unpressable buttons

The Aspirin Point: Shrinking ingredients liberate design

2013-06-10T07:44:00.001-07:00

Rain Noe recently wrote in Core77 about the "Aspirin Point", where the functional component of a product (a few milligrams of the drug) becomes so small that the physical design of the product (the pill) becomes essentially independent. This is incredibly liberating from a design point of view, because the product can be designed purely for the best possible use case. The Aspirin Point is gradually reaching consumer electronics, and USB flash drives are one of the first products to get there. In the tiny drive shown here (images from Rain), the cylinder that protrudes from the port isn't needed for electronics - it's purely ergonomic and aesthetic. What's the right shape? The right diameter, edge, and surface for a user to be able to remove it easily but prevent snagging on things? It's great to consider those questions all by themselves!

The Yellow Dog Project: Designing a message...

2013-06-04T15:45:00.002-07:00

As a dog owner - especially since my dog is an energetic pit bull - I try to be responsible when my dog is approached by other animals or children. But it can be difficult, when even the humans don't always ask before interacting with her - and when they do, the question often carries a distinct connotation: "Is she friendly?" I don't want to answer "no" because she is friendly, but she also needs her space, so the answer to that question is longer and more awkward than the asker expected. The Yellow Dog Project is trying to make that answer both easier and preemptive, suggesting a yellow ribbon or bow on the leash of any dog who needs this kind of consideration. It's a good attempt so far: the yellow-ribbon signal is flexible enough to be easy but specific enough to be recognizable. The trick is getting word of it to catch on, because its effectiveness will depend on reaching a critical mass. An awareness campaign by the ASPCA would be a good ol' 20th-century method, but the Yellow Dog Project currently has over 23,000 likes on Facebook. That's a start - now if only other dogs could be taught what that yellow ribbon means, too...

Good Design Starts with the Right Problem

2013-05-28T08:37:00.003-07:00

I recently attended a workshop on the Stanford d.school's design innovation methodology given by Jeremy Utley, and he shared an excellent story about defining the right problem before designing the solution. Paraphrasing and simplifying: a project brief called for less-expensive infant incubators (about $2k) for use in Nepalese hospitals, where normal incubators (about $20k) were too costly to purchase and maintain. It sounded like a straightforward, well-defined project - until the team went to Nepal and noticed that there were no babies in the hospital. They learned that most babies were actually born in rural areas because parents couldn't make the long trip to a faraway hospital - and so the problem was redefined. Instead of "a low-cost incubator for hospitals," the real need was to "keep infants warm in rural areas" - in a way that's easy, portable, and works without electricity. The result of the effort became the Embrace Infant Warmer, a $25 sleeping-bag-like pouch that uses a phase-change material ("rechargeable" in boiling water) to keep a constant temperature. It's a fantastic example of how assumptions should always be questioned as a first step in design - it can mean the difference between merely giving the client what they ask for, versus truly giving users what they need!

eBooks Stuck in the Physical World

2013-05-06T07:05:00.000-07:00

I do a lot of reading on my digital devices: I read Kindle books on my phone and my tablet (until I left the dang thing on a plane), and read plenty of newspaper, magazine, and blog articles on mobile and laptop screens. Strangely, only one of these sources seems stuck in the past: eBooks, which insist on dividing the text into pages. Pages have no meaning on digital devices - just look at all the content that's happy to scroll vertically - but eBook software seems to insist that users want the "page" metaphor to live on. Gizmodo recently asked why, and Wired (where this image comes from!) did the same a year ago. Long story short: it's a crowd-pleaser, more a showpiece to entice buyers than a feature that helps users. At least for now - it could be argued that by comforting reluctant users with familiar paradigms, eBook apps are positioning themselves to usher those users gradually into the future. If so, I'm eagerly awaiting that future, where the versatility of digital content can be leveraged instead of dumbed down - and in the meantime, having the option to de-paginate wouldn't hurt!

