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Jan 04 2008
I was reading the Consumer Reports review on my car out of pure curiosity, and something bothered me. It got low marks for the controls not being designed intuitively. Being a designer, I'm certainly on "team intuitive design", but that's because the web is a place where intuitive design really matters. First of all, I beg to differ about my cars controls being counter-intuitive, but that's just me. Certainly a few things took some seeking out. I'm not seeing this as a big deal. Anything I didn't get right away, I learned quickly enough. It took me maybe 3 days to fully understand all the ins-and-outs of the car, including the navigation UI. Maybe CR is reporting intellectually to the lowest common denominator consumer.
I'm failing to see the use of reporting on how intuitive the controls are when there's no realistic expectation of fully understanding the whole car in 30 seconds. If you're purchasing a car, it's not beyond reason that you'll have the vehicle for at least 12 months. The whole point of something being intuitive is so that you understand it right away. This, for example, is very useful for the web because you have casual users coming and going. You make things intuitive so they can get around easily, resulting (hopefully) in a longer stay. In that case, intuition is something to consider.
As I see it, the only way having vehicle controls being counter-intuitive as negative is if you were renting a car. In this case, it could be argued that time spent in the vehicle, much like the time someone would spend on a website, is far more finite therefor it would be a larger issue if you couldn't just "get in and go".
For me, the decision to buy a car (or not) usually breaks down to about 75% passion and 25% usability. In many cases passion can (and should) outweigh usability. If a car is sexy enough, who really cares - for example - if the radio volume knob is under the seat. How long would it really take to get used to that? In the 90s, a Saab's ignition was part of the center console. That counter-intuitive design certainly didn't result in a shortage of those ugly bastards on the road.
In my humble opinion, information that should be included in the evaluation of a car should only be things that matter in the long run: gas usage, reliability, warranty, service records, etc. Whether or not something is designed intuitively seems to be purely objective. It makes about as much sense as scoring a car lower for being ugly.
I'm failing to see the use of reporting on how intuitive the controls are when there's no realistic expectation of fully understanding the whole car in 30 seconds. If you're purchasing a car, it's not beyond reason that you'll have the vehicle for at least 12 months. The whole point of something being intuitive is so that you understand it right away. This, for example, is very useful for the web because you have casual users coming and going. You make things intuitive so they can get around easily, resulting (hopefully) in a longer stay. In that case, intuition is something to consider.
As I see it, the only way having vehicle controls being counter-intuitive as negative is if you were renting a car. In this case, it could be argued that time spent in the vehicle, much like the time someone would spend on a website, is far more finite therefor it would be a larger issue if you couldn't just "get in and go".
For me, the decision to buy a car (or not) usually breaks down to about 75% passion and 25% usability. In many cases passion can (and should) outweigh usability. If a car is sexy enough, who really cares - for example - if the radio volume knob is under the seat. How long would it really take to get used to that? In the 90s, a Saab's ignition was part of the center console. That counter-intuitive design certainly didn't result in a shortage of those ugly bastards on the road.
In my humble opinion, information that should be included in the evaluation of a car should only be things that matter in the long run: gas usage, reliability, warranty, service records, etc. Whether or not something is designed intuitively seems to be purely objective. It makes about as much sense as scoring a car lower for being ugly.
Jan 17 2008
jake says...
yea i don't think the design is terrible... weird!
Feb 28 2008
nash says...
you're right to point out that there's a much different level of emotion and a vastly different level of investment (both time and emotion) in a vehicle than there is in an online t-shirt store. at the same time, online t-shirt stores don't weigh upwards of a ton and travel at have the power to kill bystanders or their users (although give me a heads-up if you plan on redesigning threadless with any of those features). the real usability concern of a volume knob under your seat is the amount of time it might require a given user to take their eyes off the road in order to turn their radio down.
there's always a trade-off involved when you're trying to build distinction or sophistication into an interface; there will always be someone at the design review who brings up the fact that their grandmother still uses a rotary phone. the saab ignition is a usability choice that has nothing to do with driving the car, since it's a function performed only at the beginning and end and never in between. stacking eight different functions on a windshield wiper mast that projects from the steering column, especially when one of those is a heavily-used feature... that's another thing entirely.
i didn't read CR and i don't know what kind of car you have, but i'd suggest that the compromise in telematics is separating usability priority by feature priority - if you're going to put anything under the seat, make it the switch to adjust the side mirrors or turn on the head-rest DVD players. make the volume knob big and put it on the driver's side of dashboard. etc.
Feb 28 2008
nash says...
oh yeah... and build some carriage return line breaks into your comments. man that shit i wrote looks like a mess
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