sugarenia.com

Motion detection mechanisms are quite common nowadays, especially in public toilets and WCs. Light goes on automatically when you enter the WC, water goes on when you place your hands under the tap, and so on.

But I don’t think that works, UX-wise. Why? Let me explain.

Let’s say you’ve got a toilet cubicle with a motion detection mechanism to turn on the light. If the mechanism is not properly placed, it will really be the last thing you try: You go in the room, you search automatically around for visible switches, you find none, you wiggle around a bit more, maybe even leave the place and come back again, and finally you shrug, deciding that oh well, what has to be done has to be done, even in the dark. And tada! You enter the cubicle, light goes on. Leaves you baffled (and relieved).

Now let’s take the other example, one of my favourites: let’s say you have a tap with motion detection. You see it, see no visible way of controling it, no stickers around. You try turning it (I know I’ve done that many times) but it won’t work. You look for buttons on the wall or on the floor, ’cause hey, you’ve seen that around, but there are none. No visible way of controlling a tap. What would you do? I’ve left. Many times.

So the problem with motion detection is exactly this: They usually are planted in the last place you’ll ever check. Getting your hands under a tap without turning it on somehow is really the last resort, not the first thing in your mind.

I know that motion detection systems are a great way of ensuring economy both in use of power and water, but sometimes, the fanci-ness of it all really gets on my nerves.

I think the Trident Senses chewing gum has one of the most convenient and intelligent gum packages that ever existed.

Check it out (warning, totally hideous picture from mobile phone):

It opens like an envelope and has two “shelves” for the pieces of gum. If you start eating them from the lower shelf, you can rip it off when all gums are gone, and tada! You have another - albeit slimmer - handy gum envelope at your disposal.

It’s one of the everyday design bits that makes you go “Wow. Those people took it seriously!”.

P.S. Am I the only one that thinks they should offer another flavour, more red-fruity? Think strawberries and cherrries and berries. Yum!

trident, senses, package, design

Pattern repositories are a nice and useful - for once - trend. What are they? In their basic form, they are just galleries with screenshots coming from different sites, showcasing the different approaches in, let’s say, search boxes or contact forms.

I’ve followed almost all pattern repositories that emerged during the last few months - most of those though had trouble updating with the latest site releases and became stale after a while.

Since then, I’ve relied mostly to Flickr for finding inspiration for specific web design modules, until I thought oh what the eff, I’ll post my tids’n'bits from here and there too. Be sure to check them out, I’ll try and update it as much as I can.

Partners to the crime: Paparazzi! for the full screen site screenshots, Skitch for the insta-uploading to Flickr.

P.S. For something more substantial than my mediocre attempts, try out Pattern Tap, the latest and greatest in patterns sharing.

pattern tap, pattern, repositories, ux

I think I am.

I’ll prove it to you. Bring me forth any weirdly operating door, a shiny elevator or even a mere fancy faucet. I won’t be able to use the object at first. I’ll have to stop, study it for a while and then - maybe - I’ll make it work.

I remember not being able to wash my hands, to operate revolving doors, to flush the toilet (sorry for the eww moment), all more than once.

I always was like that - I suck at recognizing new usage patterns in objects. Sometimes, this proves useful, since I can relate to naive users more easily. But at all times, this quirk has made me an object of mockery and laughs.

Am I to blame that I cannot use faucets? I don’t know. Should I stop and examine a faucet before using it? I don’t think.

Lay off with the innovative designs people. Innovation is good, but we surely don’t need a hundred new ways of operating a revolving door. Or a faucet. I really hate faucets.

For this one time, my dear designers, don’t break the rules.

All yours,
t3h st00pid g1rl

P.S. At least it seems I’m not alone. Read this book.

design, usability, design of everyday things, donald norman

We’re living in a web era that constraints seem to be the latest trend: nowadays, it seems everything must lack something to succeed. Usually, it’s features.

I’m not complaining - I like constraints. I’ve found out that my 1200+ updates in Twitter have seriously improved my writing skills, since I have to express everything in 140 characters. Flickr made a bold move, adding a tiny limit (compared to YouTube) to video lengths, consequently turning its newcomer Video service to more like a Long Photograph service.

Internationally, users have learned to embrace lack of features and seek simplicity in web apps, which should focus on finding their niche and not just do everything at once.

Or have they?

I’m puzzled - do users really like all the fancy features we all work so hard to provide them, or are they happy with what they get at the first place?

Discuss.

constraints, flickr, youtube, twitter, users