07.28.2010
Miranda Capra /
Consumer Products /
Human Factors
Several months ago I bought my first electric toothbrush, and I have to admit that I’m in love. Not only is it a great toothbrush, but it’s a great example of a classic Human Factors design issue: function allocation between humans and machines. This is an issue that dates back to at least 1951 with Fitts Lists, and HABA-MABA lists, such as:
- Humans are best at (HABA) information retrieval using context and associations, machines are best at (MABA) information retrieval based on long lists and structured information.
- Humans are best at creative and adaptive tasks, machines are best at precise and repetitive tasks.
The lists change as machine capabilities change, but they are helpful when assessing a complex system and looking for places where machine automation can help, such as scanning barcodes at the grocery store instead of typing in prices, and where they introduce new problems, such as airplane pilots having difficulty staying awake during long flights because so many tasks have been automated. So how does this apply to my toothbrush?
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06.25.2010
Miranda Capra /
Consumer Products /
Human Factors /
Industrial Design /
Mobile
I’m sad to say that my new iPhone has the same “death grip” problem as everyone else. If I hold it so that my hand bridges two of the three metal bands that encircle the device, the reception bars drop. It’s especially bad if you bridge a gap in the bands at the bottom-left corner of the device, right where it nestles into your palm if you hold it left-handed. What was Apple thinking, building the antenna into an exposed metal band around the edge of the phone?
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02.15.2010
Andrew Wirtanen /
Consumer Products /
Mobile
Do you have long fingernails? Do you live in a cold climate and often wear gloves? Well, device manufacturers may be ignoring you.
There are two popular types of touchscreens: capacitive and resistive. Capactive touchscreens (e.g. iPhone or iPod Touch) work when a conductive object (e.g. finger or stylus) touches the screen. Resistive touchscreens (e.g. Garmin or TomTom GPS unit) work when pressure is applied to the screen. Digitimes reported on February 12th that most Taiwanese touchscreen manufacturers are not going to manufacture resistive touchscreens anymore.
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02.08.2010
Andy Hamilton /
Consumer Products /
Industrial Design
Come see some of the new ‘sophisticated and sleek‘ home decor accessories HumanCentric designed with PartyLite.
You will find traditional objects with a modern twist. Keep an eye out for lotus-inspired flourishes and obelisks that have found new life in new materials.
01.25.2010
Miranda Capra /
Consumer Products /
Usability /
User Experience /
Web & Software
Games are an interesting design challenge because if they’re too easy they’re no fun, and if they’re too hard they’re no fun, and “easy” and “hard” may be different for different people. Party games, or video games that you’d break out with a group of friends, are a special challenge because they need to be fun for the group, which may contain people with mixed skill levels or experience. Wii Sports is a great video game because the direct interaction style is fun. Want to swing the tennis racket? Just swing the controller! But it quickly became a party game, even for people that didn’t play video games. Why? Because it was intuitive, easy to learn. No need to memorize complex combinations of button presses used in many video games. Instead, people could pick up a controller and start playing immediately.
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01.14.2010
Miranda Capra /
Consumer Products /
Mobile /
New Technology
Note: This week we are reacting to CES 2010, which was last week in Las Vegas.
Zomm has created a keychain fob that’s a Bluetooth accessory for your phone. It pairs with your mobile phone, and then it beeps if it gets more than 50 yards away from your phone, to help you remember to take your phone with you. It also doubles as a personal alarm and way to talk to emergency personnel. The folks at CES also thought it was cool, they awarded it “The Best of Innovations” Award. This is a great example of design to avoid mistakes. For many of us it’s pretty difficult to leave home without keys because we have to lock the front door and start the car, but it’s much easier to forget your phone at home or on a table at a restaurant. With Zomm, as long as you have your keys, you’ll remember your phone. If you keep your phone in your purse it can help you remember both, but if you forget your keys too you’re completely stuck.
01.12.2010
Andrew Wirtanen /
Consumer Products /
Trends
Note: This week we are reacting to CES 2010, which was last week in Las Vegas.
The Internet is coming back in a big way to HDTVs. Since WebTV debuted in 1996, things have certainly changed. The biggest revelation is that we’ve realized we don’t want websites to look the same way that they do on our computers. The past two years of CES have introduced a large number of Internet-ready set-top boxes (STBs) and Internet-enabled TVs. Along with these changes, I’m afraid that something is being overlooked, something small but very necessary: the keyboard.
Source: Gizmodo
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12.18.2009
Miranda Capra /
Consumer Products /
Gestural Interfaces /
New Technology /
Usability
Our friends at Amberlight have written a review of Apple’s Magic Mouse.
If you haven’t heard, the entire surface of the Magic Mouse is touch-sensitive, and the mouse supports several touch gestures for interacting with your computer. So head on over to our other blog, TouchThinking, and read all about it!
TouchThinking is a gestural interfaces blog that members of the International Usability Partners contribute to (including us, HumanCentric).
11.23.2009
Miranda Capra /
Consumer Products /
Human Factors
A few years ago I bought a new can opener that leaves a smooth edge on the lid of the can so that you don’t have to worry about cutting yourself on the lid. The first time I tried to use it, it took me 10 minutes and I completely mangled the lid of the can in the process. Why? Because the new can opener look very similar to my old one, but worked in a completely different fashion. Let me show you some example can openers to explain what happened.
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11.18.2009
Dan Mauney /
Consumer Products /
Mobile /
Trends
I am a relatively new user to the iPhone, having just purchased one this summer. I bought the iPhone primarily on the promise of 3rd party applications making my life easier. Switching to AT&T from Verizon was difficult because the network coverage of Verizon is so much better where I live and travel, but I was ready to make use of these 3rd party Internet-enabled applications to improve my life.
All-in-all, the iPhone has delivered on that promise. Nothing demonstrated that better than a recent trip to Paris. I have done a bit of international travel, but this was to be my first time to France. France is famous for not wanting to speak English to tourists and I don’t know a lick of French and I was traveling alone, so I did more than my usual preparations for this trip.
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