useful, unusable, desirable microwave

originally written on January 23, 2009

Spring 2009 Programming Usable Interfaces
Project #0 Finding well/poorly designed object

This is a microwave I’ve been using for a year and a half. I love its dual functionality as both a microwave and a toaster, which was the reason I was willing to spend extra money to purchase this product. So it is a desirable object. It is also useful since it heats my foods without fail. In terms of usability, however, it bears some defects.

As the image shows, most of the buttons on the control panel look the same, except that some of them are slightly bigger than others. Although there are labels that read what each button does, the lack of visual hierarchies and logical grouping of buttons cause some usability problems. Taking an example of heating a dish for 40 seconds, you should first push cook time, rotate the dial until the number on the display reaches 40, and push start. Then, it would be the most logical to think that they should be grouped together on the panel. Strangely though, they are all spread out. Why? I also find it strange that popcorn is not under auto cook menu. The designer might have assumed this function would be used more frequently than others and decided to have one dedicated button for this. But if this was the logic behind the design, how could start, which is the most frequently used button without a doubt, being just buried among other buttons be explained? Another thing that bothers me concerns toaster buttons. My guess for the different between toast and bagel is cook time pre-set by the system. I don’t find it quite effective since sometimes my bagel gets burned on a corner when it’s thinner than the normal ones­—I think the users should be able to set how long their bread will be heated. This also matches people’s general mental model of a toaster, which usually has either a continuous or discrete dial that allows users to set their desired level of bread’s crispness. The last thing concerns wording—I still do not understand what power means on this panel. I first mistook it as start button, and now I don’t even bother to look up the manual since I have no trouble heating my foods.

thermostat and my mental model

originally written on January 22, 2009

One example found in Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things of how one’s mental model can be different from the way system actually operates: Thermostat

On a day when it’s either sizzling hot or freezing cold, I tend to set the thermostat lower or higher than intended in a car, hoping that I will get cooler or warmer faster. It’s as if I expect setting the desired temperature lower or higher than my actual intent will make the system work harder so that it reaches the desired point more quickly. However, the book told me that the system itself only has two state: on and off, not fast or slow, which means my action doesn’t have any impact on the performance of the thermostat in a way that I intend. When I was reading this example in the book, it was just simply amazing to realize how this ‘perceived’ and/or ‘expected’ result (i.e., the air in the car is getting cooler or warmer faster.) can affect the way I interact with the system (i.e., setting the temperature lower or higher than intended.) But interestingly, since there’s no immediate feedback to my action (it takes time for the temperature to change) and no visible and measurable cues as to how the temperature is being changed, it seems that my wrong mental model works just fine.

sound visualization

originally written on January 21, 2009

For the first time, I attended one of the HCI weekly seminars. It was just out of curiosity, and I wasn’t that into the topic. So I made it almost halfway and then started to lose my focus. However, here’s one thing that caught my attention back (for a short time though…)

http://social.cs.uiuc.edu/projects/conversationclock.html
It was interesting to hear how this affected people sitting around the table and having a conversation. Karrie G. Karahalios, who gave the talk, said that people tended to try balancing out their levels of participation in the conversation seeing their ‘visualized’ voices on the table; People who were vocal (as shown on the table) got to speak less in order for the others to have more chances to talk. The idea of visualization of sound having such influences the way people interact seemed to have lots of potentials designers should take into account in shaping people’s experiences.

resuming blogging

originally written on January 21, 2009

I almost abandoned my blog for quite a long time after putting up only a few postings. I somehow got motivated again to keep this blog running with whatever thoughts I have in mind. And it is going to be mostly for a personal purpose to leave trails behind my today. I think it’d be worth being able to look back on what happened in the past and to remember any of my thoughts and ideas that I hope to get deepened as I try to put them down in ‘good’ words. I find it highly intellectual and thus difficult to be good at, which is part of the reasons I decided to give a life back to my blog!

2 not-so-pleasant incidents in cali

originally written on September 18, 2008

Here are two not-so-pleasant instances I had last summer in california.

1. CalTrain station at California Ave. in Palo Alto
It was a small station and my destination was San Francisco. I was trying to find a way to cross the rail since the direction I headed for was west. I saw a stairway leading to a underground passage, which I believed to be the way to go. Getting through that path and reaching the opposite side, I figured out that there’s no such thing as platform on the other side. And by asking a guy walking by, I found out that people can get on the train for whichever direction from the same platform. Can’t they have just a simple sign saying ‘no need to cross’ or whatever tells you all the trains are accessible from that one platform?

2. Parking lot in the middle of San Francisco downtown
It was Sunday around lunchtime, and I was driving while looking for a place to park. Obviously there were cars everywhere and it was super crowded. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought a car in the first place knowing how crowded it is on weekends in San Francisco downtown. But anyway, I got into a parking building, and was waiting in line to move forward. And I kept going up since all the places had been taken. Finally I reached at the top floor and there was a person approaching to my car and asking to show my ticket. I realized that the place was reserved only for ‘vallet parking’ customers. He told me to go donwstairs, after such a long wait! I ended up paying for 30 min I spent in the building, finding nowhere to park. The problem was that there was no clear sign indicating the separation between self and vallet parking.

