Design Matters

Guest blogger,  Aaron Stewart, Human Factors Engineer, speaks out about SimpleTap. I want to thank him for sharing his thoughts with the Design Matters audience.  David

When I meet someone new, I often wonder what they think when I tell them I am a human factors engineer.  Some seemingly wonder what exactly it is that I factor about humans.  Others just say “that sounds cool.”  Most get the basic gist when I reference usability or ergonomics.  My stock answer as a member of the User Experience and Design team at Lenovo is that I help make our products easy and comfortable to use.  That is really just the surface of what we do, but it works in quick conversation.

At its core, human factors work is about scrutinizing the interaction between people and whatever is around them (e.g. machines, signage,  furniture).  Classically speaking, the focus is on ensuring a person efficiently and safely accomplishes a task.  Is the order of operations clear?  How long does the task take?  What are the mental and physical risks?  It is rationale, analytical stuff.  You might be asking who invited Spock to the party. Well, human factors engineers often do.  In fact, the term “nerd out” is now just part of our occupational lingo.

Rejected SimpleTap launch gesture

ThinkPad strikes a chord with many as it seems purpose-built.  After all, a notebook computer is inherently a tool that we use for a variety of tasks.  And where there are products built for tasks, there are human factors to resolve.  We analyze…ok, we obsess over the impacts that aspects like control location and software interface design have on productivity and comfort.  In some respects, the more the ThinkPad is unobtrusive in accomplishing those tasks, the more our team has done our job.  In the process of serving as means to an end, however, a tool just might create an enjoyable experience.  In fact, I’ll argue it should.  Whether it is noticing the familiar feel of your trusty keyboard or using a touchscreen gesture to pan through a map, you just might catch yourself feeling some emotion toward your ThinkPad.  It’s OK, we won’t tell anyone.

David recently blogged about a new software application for ThinkPad called SimpleTap.  Optimized for touch input, it offers quick access to a customizable control center for your ThinkPad (link to previous post).  Sounds task-oriented and useful, right?  Spock was certainly consulted during initial brainstorming.  SimpleTap needed to effectively serve a need, but we had other intentions with the design.  In using SimpleTap, you’ll notice some elements of playfulness.  The tiles within SimpleTap can be flicked around the screen after which they may bounce off of one another or the edge of the display.  Why?  Building healthy tension with an analytical view, sometimes the better question is why not?  Your scatted tiles can be quickly realigned with a handy alignment control.  When clean up is easy, making a mess can be a good time.  Tapping the tile for controlling display brightness opens a preview through SimpleTap to your display contents.  You need to see the true effects of your adjustments, right?  The manner in which the preview opens may playfully remind of you of something.  One hint: think Saturday morning, that’s all folks.  Finally, the tiles on-screen are customizable in number, function, position and color.  We want you to be able to create your control center.

Animation showing the SimpleTap fun side

Designing good product interaction requires a perspective that is equal parts rationale and emotional.  SimpleTap is an example of employing that approach.  The User Experience and Design team vows to help deliver thoughtful and useful function.  In using it, we hope you allow time to have some fun.

Aaron Stewart