phone or other electronic device does not get their newly acquired thingy to work without assistance. This was revealed by a study by the Pew Research Center, that surveyed more than twothousand Americans about their experiences with new technology.

A large portion of the participants also had to get help when devices suddenly stopped working. 40 percent called the helpdesk of the company that supplied the device involved, while 15 percent sought (and found) the help of friends and familiy. 15 percent just gave up.

Especially the Internet connections lead to a big number of complaints (oh no, really?). 44 percent of the people claims to have had trouble with that in the last 12 months. 39 percent reports trouble with their PC or laptop and 29 percent had problems with their mobile phone, and 15 percent mentioned a cumbersome MP3-player.

(Via: De Volkskrant - Technology that outruns the user (in Dutch))
(Photo: Acquila)

iPhone Usability Test: How People Really Use The iPhone

2008-11-19T09:12:00.010+01:00

A richly illustrated presentation by Create With Context on a usability study on the iPhone.

See Also:
> Hidden iPhone Headset Button: Design Minimalism Gone Too Far
> iPhone Usability Studies
> More iPhone Usability Stuff

Commercials About Installing ADSL: Familiar Feeling?

2008-11-15T10:38:00.005+01:00

A commercial from the Netherlands about installing ADSL that sums it up pretty nicely for a lot of people. The voiceover is saying: "Installing ADSL doesn't go quite as easy for everyone. That's why we now offer an install service for 29,95."

See also this other usability-themed commercial from the same ISP entitled modern techniques.

Use Your iPhone With Your Gloves On

2008-11-14T09:15:00.009+01:00

A new 'patch' for the iPhone. Because they lack a thumb and index finger, the Etretouchy gloves let you - finally! - use the iPhone while wearing gloves. Imagine that: both warm hands and that warm fuzzy feeling of interacting with your iPhone. I do presume the gloves work on other mobile phones as well; on my previous phone, with a regular keyboard, sending an sms with your gloves on was pretty much impossible. And that you might look somewhat ridiculous while wearing them, ah, we'll take that for granted (remember, somehow Uggs became cool too!). And admittedly, they have a certain cute-factor: even despite all Etre's shameless self-promotion for this product on their blog (which is excellent by the way), we couldn't resist mentioning them.

UPDATE
Ah... there's competition: the freehands gloves (via CultofMac). (Don't know if they really are competition. Although they offer the same functionality, the freehands are somewhat more... eh... ugly)

BMW iDrive Version 4.0 Promises Improved Usability

2008-11-13T11:59:00.006+01:00

The NY Times reviews what's officially BMW's fourth version of the legandary iDrive UI concept. It was introduced because BMW's engineers (or designers or managers) thought modern car dashboards had become cluttered with buttons, and they decided to put all that functionality in a menu-based UI that could be operated with a single knob. That didn't bring the simplicity (or should we say usability) they were aiming for. Now the much criticized UI concept has been modified on a number of points. The latest version of iDrive is what Gizmodo calls a crossover between the UI of the iPod and the Xbox360. The NY Times describes it as follows:

The company has abandoned the compass menu for a traditional vertical list and branching-tree structure. The iDrive control knob still sits ahead of the center armrest, but it is surrounded by a cluster of seven buttons. The voice recognition system has been tweaked with a faster computer processor and 80 gigabyte hard drive that lets iDrive switch more quickly between functions and controls.

And there seems to be some improvement. As the NY Times puts it:

Sitting behind the wheel of a preproduction 2009 335d, I immediately felt more comfortable with the new iDrive. The crisp 8.8-inch display still eschews a touch screen (the company doesn’t want drivers leaning forward to change settings) in favor of the control knob, but the knob works more consistently and simply with the on-screen menus. You spin the knob to go down a menu list, push it to select an item, or just shove it left to go back to the previous menu. (Now was that so hard?)

According to the germancarblog iDrive 4.0 is a rip off of Audi's MMI. I don't think that BMW owners will really care, as long as they can finally find the radio station they want to.

See also:
> BMW iDrive: Legendary Usability
> More iDrive Reviews: The Evolution of a Bad Idea

Save Trees: Miguel's Budget E-Book Reader

2008-11-10T09:22:00.006+01:00

If you have to read a lot of scientific papers, you think printing them all is a waste of paper, reading them on-screen is annoying and an Iliad or Amazon Kindle are a bit out of your league, here's your answer: Miguel's budget e-book reader (see top picture). Take your laptop and turn it 90 degrees. Then again, if you use an Apple Powerbook to do that, it's not really a low-budget solution, but you get the idea.