No (Connected) Product is an Island

2013-05-02T10:53:00.000-07:00

Products these days are tending away from being stand-alone entities, and are instead gateways connected to ecosystems of other products and services. An iPhone isn't an island; the App Store, iTunes, iCloud, and all of Apple's services are critical parts of what it is. This is a shrewd play for companies with good ecosystem offerings like Apple, Android, and Amazon - but for those without solid accompanying ecosystems, it means that even very strong product design isn't enough. Gizmodo pointed out a few well-designed products that are suffering this fate in a post titled Hardware Comes Last: the Blackberry Z10, Nokia Lumia 920, and Chromebook Pixel. In each case, the individual product is excellent - but the ecosystems are so lacking that the whole product falls short. Perhaps the best hope is that some design elements will be stolen from these orphaned products and find their way into major ecosystems!

Feedly: Very good, but with surprising misses...

2013-04-22T09:24:00.004-07:00

Like many blog readers, I've been searching for a replacement for the beloved but soon-to-depart Google Reader. Feedly has emerged as the heir apparent, and with good reason: it's attractively designed, cross-platform, customizable, and duplicates the vast majority of Reader's functionality. However, there are a few surprising holes in Feedly's offering - and I thought I'd point them out here so fellow migrators will be warned, and maybe even the Feedly team will take notice and fix them!

Next Article / Previous Article: These are literally unpressable buttons because they don't exist: they're available as keyboard shortcuts, but not onscreen buttons. Making them keyboard shortcuts acknowledges them as worthwhile - so shouldn't I at least have the option to use my mouse for this interaction?
Save For Later: The location of the save-for-later button (the equivalent of "starring" in Google Reader) is illogical: it's only at the end of each article. If I'm saving something for later, it's likely because I haven't read it - which means I haven't gotten to the end of the article! Give me this button alongside the headline - that's where I really need it, especially in the full-article view mode I use most.
Unread Only: I use the "unread only" filter - but the way this filter actually works seems to be: "unread only, unless there are no unread articles, in which case show all articles." I hope this is a bug and not an extremely poor design decision! It's especially bad since I also filter by "oldest first" - so when I log on, I see either (a) new unread articles or (b) hundreds of month-old articles. If there's nothing new, why not give me the satisfaction of that big green checkmark I'm beginning to love so much?

So, Feedly ( #feedly or @feedly ), what do ya say? I'm a fan, but I could be happier...

The Feel of Non-Tactile GUIs...

2013-04-18T08:55:00.001-07:00

Despite the lack of tactile feedback, digital interfaces have a "feel" - and one of trickier elements for this are dropdown submenus. You know them: hovering your mouse over a menu option in a column causes more options to pop out to the right. The trick is that if the submenus pop out too quickly, the interaction is "slippery," and you can too easily slide to an adjacent option and the wrong submenu. So a delay is added, which is effective in preventing these mistakes but makes it feel "sluggish." Well, Ben Kamens has discovered how Amazon's dropdown submenus are lightning-quick and error free: tracking the path of the mouse, rather than its location. He determined that if the mouse moves from a menu option to any location in the colored triangle (shown for illustration here, but not actually visible), the current submenu stays open; if it leaves the triangle, the submenu changes with no delay. So it's not slippery, but it's still quick. It's the GUI equivalent of a tight-cornering nimble sports car - and that's a pretty good feel! Check out his explanation for some good animated examples of dropdown submenus that are slippery, sluggish, and just right.

[via Gizmodo]

When Product Specs Become Meaningless

2013-04-12T15:18:00.001-07:00

Gizmodo posted back in November 2012 that PPI - pixels per inch on digital displays - was about to become the "new most meaningless spec." It made me think about the forward progress of many product specifications until they reach a plateau of meaninglessness - where every product has it, making it better wouldn't matter, and so it's not worth talking about anymore. This has already happened with, for example, the number of colors a display can show, which is in the millions for essentially all displays. Sure, it's technically possible to keep going into billions and then trillions of colors - but nobody would be able to see the difference. PPI is about to join this club, with Apple's marketing blazing the trail by coining the term "Retina Display." But it's worth noting that they've constrained themselves with this designation: it makes no sense to create anything more than a Retina display, since it is by definition the PPI at which the human eye can no longer see pixelation. So, this is where the PPI arms race will end - and we focus on other specs that haven't yet become meaningless, but eventually will: processor speed, RAM and storage, network speed, camera resolution, and on and on and on...

