An interesting sketch of Alan Partridge about interaction design of his car. The car makes an alarm noise but he can’t find the reason. An interesting discussion between the by driver and Alan shows how they have different conceptual models of the car.
Alan believes it has to be something important because the alarm is quite alarmist. It can’t be that the car is saying you are low on windscreen washer fluid. That is not an alarm like this, this is a panic message. I would not say ‘oh my god, you are low on windscreen washer fluid’. The car needs to say, excuse me, I don’t want to distract you from driving, but the level of window washer fluid is a little low and they do that with a little light.
Then his by driver makes the suggestion it might be the clock which isn’t set right. Alan responds by saying you are not getting an alarm because the clock isn’t right. [Continue reading...]
Great, you have bought a new hifi system, and have carefully checked that your new buy is simple and easy to use. In the store you have tested several systems and you are confident this is the best buy. When you get home with your new purchase and want to install the installation the troubles start. In which holes do you have the plug all the cables? [Continue reading...]
Designer Mason Bonar has designed a digital boarding pass concept. Instead of walking around with your paper ticket this digital ticket helps you navigating to your gate and provides entertainment on the flight. [Continue reading...]
With the introduction of Microsoft surface and the Iphone many people wonder if the new windows platform (Windows 7) will support a multi touch screen as well. It seems it will [Continue reading...]
Have you ever collected images in nicely stacked piles of categories for inspiration? When you start designing and are looking for inspiration you are browsing through your images but you always can’t find that particular image you are searching for. Ianus Keller of the TU Delft developed ‘the Cabinet’ for his PHD to solve this problem. [Continue reading...]
Everyone has the experience of not fully understanding a product? A parking meter, television or mobile phone. It happens to everyone, but why don’t we fully understand products at first glance? One possible explanation is the different ‘mental’ models of designers and users. [Continue reading...]
Designer Ko Yiu Fai has designed an usb stick that spreads a scent when the usb stick is plugged in the computer. Although the stick can not hold any memory it adds a nice flavor to your computer experience. But we think if this technology is further developed it can be used for many other uses as well; adding olfactory to computer use! [Continue reading...]
In earlier posts we wrote about the usability of one particular parking meter in the Netherlands and proposed two interface alternatives. After discussing both concepts one interface has been further developed. [Continue reading...]
The interaction design company Whitevoid from Germany has developed what they call ‘flakes’. With many of these flakes they can visualize whole walls to create effects. [Continue reading...]
Designer Mattias Andersson has designed two media cubes that control a radio, television and media player function on a flat screen. Easy to use? No, but it is fun!
[Continue reading...]