Contribute to the Successor of 'Universal Principles of Design'

2008-11-07T09:20:00.008+01:00

William Lidwell, the author of Universal Principles of Design (a book I thoroughly enjoyed) is seeking your help. The aim of his new book 'Deconstructing Product Design' is to explore the meaning of “good design” as it pertains to consumer products. The book evaluates a large number of consumer products on form, function and usability.

The author would like to include feedback from designers, engineers and users in the book. You can make a contribution by going to www.deconstructingproductdesign.com and write a review about one of the products he listed. If your feedback is used in the book, you will be listed in the contributor section of the book and you'll get a free signed copy of the book.

I thought that would be some friday afternoon work you might enjoy.

AT&T Offers Home Cinema Installation Service

2008-11-06T08:08:00.004+01:00

AT&T introduces ConnecTech, a service that offers support for installing and configuring home cinema sets, home networks, and computers. Similarly, mobile phone provider Sprint recently launched a ReadyNow, a service to help you set up your smartphone. Great news, but not really new. In the Netherlands, mobile phone provider KPN was offering (optional) installation support more than three years ago, and last year created a breakthrough do-it-yourself ADSL installation package that led to a 30% decrease in customer service calls.

On the whole, it's a good thing that service providers are acknowledging that some steps in the life-cycle of a product are getting too complicated for your average user to perform. But on the other hand, it's pretty sad that they (and product development companies) have let it get this far.

(Via Unplggd)

Deaths in Hospitals Due to Misuse of Equipment

2008-11-04T08:18:00.003+01:00

Medical equipment of course is one of the product categories where the 'effectiveness' component of the ISO 9241-11 usability definition is the most dominant one. Resources expended in the interaction (efficiency), and how the staff feel while using it (satisfaction) are also important - and can be expected to influence the effectiveness - but the one variable that everyone looks at is effectiveness: how many people live.

Report: tens of deaths per year
A recent report from the Dutch Healthcare Inspection (english page) states that in The Netherlands every year tens of people die because doctors and nurses make mistakes with medical devices. They often do not use them as intended and don't practice with the devices. The study revealed that if devices are moved around the hospital and used in different places, this leads to significantly more deaths. One of the causes is that in these cases the devices are also operated by unqualified staff. On the radio, a spokesman of the Health Inspection said that: "We have seen large technological advancement in the field of medical equipment, but have not been conscious of the fact that these products have become ever more complex and harder to operate without proper training."

Examples of poor use of medical equipment
The report points out several examples of improper use of medial equipment. In two hospitals the cleaning machines for watch-tubes were not used in the right way, causing to the tubes to remain dirty, and thus exposing 900 patients to possible infection. In another hospital the connectors for breathing devices were not installed properly, and in yet another needle-guiders were not sufficiently heated, exposing 300 patients to possible contamination. And finally the report mentions this previously posted case of a diabetes pen, of which (by accident) the needles were not changed, possibly infecting 600 patients with hepatitis and HIV.

Proposed improvements
The Dutch Health Inspection recommends that in the future, hospitals will be required to test and train their staff, and the manufacturers of equipment are should create more readable manuals. Personally I would say the manufacturers should first of all create more usable products, and in addition improve their manuals.

(Source: NRC (in Dutch only))
(Slightly disturbing photo: keiththrn)

Users Fix Parking Ticket Machine Interface Themselves

2008-11-01T14:46:00.011+01:00

And once again it's a parking ticket machine that drives users nuts (see another one here). And this time to the extent that they've taken their fate into their own hands and added some 'customized' labels to the device. I think we can add parking ticket machines to the category of 'things that always suck', that also includes office telephones and presentation equipment in meeting rooms. I do hope that the designers saw the 'modification' that users made, because it shows them that really anyone can make a better design than they did...