HapiFork nudges you to slow your eating...

2013-03-05T09:46:00.001-08:00

Fitting squarely in that tricky category of "products designed to save us from ourselves," the HapiFork is a chubby little utensil that aims to make you, well, less chubby. It's generally known that eating too quickly contributes to overeating, so the HapiFork detects the rate of your fork servings and vibrates if you're eating to fast. In theory, a fine mechanism for self-control - but in practice, there could be problems. Meals are social occasions, and using a product with such a stigma (and no good looks to save it) may be a nonstarter. Still, similar user-guidance has worked for Sonicare toothbrushes which time your brushing and beep to cue a move to the next quadrant of your mouth - so maybe there's hope yet!

[via Gizmodo]

Starbucks Reusable Cup: A Helpful Hybrid

2013-02-27T09:31:00.003-08:00

Starbucks recently announced a $1 reusable cup option for your caffeine fix, in an attempt to reduce the cardboard cup waste resulting from over 98% of their drink sales. They know it's a tough proposition to BYOC - something fragile, expensive, even sentimental - but hope that an impulse buy might be persuasive, especially since it pays for itself over 10 drinks with 10-cent discounts. It's a hybrid between permanent and disposable, where you can reuse it but wouldn't really care if you lost it - the same tack Gladware took to compete with Tupperware. It doesn't last as long, it doesn't cost as much - but it shifts the balance from disposable to reusable, if not all the way to permanent and durable. That shift could help, if people buy into it - and here's hoping they will.
[via Gizmodo, photo from The Parkhurst Group]

TrailerTail, for shapely aerodynamic truck butts...

2013-02-22T08:41:00.002-08:00

The trucking industry is designed for efficiency: modular shipping containers, standardized everything, and even sleeper cabs help maintain razor-thin margins. However, the versatility-emphasized rectangular shape of the containers isn't designed for aerodynamic efficiency - and the boxy butt of a truck leaves a lot of gas-guzzling turbulence in its wake. But even if you can't change the standard, you may be able to adapt to it - which ATDynamics has done with its TrailerTail add-on. The flaps unfold from the back to streamline air flow and save fuel, reportedly paying for themselves in under a year. When every little bit counts, a clever design like this can make a big difference.
[via Core77]

Bevel Cup, a clean-storing coffee mug...

2013-02-11T08:03:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you don't notice a problem until a design comes along to fix it - and darned if coffee mugs don't fit the bill. Normal mugs can be stored sitting right side up, in which case dust and debris can fall in; or they can be stored upside down, which prevents proper drying if they're wet and gets the rim dirty regardless. The Bevel Cup from designers Gao Fenglin & Zhou Buyi finds a third way, with the cup resting on the flat 40-degree angle of its handle. Moisture drains, dust falls off, and the rim is held off the resting surface. Ergonomics may not be the best here, but if you tend toward germophobia this may be the mug for you!

[via Gizmodo]

iPhone Buttons Now More Pressable!

2013-02-06T09:09:00.001-08:00

Back in 2011 I wrote about some unpressable buttons on the iPhone: the media-player buttons that appear when double-clicking the home button from a locked screen were too close together, causing accidental track skips instead of the intended pauses. You can see that problem in the left screenshot; I mocked up a quick fix shown in the center; now Apple has fixed it in iOS 6.1 as shown on the right! Yes, I know that correlation doesn't imply causation - but I'd like to think I was one voice among many who pointed out this problem. Good job, Apple, for making your buttons much more pressable!

