09.09.2009
Miranda Capra /
Consumer Products /
Usability /
Web & Software
My husband downloaded the Kindle application for his iPhone recently, and, despite having a PhD in Computer Science/HCI, immediately proceeded to accidentally purchase a book. He started off well, downloading a free sample of the book from the Kindle store (screenshots 1 + 2). When he reached the end of the sample (screenshot 3) he wanted pricing information for purchasing, so he clicked on “Buy Now” and poof! purchased the book (screenshot 4). I’m not sure what surprised me more – the fact that Amazon, which has been doing online shopping for almost 15 years, managed to create an application that made it so easy to accidentally purchase a book, or that the accidental purchase seemed to be anticipated. Because after purchasing the book, the confirmation screen asked “Purchased by accident?” and provided a large “Cancel this order” button that immediately canceled the order. After I found out how easy it was to cancel the order, I had to try this myself, and decided that the design wasn’t nearly as terrible as I thought at first. Let me explain…
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09.02.2009
Miranda Capra /
Consumer Products /
Usability
Eric Taub of the New York Times posted on his blog this week an explanation of how Vizio, which was founded in 2002, became the largest seller of LCD TVs in the US. One of his key points: they provide an easy-to-understand one-sheet summary of how to hook up the TV, because no one wants to read a manual. If you can’t figure out how to hook up your TV, how likely are you to keep it?
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08.21.2009
Miranda Capra /
Consumer Products /
Usability /
User Research
Last month I bought new shower curtain rings for my bathroom. Actually, not rings, I’m so tired of the plastic rings I’ve been using forever, so difficult to open and snap closed, and half the time one of them breaks when I open it. Instead I decided to buy elegant metal s-shaped shower curtain hooks from Target. What a mistake! Every time I opened or closed my shower curtain, several rings came off the pole, or the curtain came off the hooks, and a few times a hook fell off completely and hit me in the head. They looked so good, where did the design go wrong?
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08.05.2009
Miranda Capra /
Human Factors /
Usability /
Usability Lab /
User Research
In a previous blog, I discussed the pros and cons of having a one-way mirror in your usability lab. A one-way mirror is glass that has been coated with a thin layer of metal so that it’s reflective, like a mirror. It’s called a one-way mirror because in one direction it’s a mirror, but in the other direction it’s a window. There’s some debate about the proper name – many people call it a two-way mirror because either side can be used as a mirror by changing which room is lit and which room is dark. They’re commonly used in usability labs and focus group rooms, but also in other locations like observation rooms in police stations and day care facilities. Once you’ve decided that you want a one-way mirror for your usability lab, what next? Here are some tips for designing your one-way mirror, based on our experiences building our lab (including consultation with a professional acoustician) and experiences that our moderators have had in other labs.
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07.13.2009
Miranda Capra /
Human Factors /
Usability
I downloaded the game
Wolfenstein 3D for my iPod Touch the other day. This is one of the early first-person shooter games, where the perspective is as if you are looking out over your gun, and the world moves around you. The advantage of first-person perspective is that your own body, vehicle, robot, or whatever doesn’t block your view. The disadvantage is that they are well known for inducing motion sickness in many people that play these games. After about 5 minutes of playing Wolfenstein I gave up because I felt sick to my stomach, and I’m deleting the app from my iPod.
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06.24.2009
Miranda Capra /
Human Factors /
Usability /
Usability Lab /
User Research
When we moved into our new building in 2008, I was part of the team that designed our usability lab. One-way mirrors were an essential part of the design of the rooms. However, when our UK Partner, Amberlight, redesigned their usability lab in 2008, they didn’t use any mirrors, and our German partner, UID, also has a usability lab without mirrors. Do you need a one-way mirror?
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