(Photo by rdolishny)

An Overview of iPod-History Overviews

2008-10-28T08:10:00.004+01:00

Nothing like an overview of historic overviews, especially when it comes to the iPod.
> ipodhistory.com: an entire website dedicated to a detailed history of the iPod.
> Wikipedia/ipod: extensive wikipedia page on iPod history.
> The origin of the iPod: evolution of the iPod (2000-2004) by Lowendmac|Orchard.
> iPod history since 2005: Lowendmac|Orchard also traces the recent history of the iPod, showing the diversification of the product.
> History of the iPod, iTunes & the Music Store by Geofftech, including complete timelines of iPod product releases.
> A brief history of the iPod (2000-2004): by iLounge, includes a look at the packaging.
> Raising the Genius Bar: 7 Years of iPod Evolution: Wired photo gallery of iPod evolution
> Video of the evolution of the iPod by T3 magazine.
> Timeline visualization of the iPod history.
> Why the iPod clickwheel must die: Mark Wilson of Gizmodo analyzes why the iPod's clickwheel UI paradigm cannot be sustained in future iPods (via unpressablebuttons)

Inside look into iPod development
Wired, being iPod-obsessed as they are (not necessarily a bad thing...), have a lot of in-depth articles on iPod history, especially some nice stories on its development.
> Inside look at the birth of the iPod
> The perfect thing: another look at the birth of the iPod.
> Oct. 23, 2001: Now Hear This ... The iPod Arrives: looking back on when the first iPod was launched.

UPDATE
Forgot one: MacWorld iPod Timeline

(Top picture by Hartleyjr.)

Ten Examples of Daily Tangible Interaction

2008-10-24T13:03:00.004+02:00

A tangible user interface (TUI) is a user interface in which a person interacts with digital information through the physical environment. Hornecker and Buur state that tangible interaction relies on tangibility and full-body interaction, and gives computational resources and data physical form.

Research, not products
Currently, most tangible interaction concepts are explorations of the possibilities of tangible interaction; design/research projects as presented by the tangible media group at MIT, Joep Frens' Rich Interaction Camera or these students from IDE. So why am I - being a conservative, usability-minded interaction dinosaur - interested in Tangible Interaction? Because I see tangible interaction as a way of making the interaction less conscious, and demanding less resources (attention, effort, time). And as Krug put it: we don't want things to make us think. (It should be mentioned that there are some that disagree with tangibility being a gateway to easier interaction: misconceptions about tangible interaction).

Tangible interaction in a shop near you
So I set out to identify examples of tangible interaction in products that are already among us; that you can actually buy, right now, in a shop near you. They might not be as radical and inspiring as the tangible interaction research/design concepts mentioned previously, but I think that though they are more modest, these are examples of products that really make a difference by providing tangible interaction. (By the way, the numbers are not intended as ranking or something.)

1) PowerMate: a physical volume button for your computer
The PowerMate in essence is the volume button from your teenage stereo set, but now in brushed aluminum, with a blue light beneath it (how cool is that!) and connected to the USB port of your computer, allowing you to quickly and quite exactly adjust the volume in media playing programs. As opposed to clicking that annoying little icon, or hastily accessing your media player if you accidentally play ACDC right after listening to Jewel.

2) Multimedia keyboards: quick and easy control
Several keyboards (Microsoft, Apple) now offer direct access buttons to control the media you are playing. Personally I find it much easier to pause, skip to the next song, or to adjust the volume by quickly hitting a single button, than to browse through my programs and find the right icon.

3) Old-fashioned landline phone: straightforward answering
On (non-wireless) landline phones you simple grab the receiver to enable the connection. About as simple as it can get. In contrast, on (home) DECT phones often you have to push a (green) button to start the conversation, and another (red) one to stop it, which is less intuitive.

4) Clamshells: the motion has meaning
Open up your laptop and it awakes from sleep mode. Seems to make sense: what else would you want a laptop to do besides starting up if you open it? And if you don't want it to start up, simply close it again. Or open your clamshell mobile phone to answer a call. One small complication with the latter situation: there needs to be a display on the outside to be able to see who's calling and decide whether you want to answer the call. And so you also need a way to divert the call without opening (and answering) the phone.

5) SonyEricsson K800i: open lens cover to activate camera
If you slide open the lens cover of the SonyEricsson K800i, the phone switches to camera mode, without you having to dive into menus (and subsequently having to open the lens cover because you don't see anything).

6) Canon copiers: extrapolating what the user wants to do
(Some) Canon copiers do a similar thing: if you put a memory stick in the copier, the device will access the memory stick, assuming the file you want to print is on there. And if you put an A4 document on the glass to copy it, the device assumes you want the paper size to be A4.