Soccer Ball for the Third World

2013-01-29T08:06:00.000-08:00

How do you take a mature and standardized first-world product - a soccer ball - and adapt it for the third world? The One World Futbol Project found that it takes a little rethinking: instead of a standard inflated ball that would quickly pop on a rocky makeshift soccer field, they designed a "virtually indestructible" solid foam ball that never needs a pump. The effort has all the other hallmarks of a good-for-everyone design: sustainability (the ball far outlasts normal ones, reducing waste), a buy-one-give-one program for first-world patrons, no child labor; heck, even Sting was involved. It's good to see that not all the design effort is being put into the newest state-of-the-art World Cup championship ball - good design can make more of a difference here than there.
[via Core77]

Parental Product Design #1: Diaper Genie

2013-01-22T07:30:00.003-08:00

It's been a while since the last new post here on Unpressable Buttons, but there's a good reason: I'm a new father! That also means a lot more coverage of parenting products, so let's start with a doozie: the Diaper Genie. This strikes me as a design that's fairly mature, seeming to have been refined over many iterations in a few short years. It's ended up packing some impressive features (and from the drawing above, heavily-patented features) into a pretty low-cost product: the continuous "tube" of bagging to simplify liner-changing; the well-located and obviously-childproof cutter to shear the bagging when removing a load; the two-stage sealing doors that work like an air lock to keep poopy smells in; and of course, the foot pedal, because you don't have any extra hands when changing a diaper. It's satisfyingly efficient, functional, no-nonsense - and unlike many baby products, non-cutesy. That's fine, though - the baby herself is plenty cute for me!

Design Jiu-Jitsu and the Change-Stealing Chair

2012-11-27T17:32:00.000-08:00

I'm always fascinated by the design jiu-jitsu performed when a product takes an old negative and turns it into a new positive. (Previously I covered Stain Stamp Mugs, where coffee stains shape themselves into attractive designs on the table.) Here's something a little sneakier, but no less clever: the Artful Dodger rocking chair is designed to steal all the change that falls from your pockets when you're sitting. No need to dig around in the cushions either, because the change is conveniently collected in a dispenser area in the back. And if the owner of the chair is a nice guy, he'll even give you your change back!
[via Gizmodo]

An Overdue Umbrella Upgrade

2012-11-19T09:39:00.000-08:00

The recent winner of a Red Dot Design Award, the Rain Shield by Lin Min-Wei and Liu Li-Hsiang seems to offer a couple of real improvements over the centuries-old standard design. That generous side panel protects against wind-blown rain or splashes from cars hitting puddles, or could help protect something else you're carrying. The structure seems more robust than a normal umbrella, using bent flexible tubes instead of flimsy hinged metal ribs - a stiff wind might twist this around, but you sense that it would just bend right back. And they didn't ignore practicality when it comes to storage, either - it wraps up into a slim disc that would fit better in a work bag than a stocky cylinder. Sure, there are probably a couple of catches that won't be found until this hits the market - but I'd give it a shot!
[via Gizmodo]

Technology Meets The Other Kind of Button

2012-11-13T09:22:00.001-08:00

With all the attention paid to interface buttons (especially by this blog, and even in its title), the good ol' clothing button must feel a bit neglected! But there's room for innovation even in the latter, as shown by Shapeways designer Egant and the clever-but-generically-named Button 2.0. A simple clip holds your headphone cord, keeping it in place during use and letting it hang close by otherwise. Admittedly, one could ask if it's worth it to sew one of these on every shirt you own, whether it'd match the other buttons well enough, and whether this feature should instead be designed into the headphone cord itself. But shhh, don't let the shirt button hear you - it deserves its day in the sun, for once in a long while!
[via Gizmodo]

It's Just a Shrunken iPad

2012-10-24T13:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Apple introduced the new iPad Mini - and with their typical fanfare, repeatedly insisted that it's "not just a shrunken iPad." Well, a bit of wisdom I've often found to be true is that whenever a product is hyped as "not just a" or "more than a," it's almost always just that thing. There can be exceptions, like when a feature is hidden from obvious sight, or when a specific combination of features makes it a fundamentally new product - but usually, those things are self-evident and don't need to be hyped. If you have to say it, that's usually because it's not true - and sorry, Apple, but the iPad Mini is just a shrunken down iPad!

Hey, Dish: Zero is not Ten!

