Interaction design

Mattias Andersson has designed two media cubes that control radio, television and media player function on a flat screen. Does it have good usability? No, but it is fun!

First have a look at the cubes in use: (if you want to stop the video, right mouse click and deselect play, my apologies to the mac users)

How does it works?

Gyroscopic sensors measure the movements of the cubes. They sent this signal by using radio technology, the same way as a wireless mouse. Charging of the cubes occurs through induction so you do not have to plug in a power jack.

What about usability?

The video clearly shows that you have turn and rotate the cubes to operate the different functions. The icons on the cubes don’t seem to correspond directly to their function. The first cube on the picture below shows several circles on the top which become smaller; which indicates increasing or decreasing of ’something’, in this case volume. On the sides of the first cube you side small triangles with a line through the bottom, no clear function or meaning can be assigned to this. Also the second cube uses icons that have no link to their function. What do a circle, triangle or x have to do with the functions TV, radio or media player?

Is poor usability necessarily bad?

Is it a bad thing that these cubes have a poor usability? To answer this question one always has to look at the goals and values of users. When the target users are elderly who do not like new technology then it is bad. Or when it are users who get frustrated when a product out of the box does not work it is bas as well. But when it are users who wonder and want to discover new things it is not necessarily bad.

Then the design has to balance on a fine line, between a too boring interaction and a cognitive too difficult interaction. The product should still challenge and evoke users to play but reward them as well.

It is all about the User experience

We consider this a good example of a product with poor usability but with a great user experience. But only for a specific group of users, others might become frustrated or disappointed. It invites people to play around with it and discover new functions. The way how for instance the volume is operated by turning one of the cubes is a lot more intuitive then the + and – button on remote controls. We can imagine many people enjoying the use of this product.

So when you design a product be sure to have a target group that you can define. ‘Cell phone’ users is way to generic, but 16 till 18 years old girls doing ballet gives a lot more to design for.

Be sure to check out Mattias Andersson his portfolio.