7) SonyEricsson phone and iPod Nano: shake to shuffle
Talked about this earlier: shaking your mp3-player to get a random song. Comparable to shaking a box of breath-mints (to get a random breath-mint). Available on the new iPod Nano and the SonyEricsson W910. And on the Sansa Shuffle (next example).

8) Sansa Shaker: tangible group interaction with music
The Sansa Shaker is less of personal music player; with its built-in speakers and physical appearance it seems to be designed to be used in a group. To change a song on the Shaker you snap one of the colored rings (next song) or shake the whole device (shuffle). Adjusting the volume is also done by twisting one of the colored rings. (CNET review on youtube)

9) Guitar Hero and Wii: tangibility in video gaming
A bit obvious maybe, but how much more fun can tangible interaction get? Play virtual sports using the Wii controllers or play the guitar using the Guitar Hero controller, and here the sound change as you raise the neck of the guitar into the air as a living room version of Yngwie Malmsten.

10) Bopit: a truly tangible game
In the case of Bopit the whole game is embodied in the controller. You don't interact through a TV-screen. The Bobit device shouts at you whether you should twist, pull, or do what ever with one of the controls on the product. As you are playing the speed and the complexity of the commands increases. Guaranteed to drive you nuts. Watch this YouTube movie: you need to see this to understand it.

Feel inspired? Feel free to leave your own examples of daily tangible interaction in the comments.

A big thanks to all my colleagues from the ID StudioLab at IDE for supplying the examples and asking critical questions.
(Top picture: Zygote)

"What Would Steve Do?" Turtleneck (and Regular Shirt)

2008-10-21T09:23:00.003+02:00

A new addition to the uselog shirtshop: the "What Would Steve Do?" black turtleneck (of course...). And for those of you who don't want to go for the complete Steve, there's a regular black Steve t-shirt as well.
(My apologies for just posting about uselog shirts at this moment, but I'm having too much fun with my new toy...)

uselog shirts: Show Your Passion for Usability and Design

2008-10-17T16:02:00.012+02:00

Because I got some enthusiastic reactions on the usability quotes I post now and then, I decided to make them 'to go' by putting them on t-shirts. So, available as of now to all you people with a passion for usability and design: uselog t-shirts in the following flavors:
- Who the St*rck is F+ck?
- My product is fine, they're just using it wrong.
- Designers are a) gods b) servants c) prostitutes d) all of the above
- Designer(d)
- Hmmmm. Maybe we need smarter test participants?
I'm using the spreadshirt printing on demand shop, so you don't have to wait for me to package the stuff, and I'll never run out of shirts. The only downside is: only shipping in Europe (for now).

Dishwasher: Cleaning Machine or Stowing Place?

2008-10-16T09:54:00.006+02:00

For the first time in my life I have a dishwasher and I must say: I like it. But yesterday I realized that half my appreciation of the machine is not due to the fact that I don't have to clean the dishes myself, but to the fact that the dirty dishes are stored out of sight until they're cleaned. So I could use a kitchen cabinet to store my dirty dishes, but unfortunately that cabinet wouldn't clean itself the way my dishwasher does.

Then I saw this mural dishwasher design (picture below) that does the exact opposite of storing your dirty dishes out of sight, but does have a sense of beauty about it. However: will it still be beautiful when it's filled with spaghetti-smeared, yoghurt-dripping, three days old dishes exhitbited to you at eye-height and 20 cm distance?

(Top picture: simplewaystohelp.com, lower picture: todayandtomorrow.net)

Annoying Proprietary Connectors

2008-10-13T17:04:00.002+02:00

Proprietary plugs and connectors drive the reviewers of Wired nuts in Cable Madness: Crazy Connectors we can do without: why in heaven's name does the HTC G1 (or Google phone) have a proprietary headphone connector? In a comparison of the HTC Hermes and the Palm Treo Geardiary is equally annoyed by a proprietary connector, but in this case HTC is on the good side:

The Hermes uses a standard miniUSB connector as opposed to the “Universal Connector” that the Treo uses. I love devices that use the miniUSB connector, as I have stacks of those cables around, and they are all interchangeable. Need another sync cable? Just grab one from the draw, share one with another device like a card reader, or pick one up cheap from most computer stores. With my Treo I only have the one charge/sync cable that I bought off eBay. Come on Palm, dump that silly connector (for that matter every company should dump these proprietary connectors) and join the miniUSB crowd!