2012-10-10T09:02:00.003-07:00

I feel sorry for the Dish technician who is getting totally screwed by bad design in this satisfaction survey. Check it out: you call a phone number to rate the technician on his service on a scale of 1 to 10. But to rate him a 10, you have to press zero; if you press 1-0 (sometimes also known as "ten"), it will only register the 1. That means that if you're trying to give him the best score possible, but don't pay attention to the special rules of the Dish universe, you'll inadvertently give him the worst score possible. The poor guy! To solve this problem, why not have the ratings go from 1 to 5? Or even 1 to 9? Or 1 to any number but 10? And in the meantime, where can I find a survey for my (dis-)satisfaction about the design of this survey?

Simple Stuff: The joys of a 10-foot USB cable...

2012-10-04T09:44:00.002-07:00

It's easy to obsess over the fast pace of quickly-improving gadgets, but sometimes it's the simple things that can provide a real benefit in usability. Gizmodo editor Casey Chan recently penned a love letter to the life-changing freedom of a 10-foot USB cable. As he put it: "It allows you to charge your phone while you dance around the room. It allows you to never worry about accidentally prying the outlet open because you have a lot more slack. You can do anything you want because the leash is longer. You have a lot more freedom. Trust me, it's 5 bucks. It's totally worth your money." So, why doesn't everyone jump on the long-leash bandwagon? Because these cables are a commodity; nobody makes money on them, nobody thinks they're the hot new thing, nobody cares - except the user. Good thing Gizmodo (ahem, and Unpressable Buttons) are here to help!

Tall Bookshelf Packs Its Own Ladder

2012-09-25T08:45:00.003-07:00

There's an attractive efficiency to problems that pack their own solutions - like soup cans that come with pop-tabs instead of requiring a can opener. Here's one that fits nicely in that category: the Higher Ground bookshelf by Karen King, available on Ideacious, which secretly stashes its own ladder to access the upper shelves. It's hidden so well that you'd never notice it - but even when it's pulled out for use, it looks good and seems to work well. That's a win-win!
[via Gizmodo]

XKCD's Ideal Fridge

2012-09-19T16:04:00.002-07:00

I'm a big fan of Randall Munroe's web comic XKCD - big ideas, geeky references, laugh-out-loud humor, and (perfectly) shoddy illustration. I've even covered them here before - twice! Anyway, here's his latest funny-but-plausible concept: a refrigerator which uses conveyor belts to move groceries along their expiration timeline, and eventually into a "BAD" bin. Typical of his attention to technical details, he's thought this out pretty well: the shelves are organized into different spans of time; the door conveyor belt has a functional but space-efficient ramp to dump its expired goods into the same bin as the main shelves; heck, the "BAD" bin even has a handle so it can be removed and emptied over a trash can. We're gradually outsourcing our logistical brainwork to our various devices these days, and this fridge fits right in with that trend. Well done, Mr Munroe - next stop, Kickstarter...?

Real Buttons for Touchscreens!

2012-09-10T09:42:00.003-07:00

I've always had mixed feelings about touchscreen buttons: they're infinitely versatile, allowing buttons to appear, disappear, and change for each specific situation. But the cost is that we abandon one of our five senses, as touch becomes useless to guide our fingers or feel the tactile force and click of the button. Tactus Technology wants to bring that sense back to touchscreens, with an overlay that allows buttons to physically morph up out of the display on demand. This is different from other haptic technologies, which use electrical or vibration feedback to simulate the feel of a button click - unlike those, this allows the buttons to be located with the sense of touch before being pressed. In fact, this seems pretty close to the ideal improvement that could be made to touchscreens. The only question is how well Tactus can make it work!

[via Core77]

Whaletale, the Portable Playspace

2012-08-23T08:12:00.002-07:00

I'm not a parent yet (though I will be in a few months!), so I'm not quite qualified to say how realistically practical this design truly is - but design student Daye Kim's Core77-Award-winning Whaletale is certainly inspirational. A soft and sanitary playspace folds out from the jetsetter-parent's rolling suitcase to create a private island in a bustling airport. Even the sitting suitcase seems to provide some kind of barrier or backstop against the rest of the world, and the form makes it feel as if some piece of home is literally flowing from the luggage. I know, that language is much more emotional/designery than my usual practical analysis - but for kids, shouldn't everything be a little bit magical?