I think I’m getting more sensitive to any experiences that leave me bad impressions, both consciouly and unconsciouly, which I believe is a good sign that I’m starting to see the world with more careful eyes. This would help me become more aware of the needs out there and avoid settling for what’s already been made and done.

Experience sounds like almost a umbrella term that covers all sorts of design. It’s so broad that I don’t know where the boundary is, or if there’s such a thing at all. After all what people remember and are left with is their stories and impressions associated with their experiences. So to me, it seems designing anything comes down to designing an experience. And especially when it’s done through services, which are intangible in their nature, it becomes more challenging, yet interesting. Because I love to be able to control the big picture and the details at the same time while zooming in and out on the scene that I’m designing.

Google calendar got me frustrated.

originally written on August 3, 2008

While I was updating my google calendar for the coming semester, I got frustrated for a few moments. What I should’ve known to save some of my clicks is that the calendar that appears on top can NOT be deleted, though the schedules it contains can. Having no clue on this, I was trying hard to delete it since I no longer needed to keep the schedules from the previous semester in that calendar. So I clicked the trash can icon on the ‘manage calendars’ page hoping that the calendar itself as well as the schedules in it would be deleted. But after a few attempts, the one that I believed had been deleted was still there and as a natural result, I felt a bit frustrated. Not that I know how it works, however, I can see that there ARE actually some clues from which I could’ve figure out the fact that the top one always remains there as a default calendar.

First off, only the top one doesn’t have the ‘hide’ option, which kind of alludes that it should always appear.

And secondly, the pop-up messages that you get as you click on the trash icon are different. This one below is what you get when choosing to delete the top calendar.


This one above is what you get when choosing to delete the rest of the calendars. It gives you the two options; deleting only the items or the calendar as a whole. By carefully reading the message, I could’ve realized that what I was trying to do was not possible. Yea, it’s partly my fault and I’m not saying that the information isn’t enough for users to figure out right away that they are supposed to keep the first calendar all the time. But then again, what if they add just one line to that pop-up message that’s something like “You can ONLY delete the items in this calendar, not the calendar itself…” The message could be more attention grabing, instead of being easily overlooked – don’t people tend to click the whatever options they want below the message in the pop-up windows like this without reading the message itself?

Well, after all, I think, this comes down to the problem of how much information is appropriate to provide without being intrusive. Or how you phrase the message for it to be more straightforward and clearer to understand at a quick glance in such pop-up windows where people don’t pay much attention to.

there’s more than a cup of coffee.

originally written on July 26, 2008

So lately, I realized how much money I ‘unecessarily’ spend on coffee. Getting coffee at Starbucks or McDonald on my way to work every morning or after lunch as a dessert became like a everyday ritual to me. Checking my recent transactions online, I thought to myself, ok, I’d better stop going to those places if I really want to save money, the amount of which would get me a pair of jeans or a skirt at the end of a month… So I ran to the Whole Foods Market and got a bunch of tea bags. They are so much cheaper since I only need to make a little trip to get hot water in my office to drink it.

But, it didn’t took me that many days to realize it’s not easy at all to resist the cravings for coffee. More correctly speaking, what’s more tempting to me is actually the whole place and atmosphere that come along with a cup of coffee. Because one of my favorite things to do is reading or scribbling… or whatever while sitting in those place with coffee (and sometimes with some pastries).

After all, what kept me going to Starbucks was the whole experience it gave me. Because that’s one of few places, besides home, where I can spend time on my own without getting interrupted. And since it’s been around for quite a while and I’ve been going there very often, I might feel cozier there than I would anywhere else.

I’ve already heard many times people say Starbucks isn’t just about coffee. And recently, I’m getting truly aware of what that really means…

a picture is worth a thousand words?

originally written on July 24, 2008

I was trying hard to find the ‘edit’ button for the postings of my blog. Only after spending a few minutes hovering on the page, I found that little pencil icon under each entry. Am I dumb or what? But then, I continued to think that if it was just a simple little button saying ‘edit’, it would have been so much easier for me to spot it without feeling lost. I don’t know if I can blame this icon for being not noticeable enough and not communicating what it’s supposed to at a glance (to some people like me). Or is it not too big an issue any more now that I know where it is…?

Apple’s another move

originally written on July 24, 2008

Nike + iPod

> note for myself
Apple established a whole new experience in purchasing, browsing, sharing, listening, and carring around musics (and other mutimedia contents…) by creating a tightly intergrated system enabled by iPod and iTune. Likewise, I think this new move by Nike + iPod is intended to bring a whole new work-out experience. I remember trying this at a gym when they were doing a sort of promotion event. I was given a pair of running shoes with an iPod and asked to do the treadmill equipped with this system. I didn’t necessarily get fond of this new service for some reason, but thought it could appeal to many others. Because it streamlines every step from putting on your shoes to getting informed of the record of your workout…

aesthetics vs. usability

originally written on July 21, 2008

Aesthetics vs. Usability or
Look and feel vs. Actual usage of a website.

After reading this interview, I thought what this guy talks about quite sums up what I want to pursue as a designer. Visual designers often overlook usability in an attempt to make things look good, and usability experts often ignore how important it is for a website to grab viewers’ attention at a glance. And the fact that there aren’t many designers with both side of skill sets led me to think that this is where I could possibly have a competitive edge over many others. In this sense, my decision to pursue HCI as a double major will definitely pay off in the future.