(Picture: Geardiary)

Netbooks' High Return Rate Due to Linux

2008-10-09T09:20:00.006+02:00

(Screenshot of Linux on the Asus Eee PC)

The popular mini-notebooks, also called netbooks, suffer from a higher return rate than regular notebooks, mainly due to the fact that most netbooks run Linux, according to the director of U.S. sales of MSI, Andy Tung. Linux netbooks are returned 4 times as often as ones that run Windows XP. An excerpt from the interview with Laptopmag.

Our internal research has shown that the return of netbooks is higher than regular notebooks, but the main cause of that is Linux. People would love to pay $299 or $399 but they don’t know what they get until they open the box. They start playing around with Linux and start realizing that it’s not what they are used to. They don’t want to spend time to learn it so they bring it back to the store. The return rate is at least four times higher for Linux netbooks than Windows XP netbooks.

Just an example that to consumers usability might not be the most important thing (for most of them Windows based computers would be far more easy to operate), but that to users usability indeed is an important product quality.

[via Bright]

UPDATE
An article appeared on ZD Net in response to the interview mentioned above: Linux 'teething problems' affect netbook returns. In the article the Linux vendor Canonical says it sees similar return rates with its machines. However, the software vendor also indicates that this does not mean that Linux is faulty, but that consumers got something different than they expected.

"Some people are misbuying, and then they send it back because it's not Windows," he said. "What would be more worrying would be if they simply didn't like it for itself; if they used it and it didn't work. But that doesn't seem to be the case."

Sprint Launches Training for Smartphone Users (But Who's Paying?)

2008-10-05T08:26:00.004+02:00

US telecom provider Sprint will start to offer free, in-store smartphone training to its customers, because 21 percent of the company's smartphone buyers come back to the store to return the phone or to seek help in setting it up and learning to use it (NYT, smartphone.biz, Sprint). Initially the Ready Now program will only run in Sprint's own stores, but in time will spread to independent retail stores as well. Sprint has hired extra employees for every store to handle the workload.

Who will pay?
Anyone wants to put a number on what that might cost? And it makes you wonder: does Sprint oblige the handset manufacturers to chip in as well? And, more interestingly, do they require a higher contribution from manufacturers of handsets that cause more user questions and product returns? I know I would.

Fixing a bad design in the store
The article on smartphone.biz points out two possible causes for the large number of complaints and returns:

This could be a reflection on the technical competence of the average purchaser of today’s function-packed smartphones. Or it could be that retailers and manufacturers aren’t doing enough to explain how new handsets operate.

In short: either the users are too dumb for today's multi-multi-tasking smartphones, or they don't get enough training. I find this line of reasoning tricky, as it points to only one alleged source of the problems: the lack of technical savvyness of the user (more instructions means fixing that lack). The article fails to mention the other (real) source of the problem; the one that you can change without expensive user training: the unusable handset and its configuration. As Dave Gustafson of unpressablebuttons pointed out, what's new about the iPhone are not the features, but it's that you (Mr. or Mrs. Average User) can actually get these features to work. Something that some CEOs still fail to notice. If Sprint wants to solve the root cause of this problem, it should require its handset suppliers to deliver smartphones that make the users feel smart, instead of handsets that outsmart its users. Then, in addition Sprint could take care that configuring the phones to work on their network would become easier, which is what the Ready Now program is about.

Configuring MMS
A lesson about the effects of poor setup of handsets can be learned from MMS. When MMS - the once would be follow up to SMS (text messaging) - first came on the market in Europe, and I wanted to try it out on my newly purchased phone, I got a prompt: 'configure data access provider'. When I finally managed to do that, it turned that to send an MMS I had to go through a 14-step dialogue. Now where's the fun in that? A lesson T-mobile learned from that is to allow its users to receive phone settings via an SMS message that can be sent from their wireless configurator website. This is necessary, because phones that are sold in retail stores are not configured for the network of the provider you are going use the phone on.

But the bottom line is that both countermeasures - an online configuration page and extra support in stores - are sympathetic attempts at fixing a problem that should not be there.

