Wow, this article just really rubs me the wrong way. Any professional ethnographer worth their salt would see a myriad of problems with this guy and his 'research'. I guess that what happens when you apply for a UI job and end up doing usability research.
I am shocked that he finds basic things as multiple SIM card adapters as interesting as he does. These have been around for 10 years and are common in first world countries as well. That plus the bland "phones could be designed to work better" conclusion (taken verbatim from the article) makes it obvious how Nokia have lost their way since their highs of the early 2000s...
The moment where you cease seeing a tool as a tool, and start "just using it". Ubiquitous Computing's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubiquitous_computing) philosophy is based on the idea of embedding technology where you need it in a way that you cease to notice the interface.
Sadly, it's *not* common practice. But it should be. Usability testing is cheap and the benefits of the better design easily outweigh the cost. I guess the biggest expense for a company is having a usability team, although they can hire consultants or contractors.
I'm all for a return to "appliance" design (which thankfully Apple seem to support) - making the device as simple as possible, even if it means removing features that some users want.
I would've thought Participatory Design was a long-standing (40 years now) 'solution' to this problem. While it's not perfect, with some focus on how to get engineers to talk (and listen!) to users PD is a really exciting method (or philosophy rather) of design which promotes innovation *and* usability.
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Wow, this article just really rubs me the wrong way. Any professional ethnographer worth their salt would see a myriad of problems with this guy and his 'research'. I guess that what happens when you apply for a UI job and end up doing usability research. I am shocked that he finds basic things as multiple SIM card adapters as interesting as he does. These have been around for 10 years and are common in first world countries as well. That plus the bland "phones could be designed to work better" conclusion (taken verbatim from the article) makes it obvious how Nokia have lost their way since their highs of the early 2000s...
See Heidegger's Hammer - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heideggerian_terminology#Ready-to-Hand
The moment where you cease seeing a tool as a tool, and start "just using it". Ubiquitous Computing's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubiquitous_computing) philosophy is based on the idea of embedding technology where you need it in a way that you cease to notice the interface.
Sadly, it's *not* common practice. But it should be. Usability testing is cheap and the benefits of the better design easily outweigh the cost. I guess the biggest expense for a company is having a usability team, although they can hire consultants or contractors.
I'm all for a return to "appliance" design (which thankfully Apple seem to support) - making the device as simple as possible, even if it means removing features that some users want.
I would've thought Participatory Design was a long-standing (40 years now) 'solution' to this problem. While it's not perfect, with some focus on how to get engineers to talk (and listen!) to users PD is a really exciting method (or philosophy rather) of design which promotes innovation *and* usability.