I’m surrounded by user interface design. From the moment I wake up I’m faced with some simple and some more complex interface designs that somehow I manage to work out. Someone, somewhere has thought about these designs and it’s been their sole purpose to make the experience easy to understand, easy to do and easy to remember.
I decided to take a snap of as many user interfaces (excluding PC/Mac and phone) over a period of 24 hours and jot down some quick thoughts to go with them. Nothing too scientific, just an average human being faced with interface choices and experience.
06.30 – Wake up and warm up milk for my daughter
The hobs on our cooker are fairly simple to use. Four knobs with icons representing which gas hob they will control and a button to ignite the gas. The further you turn one of the knobs, the more gas is released and in turn the more heat gets generated (once ignited). The oven is quite old so I question the safety a little as I could turn one of the gas knobs on and walk away and the gas would keep streaming. Why not activate the ignite spark as soon as the gas knob has been turned. I’m sure modern gas cookers do this.
06.40 – Wash and brush teeth
Our bathroom sink has two taps – one hot and one cold. The design of taps that we have don’t show the class red/blue markings that show which is which so it’s trial and error and then remember.
07.00 – Kids TV
This is one interface controlling another interface in that I need to use a TV/Cable remote to control the cable TV providers own on-screen channel interface. There is a lot to remember here but the remote does a fairly good job by way of colours and descriptive text with occasional icon thrown in. The on-screen interface can be a little slow to respond which sometimes causes you to push the button a few times too many.
07.45 – Drive to work
The car probably has the most complicated user interface of anything I use day-to-day. To begin with you rely on past experience of control placement but the user manual also comes into play for specifics. Icons are heavily relied on probably due to international language. Most controls feel solid and feedback is immediate.<
08.30 – Arrive at work
Our office requires a swipe card and PIN to enter. The card is marked with an arrow to show direction of swipe and the key pad has clear user feedback. The buttons are flat and there isn’t much sensation to know they have been pressed though there is a beep. The LCD provides useful feedback.
The rest of the day is taken up by using a PC and phone so I’m skipping these.
20.00 – Pay for restaurant meal
Credit card slots into the top and the LCD provides clear instructions. The buttons are rubber and I’ve always felt that these are unstable. There is a beep on press but it’s very quiet.
Conclusion
Interface design is an important part of our lives even away from the computer. I’m sure I probably didn’t snap every interface I cam across either. Whilst the visual aesthetics are important, function, clarity and build quality should be priority.
[...] A day of User Interface Design [...]
cool idea. be sweet (if not time consuming) to take it to the total extreme in a video, show everything that you have to interface with, door handles, road signs/markings and the restaurent menu.
Good idea Nick. Head cam, heart rate monitor and thought bubbles too? The lock on my front door is a bit sticky so those thoughts would need censoring.
[...] A day of User Interface Design [...]
In good design, aesthetics and function are one.
A lot of UI design is cultural. More than many people realize, especially those working in that field. I’m looking at a desk lamp when I write this and its on/off switch is a rocker marked I and O, with no serifs. Someone unschooled in binary may wonder what words the I and the O stand for, does O stand for On or Off, and what does I stand for? Illuminate? Luckily the trial and error is rapid and the error part has no downside. Imagine though if it were an airbag on/off switch.
And a lot of the cultural aspects of UI design are icon-based as well.
I once saw a task delivery system where the operators saw an icon of a pencil snapping in half. I asked what it meant. It was to pause the delivery of the tasks. Oh, I get it. Pause delivery… take a break… break the pencil. How can anyone put an English language pun in a UI element?
Another example: a UI that had an icon of a striding man that was used to start the processing of a named rule. To run the rule, hence a man running. Only in certain selected languages would that have any meaning of course. I was only thankful that the icon designer had not been thinking of executing the rule!
I’ve never really considered the use of the binary symbols Alasdhair. So the common ‘on/off” symbol is basically a combined ’1′ and ’0′?
I did some extensive icon design work for a children’s blog/email/calendar interface and we had to re-consider the icons in use today and their relevance. Very interesting work.
There is so many varying views on design and style that it is really out of the question to please anyone sadly…
This is a great article. I love all the images you used. Sometimes they are more powerful than words!