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How did they get away with designing this?
LucianH
Posts: 445 Forumite
in Techie Stuff
I don't know if this has been covered in this forum before but would anybody be interested in contributing to a thread where you'd like to let manufacturers out there know where they've cocked up with their designs? I doubt very much if the manufacturers will take any notice but we can always think of it as a kind of therapy.
My biggest gripe is the HMI's (Human Machine Interfaces) that some designers come up with. I find it difficult to believe that some HMI's have been sufficiently field tested and tend more to be designed around the functions of the machine as opposed to the ease of use. I.e., it's more a Machine Human Interface where the Human gets the bum deal.
So let me start with a few examples:
Firstly Freeview Tuners - I've had many over the years from the original "Digiboxes" to the latest in-built tuners. What amazes me is how complex and time consuming they make the process of re-ordering (and removing unwanted) channels. If you're lucky you'll find one where you can select a channel and move it up and down to the required position. If you're unlucky, you'll get one where you have to select a channel, move to the position you want it and swap it with the channel that's there (and the scrolling can be painfully slow). Given the number of channels that are now broadcast in Freeview this can be so laborious! You try taking short cuts by swapping channels with unused ones to move them up the list quicker etc. It reminds me of the days when Rubik's cube was first sold (yes I'm one of those grumpy old people!) - there were competitions of how fast you could solve them. Today's equivalent would be to see who is the faster to re-order Freeview channels into a logical order!
Oh, and by the way, just to make this worse, I've come across a Samsung Smart TV that when it re-tunes because it's found a new channel (and had kept nagging you that it's found a new channel and telling you it needs to retune even if you don't want the new selly-telly channel) it completely re-orders the channels to the default order. Now luckily I've tracked down a third party utility I can run on my laptop and export/re-import the channel list. Sounds convenient (thanks SammyGO) but not for my 84 year old mother who owns the TV in question and thinks a laptop is one of the cushion tray thingies for eating her supper. Altough I suppose it does give me the opportunity to visit her more often so I can sort out her TV – so thanks Samsung, you’ve brought my family a lot closer together!
And, here's a simpler example. A radio on my VW Passat had a touch screen with a menu driven system - which was fine when there were a number of different options to select. However, there was a particular button to switch between two modes and instead of simply toggling the mode when the button was touched, it brought up a menu with just the two modes shown. You then had to select the mode you wanted. Two button touches when one would have done. Now you would have thought car designers would have attempted to design something that was as simple as possible so that the driver could concentrate more on the road. C'est la vie!
And finally, another type of example. I’ve got a Panasonic Microwave Oven (and by no means a cheap and cheerful model) that has got a LCD segmented timer display that is back lit. Some bright spark chose a display that has a perfect vertical viewing angle of between 0° and -45°. So when the microwave is placed on a kitchen worktop and viewed by, say, a reasonably tall adult (which results in approximately a +45° vertical viewing angle) all the segments look like they’re illuminated. Well done that bright spark!
Sigh, that's better - if you've managed to get to the end of this post you may have guessed that I probably need to get a life! True, but it's just that it's not been a good week - been laid up at home after a minor op so bored silly. However, feeling better now that I’ve got something off my chest.
Does anybody else have gripes about those User Interfaces or other I-Don't-Believe-It designs and want to share! You don't have to write chapter and verse like I've done - just name names and let everybody know when the manufactures can't get it right - not interested in quality issues, just stupid designs.
My biggest gripe is the HMI's (Human Machine Interfaces) that some designers come up with. I find it difficult to believe that some HMI's have been sufficiently field tested and tend more to be designed around the functions of the machine as opposed to the ease of use. I.e., it's more a Machine Human Interface where the Human gets the bum deal.
So let me start with a few examples:
Firstly Freeview Tuners - I've had many over the years from the original "Digiboxes" to the latest in-built tuners. What amazes me is how complex and time consuming they make the process of re-ordering (and removing unwanted) channels. If you're lucky you'll find one where you can select a channel and move it up and down to the required position. If you're unlucky, you'll get one where you have to select a channel, move to the position you want it and swap it with the channel that's there (and the scrolling can be painfully slow). Given the number of channels that are now broadcast in Freeview this can be so laborious! You try taking short cuts by swapping channels with unused ones to move them up the list quicker etc. It reminds me of the days when Rubik's cube was first sold (yes I'm one of those grumpy old people!) - there were competitions of how fast you could solve them. Today's equivalent would be to see who is the faster to re-order Freeview channels into a logical order!