Concepts Versus Products: Usability Is About Execution

2008-10-02T17:49:00.010+02:00

Apple's last publicly presented concept product: the information navigator (late 80's) (via Counternotions)

In a - in my humble opinion - brilliant post on his counternotions blog, 'Kontra' goes head on with the notion of product concepts: Why Apple Doesn't do 'Concept Products'. He argues that product concepts often are made in and for a make-believe context: the designers working on them are not challenged by real world constraints, thus coming up with concepts such as the Nokia Morph that are as appealing as they are unrealistic. In addition he points out that presenting 'future concepts' might actually contribute more to the public image of a company than to day-to-day product development. If your concept really is that good: why not keep them a secret and put al your effort into getting it to the market instead of sharing it with the rest of the world? His argumentation finally culminates in Kontra’s law:

A commercial company’s ability to innovate is inversely proportional to its proclivity to publicly release conceptual products.

Dissemination of 'Vision of the Future'
The argument about revealing strategic directions to your competitors struck a cord with me. In 1995 Philips Design did the wildly inspiring Vision of the Future project. A number of years later they had a consultancy agency (I believe it was McKinsey) execute a study to investigate to what extent their predictions had been accurate. If I recall correctly, it turned out that about 70% of the concepts had become, or were on the verge of becoming real products. In most of the cases, however, the companies that were making the products were not Philips (I apologize, I read this a while ago and I have been trying to find a reference for this story, can't find it anywhere...).

On the other hand, there was also the Philips spin-off company Polymervision, aiming for something that is remarkably like one of the Shiva concepts from Vision of the Future. But most of all, the Visions of the Future project put Philips Design on the map as one of the most inspiring design agencies to work with and work for. And you need to ask: would all these other companies not have developed these products if Philips Design had not made (and revealed) its predictions? In other words: was there really any damage done by publicly displaying these product concepts?

Wake-up Light: from concept (left) to product (right)
But even without publicly revealing your concepts beforehand, it can be challenging enough to go from a good concept to a good product. To paraphrase Bill Buxton: you need to make the right product and you need to make the product right. An illustrative example might be the Philips Wake-Up Light: a lamp that gently awakes you with light and sound. Researchers at Philips discovered a 'user need' for a gentle wake up experience. And providing a pleasant wake up experience is also an essential part of the Daylight concept (video) in the Next Simplicity Event, and the rise and shine concept that is advertized on the Philips SimplicityHub. So Philips seems to have explored the concept pretty thoroughly, and seems to be putting its weight behind it. But when the Wake-Up Light hit the market, it provoked somewhat dualistic reactions, like these (at Amazon):

It's a great idea but very bad UI. [...] Shame though because it's packed full of nice little features - but it is really let down on usability. If you use it as a bedside lamp you have to remember to reset it to your wake-up setting before you go to bed.

If you go through the reviews - as for example these (sorry, in Dutch only) - you see a picture emerging that most reviewers really appreciate the functionality of the Wake-Up Light, but quite a lot of them make remarks about the poor usability and material quality. Sometimes it almost sounds like they put up with the product's weaknesses, because it has such great functionality. In essence: great concept, but the execution could have been better.

Philips has now developed a '2008' version of the Wake-Up Light by the way. Not in shops yet, but I'm eager to see about the reviews by users (here's one by a gadget site for starters). I hope they nailed it this time, because I really want to have one of these lamps too, but I'm not prepared to struggle with it.

Concept cars to test the water
Contrary to what Kontra states, I do believe that in the automotive industry the concept car approach is to be a very good way to 'test the water'. For example the new Fiat 500 (right) is almost identical to the Trepiùno concept car (left), presented in 2004. And I guess the enthusiastic reactions to that concept car may have contributed to Fiat's decision of making it a real car.

Concept cars for user interfaces?
However, is the concept car approach feasible for product and interaction designs as well? I have my doubts. Concepts cars are mostly about 'styling' (pardon my French). Sometimes they throw in a new feature or two (bike rack, kitchen in the back of the car), but in essence the automotive industry is gaging our reaction to a new style: is there a 'wow' factor? Interaction designs are not about style. In some cases they can provoke a 'wow' reaction, such as Jeff Han's multi-touch interfaces. However, I doubt whether presenting the general public with new interaction concepts will bring you any other knowledge than whether your new UI concept has a 'wow'. It won't tell you much about it's everyday applicability, or even whether you've discovered a good UI concept, that's founded on real user needs. All you will know is whether your new UI concept is 'cool'. And as stated before: 'cute' is not a good adjective for systems.

