From the monthly archives:

June 2009

Heatmapping the Keyboard

by Anne McLaughlin

David Hill over at DesignMatters has an excellent post on how Lenovo collected data for a keyboard redesign.  Below is an excerpt, but please visit his site for the entire tale.
We thought that taking an updated look at key frequency of use would be a good place to start in order to uncover innovation opportunity. Things do change over the years. [...]

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HF/Usability Potpourri

by Richard Pak

Study Suggests People Prefer Bing’s Design To Google’s
“The study was an intense focus group in which 12 subjects were monitored with eye-tracking cameras as they conducted searches. Afterward, they were interviewed and completed a survey.” (TechCrunch with usability report)
Nielsen recommends abandoning password masking in online forms
“Usability suffers when users type in passwords and the only feedback they get is [...]

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Smartphones as Event-based Prospective Memory Aids

by Richard Pak
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The calendar functions of devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and  smartphones have always been types of time-based prospective memory aids.  An item to be remembered in the future (e.g., go to meeting at 4 pm) is entered into the calendar and when that time arrives we are reminded with a notification or alarm (hence the term time-based).
Prospective memory [...]

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(face) Gestures Interface

by Richard Pak

Peter Squire sends in what is most likely an early April fools joke by the creators of the Opera web browser (right before 4/1/09). It is an interesting interaction idea nonetheless.

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Electric Scooters and their Warnings: A Guest Post by Kim Wolfinbarger

by Anne McLaughlin
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Electric shopping carts are common in large grocery stores. Essential for users with mobility impairments, they are also helpful for pregnant women, elderly shoppers, and other who have trouble walking long distances.
A few months ago, my grandfather overturned such a cart in a parking lot and broke his hip. Interested in what might have caused the accident, I examined a [...]

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Applied Decision Making Aids in the News

by Anne McLaughlin

NPR covers ways psychologists have discovered to nudge irrational decisions  in a better direction.
An excerpt:
In the city of Greensboro, N.C., there’s a program designed for teenage mothers. To prevent these teens from having another child, the city offers each of them $1 a day for every day they are not pregnant. It turns out that the psychological power of that [...]

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Invisible Lines and Laundry Detergent

by Anne McLaughlin

Consumer Reports tackled a pet peeve of mine: the invisible fill lines for laundry detergent. Most of you are probably using too much.. I finally took a sharpie to mine. Some excerpts from the Consumer Reports article:
“If the lines aren’t clear or are hard to see, it’s easy to overdose and use too much detergent,” says Pat Slaven, a program [...]

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Watch out for Un-Equalsteppings!

by Richard Pak

Reader Joe C. sent in this unusual warning on a door.
It was on the entry door to one of the screens at a local cinema. The un-equalsteppings just turned out to be a slope! Not sure why they couldn’t of just told me it was a slope.

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Emergency Checklists and Aviation

by Anne McLaughlin

The recent water landing into the Hudson is still being investigated. This AP article focuses on whether flight attendants were trained not to open the back door of the plane during a water landing, but the most interesting bit comes at the end:
Another concern is whether the FAA and airlines need to revise emergency procedures for pilots in the event [...]

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Bad Astronomy on Usability

by Richard Pak

One of my favorite science blogs, Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy, recently touched upon a usability topic which gives me an excuse to link to his blog!  The story gets goofy from there (a rivalry between him and actor Wil Wheaton ensues).
He is complaining about an upgrade to Apple’s iMovie which reduced features but more important reduced the usability of the [...]

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Cannot be Undone (double negatives on iphone)

by Richard Pak

I just saw this image from Apple’s introduction of the new iPhone:
Notice the wording:  I understand that this action cannot be undone or cancelled [ed: British spelling, huh].
Does that mean it can be done?  Not a huge deal but the double negative slowed me down for a second.  Not a place where there should be any confusion!  Off-topic, I just [...]

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Can you hear me now? Why yes, I can!

by Richard Pak

I just ran across this review of the Jitterbug phone and service.  It is a MVNO (a virtual mobile phone company) that rides on the Sprint mobile phone service.  The added value of Jitterbug is that the phone is designed to be simple (for older adults).  In this review, one thing caught my attention:
The trouble with finding a full coverage [...]

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Infographics Galore!

by Richard Pak

Set aside some time to browse this treasure trove of infographics. I love infographics but someone should do a study–do they improve comprehension?
[from kottke]

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Solution for ATM glare

by Richard Pak

I was trawling Flickr for some images for a project and ran across this funny picture. It is clearly a solution for bad glare on the screen.
Update, it is clearly technology appropriated from the 23nd century…see below (thanks Steve for pointing it out):

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