Oh, and by the way, just to make this worse, I've come across a Samsung Smart TV that when it re-tunes because it's found a new channel (and had kept nagging you that it's found a new channel and telling you it needs to retune even if you don't want the new selly-telly channel) it completely re-orders the channels to the default order. Now luckily I've tracked down a third party utility I can run on my laptop and export/re-import the channel list. Sounds convenient (thanks SammyGO) but not for my 84 year old mother who owns the TV in question and thinks a laptop is one of the cushion tray thingies for eating her supper. Altough I suppose it does give me the opportunity to visit her more often so I can sort out her TV – so thanks Samsung, you’ve brought my family a lot closer together!
And, here's a simpler example. A radio on my VW Passat had a touch screen with a menu driven system - which was fine when there were a number of different options to select. However, there was a particular button to switch between two modes and instead of simply toggling the mode when the button was touched, it brought up a menu with just the two modes shown. You then had to select the mode you wanted. Two button touches when one would have done. Now you would have thought car designers would have attempted to design something that was as simple as possible so that the driver could concentrate more on the road. C'est la vie!
And finally, another type of example. I’ve got a Panasonic Microwave Oven (and by no means a cheap and cheerful model) that has got a LCD segmented timer display that is back lit. Some bright spark chose a display that has a perfect vertical viewing angle of between 0° and -45°. So when the microwave is placed on a kitchen worktop and viewed by, say, a reasonably tall adult (which results in approximately a +45° vertical viewing angle) all the segments look like they’re illuminated. Well done that bright spark!
Sigh, that's better - if you've managed to get to the end of this post you may have guessed that I probably need to get a life! True, but it's just that it's not been a good week - been laid up at home after a minor op so bored silly. However, feeling better now that I’ve got something off my chest.
Does anybody else have gripes about those User Interfaces or other I-Don't-Believe-It designs and want to share! You don't have to write chapter and verse like I've done - just name names and let everybody know when the manufactures can't get it right - not interested in quality issues, just stupid designs.
Never let it get you down... unless it really is as bad as it seems.
0
Comments
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Windows 8 - the result of decades of innovation...0
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This type of design is described as 'customer challenging'...0
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Good point. But to turn it around a bit, I have an engineering backgound and know what it's like to have a nice engineering challenge. Now... if it wasn't for those damned customers, engineering would be so much more fun!This type of design is described as 'customer challenging'...Never let it get you down... unless it really is as bad as it seems.0 -
And why does a Humax Sat box need over 50 buttons, some with more than one function???0
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Washing machines have the worst HMI - so bad that blokes can't even use them! :eek:
604!0 -
Facebook must have the worst hmi going, or is it just me?That gum you like is coming back in style.0
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Don't start me on the horror that is itunes- when it works it's lovely but it never lasts and i'd only just got over the mess it made to my pc back in 2009.
Oh God, I had forgotten about iTune. I associate iTunes with a car crash. It's so traumatic your mind attempts to erase it from your memory. You've just brought back those memories - I'll have to start the therapy again!Never let it get you down... unless it really is as bad as it seems.0 -
Indeed, I too would like dislike itoons with a passion, but its an Apple product so it must be my fault I can't get my head around it.That gum you like is coming back in style.0
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I can't talk about physical products, but as an interface designer I can say a little about why websites and software get lumbered with bad UIs.
Firstly, not all projects actually have a HCI or human factors person on board. A product might undergo visual design and be checked against a list of desired features, but the interface itself is designed by project managers and business analysts rather than interaction specialists. Often, this doesn't cause much harm, because the non-specialists stick to using conventional designs they've seen in other products, which gives the interfaces the advantages of familiarity. But when it does go wrong, these people aren't equipped to recognize the costs or appreciate the value of a redesign.
Secondly, even when a HCI person is available, that doesn't mean they'll be making all of the decisions or have complete freedom to do what they will. The project might lack the resources (cash) to do a bespoke interface design, and even when it doesn't, many decisions can get made by non-designers who don't even see the need to consult human factors folk. And why would they? They don't see anything wrong with what they've done. User-centred design is still a rather fresh concept in the software world, so for many the idea of working with an interaction designer is completely alien.
Thirdly, even if a HCI person is both available and empowered, that doesn't mean they always have the data. Sadly, they often have to push quite hard to research use cases and contexts of use, which product managers don't like because they see it as a delay in getting something to market. Later in the process, UXers like to push for things like field studies and usability testing, but many organizations still fail to appreciate the rewards. They haven't done it before, and the product seems fine to them (because they're familiar with its idiosyncrasies), so they can't see the point of verifying their assumptions.0
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