Execution is everything
On the UXmatters blog Steve Baty underlines the importance of execution, with regard to UX strategies. Especially this line stuck with me:

Strategic fit describes the extent to which your organization’s desired goals—and your plan to get there—play to the strengths and capabilities of your organization as it is now.

You can have a great plan for a User Experience Strategy, but you should really consider whether your company is able to execute that strategy. The same thing goes for product concepts, I believe. A groundbreaking, radical new product concept is inspiring, but if your company is currently not able to realize it and needs some time to live up to the strategy, by exposing your product concept to the public you have just told everyone in what direction you will be heading in the coming years...

Us-Able: Usability Explained

2008-09-28T20:57:00.004+02:00

us·able

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: web2.0 internet)

Creative, clear and engaging presentation that explains what usability is, and how to achieve it by Lennart Grötzbach.

Software That Hacks Your Behavior

2008-09-26T09:37:00.014+02:00

We humans were not designed to work behind a computer all day. In fact we were not designed to be in the office all day. We find it hard to concentrate, only drink coffee, and don’t relax sufficiently. Here’s number of programs that tries to coach you into more productive or healthy behavior. Call it persuasive technology (technology that intentionally changes attitudes or behaviors through persuasion and social influence), call it nudging, or call it design with intent, the idea is to get you do do what you want to do even though you can't always do that.

Writeroom
A word processor that only allows you to type basic text, but most importantly, it blocks out the screens all other programs, so you can be fully focused on writing what you need to write. As the makers put it themselves, Writeroom "helps you overcome the challenges of your digital life."

Freedom
With the introduction of internet into the office, at your desk you can access the world and the world can access you. You need to concentrate and do not want to be distracted by e-mails or be tempted to browse the web? Freedom blocks all your Internet connections for as long as you tell it to. And there’s no other way to regain access than to sit it out or restart your computer. Apparently Windows users are better at not-surfing the web, because the program is Mac-only. [via unpressable buttons]

Spa Watercoach
Drinking enough water is good for your health, or so they say. Around 1,5 to 2 liters per day is what you should strive for. However, with the coffee-centered culture at most offices that’s hard to maintain. The Spa watercoach enables you to keep track of how much water you drank, and it gives you gentle reminders if you forget to drink. And ok, it tells you to drink a glass of 'Spa' (which is a brand of mineral water), but I guess it will work with tap water as well. Sounds all too basic, but I have to admit: it works for me to get a small reminder now and again.

Workpace
This one I find debatable, but ok. The idea is that to prevent RSI (carpal tunnel syndrome) you should pause regularly when working on the computer and do some physical exercise during those pauses. Workpace signals you to take micropauses if you’re working too intensely (it measures keystrokes and mouseclicks) and once in a while pops up, blocks the screen and provides suggestions for some physical exercise. The problem I had with it: 1) when I am stressed out and working hard to finish something, the (forced) pauses made me even more stressed, and 2) those exercises made you look silly.

There's one thing though: maybe you should not use all these programs together. Imagine the Watercoach and Workpace trying to send you messages, while Writeroom is designed to keep blocking out all distractions...

See also:
- Product Impact: How Products Change User Behaviour (uselog)

Electrolux Flatshare Fridge

2008-09-23T10:36:00.002+02:00

Maybe it's because I used to live in a student home where everyone was scavenging the kitchen for food, that I love the Electrolux Flatshare Fridge. It's a modular fridge, designed to give each flat-mate (read: student) his/her own private stowaway, that (s)he can keep as dirty or clean as (s)he wants, and it should reduce the risk of your flat-mates drinking that one bottle of champagne you we're saving for celebrating with your girlfriend. I don't see any locks on doors in the design, though. That might be the next step... The design was one of the submissions for Electrolux' yearly DesignLab competition.

[Via Etre]

Hidden iPhone Headset Button: Design Minimalism Gone Too Far

2008-09-18T08:58:00.014+02:00

Damn, I feel cheated! I’ve had an iPhone for about a month now and all of a sudden I find out that there’s a button in the headset (picture). There’s absolutely no visual indication – that UI fetishists might label affordances – that that button is there. There is a hole that indicates to me that there’s a microphone, but no bump in the plastic, printing, or anything that tells me I should push that part of the product to answer a phone call. I consider myself not a complete moron when it comes to consumer electronics, but to be sure I checked whether a colleague of mine - who had also recently gotten an iPhone - was aware of the button, but thankfully I was not as idiotic as I thought: he too had not yet discovered it.

