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Industrial design | Product development | 416—651-3539 |
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User Centered Design: All Interaction is not at the Computer |
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Question: Describe the user’s task by task interaction with the device. Answer: All interaction is at the computer. This is a hands-off no button device. Variations of this answer are common to the question we ask in the requirements phase of our industrial design process. When pressed however, it is always revealed the device requires some amount of human interaction, from installation to operation to service. Hence the wording “task by task interaction”, not “how do you use the device”, which usually has ambiguous answers. It is fundamental to good user centered design to determine this human-device interaction. Good user centered design is one of the most important features in product development, as Akio Morita, late CEO of Sony, infers in his paradigm: “Eventually all technology becomes affordable. The only thing distinguishing your product is its design.” While not denying the importance of technology and performance, the overall user experience determines long term success both of the product and of the company. As products become more computer controlled, the controlling software becomes more complex and any purposeful user centered design is assumed by software developers resulting in the ubiquitous “Graphical User Interface”. Consequently, any actual user-device interaction is forgotten, denied or de-emphasized, resulting in those features assumed by discipline specific engineers developing the controlling subsystem and viewed under the critical eye of functional performance and cost. This is Akio Morita’s paradigm by half measure: the device will probably not be successful despite the attempt at user centered design in software only. A common and simple product development mistake is the “is it on?” phenomenon. Large, complex system-based stand alone devices have no status indicators: lights, noise or motion. This may be a conscious development from the product specification document: it’s believed they’re unnecessary, as, all interaction is at the computer. If questioned, user’s quite often admit that, fundamentally, they need to know that the device is on, it’s working, the command or instruction they sent from the computer was received. Partly this can be attributed to a psychological desire, a comfort feeling that they’re going to be successful in doing their job. Also, very often these devices are a tour stop when the CEO is hosting investors, partners or customers. Having a device show that it is actually working is required. Another substantiation for status indicators is corporate vanity. You as a producer need to both develop a brand image and show your device in its best light. A user centered design best practice in the software industry is to layout and design all graphical user interface screens and menu selections prior to any coding. User centered design for user-device interaction should adopt this best practice. Product development teams must accept that user’s need to and will interact with the device. The experience should be a positive one. We return to our question “Describe the user’s task by task interaction with the device.” Now, let’s answer it. © Pier Design, 2004 |
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