Skipping a song while riding a bike
Why is that button important to me? Because I have been biking around trying to go to the next song by using the touch screen. Not very comfortable, not very safe and a huge step back from my earlier iPod nano, which I could easily operate while it was in the pocket of my jacket. Why I feel cheated? Because I even remember thinking that it was a shame that my iPhone headset did not have an answer button as my SonyEricsson K800 headset (picture below, on the right) had. Now it turns out the button is there after all. So why did I miss it even when I wanted it to be there? The button is mentioned in the Finger Tips Guide (pdf) that comes with your iPhone, but somehow, in the excitement of finally having my hands on the iPhone I missed that. Actually, it is also mentioned in the manual, and in the feature list of the software update I recently installed, which is how I happened to come across it.Reading the manual (or not)
So you may ask: why didn’t you read the Finger Tips Guide? To be honest, even though the guide was extremely concise, I just scanned it and then I knew enough to get started. Operating the device was so easy that I discovered most things along the way. Except for this button, that is. So in way the extreme intuitiveness of the iPhone, in combination with the lack of visual clues caused my non-discovery. In addition to my own laziness, that is. Now you can blame me for being stupid, but the fact remains is that I missed the button. And if I did that, so did a lot of other people. Well, at least enough people for howtomobile.com to make a tutorial on using the iPhone headset, in the comments of which we find this little one-person dialogue...

2 Responses to “How To Use The iPhone Stereo Headset”
Dan Kaufman on August 28th, 2007 4:00 am
Where is the mic button? My headset looks just like the one in the picture but there is no button anywhere…
Dan Kaufman on August 28th, 2007 4:04 am
oops! found it! if anyone else is similarly confused - there is no visible button. you just squeeze the little mic cylinder in the center.

Design minimalism versus visual clues
Now, I love the minimalist design of Apple’s products. And you have to admit, the design of Apple’s headset is way more stylish than the Ericsson headset. But I also like an ‘honest’ design, that the form factor of a product gives me some feed forward on what it’s for and how it can be used. I like to 'discover' a device as I am using it, but to be able to do that I need the device to give me some clues. Apple previously did the minimalism thing on the mighty mouse, where they (finally) introduced a two-button mouse, only to disguise it as a one-button mouse. Why? I have that mouse, and to be honest: the right button doesn't work as well as on a conventional mouse. To me, these are examples of minimalism gone one step too far.

UPDATE
Oh, the diversity of opinions... At the same time I rant about not finding the iPhone headset button, Dave Gustafson of unpressable buttons gives praise to the same button. And I agree with him: once you've found it, it's a joy to use. Except for going one song back when playing music; this requires three clicks. I usually end up going one song forward (two clicks) and pausing (one click).

Shake Control Patent Controversy

2008-09-15T11:42:00.007+02:00

Apple's newest iPod Nano enables you to go to a random song by shaking the device, something that SonyEricsson introduced about a year ago on their W910. It seems quite a natural way of interacting: the gesture symbolizes what you want the product to do. It's like shaking a sweetener holder to randomize the content, with each sweetener tablet being a song (uh well, ok, with sweeteners it doesn't really matter which one you get, but you get the idea...). It's a manifestation of what some people call tangible user interfaces, in which a person interacts with digital information through the physical environment.

The notion of shake control for digital media players was patented by a company called Outland Research (seemingly the same company that recently patented smart soles for adjustable shoes). So I guess that either Apple and SonyEricsson 'lawyered-up', or have their own - slightly different - patents, or someone is making quite some money from Apple and SonyEricsson implementing shake control.
Interacting with the MusicCube (Bruns, April 2005)

But it seems there's a catch to that patent. Now, I'm no intellectual property expert, but as far as I know a condition for getting something patented is that it is novel, which means the notion should not be in the public domain by the time the patent was filed. So I am somewhat amazed that the provisional application of this patent was filed in November 2005 and it was awarded in 2006, while this paper on the music cube, which proposes and shows the viability of shake control for digital music players was published at the April 2005 SIGCHI conference; a not completely obscure and unknown institution.

See also:
> YouTube movie of interacting with the MusicCube.

(picture at top from areamobile.de)