Design Matters

World Usability Day 2008

November 13, 2008 Post a Comment (2 Comments)

It’s that time of year again. World Usability Day 2008.

This year’s theme is transportation. Related to that, a design blog I frequent regularly came across an interesting report:

And while browsing some of this, I found this interesting research report from the UX Alliance on Parking Meters around the world, with a focus on their ease (or not) of operation. Turns out that “… no two parking meters … are completely the same and that the complexity of operating the parking meters varies considerably. There is a world of difference between the auto-detecting parking meter in Tokyo and the complex and error-prone parking ticket dispenser in Amsterdam.”

David Hill

Posted in Design Innovation | 2 Comments »

2 Comments on “World Usability Day 2008”

Nathan Zeldes says:
November 14th, 2008 11:58 am
Hey, I’m honored that you frequent my blog regularly, David – Made my day!

Drop me an email and tell me where you are on the planet – I’d love to buy you a coffee when my travels get me nearby, and discuss Thinkpads and stuff.
Jon says:
November 14th, 2008 5:27 pm
Is this why ThinkPads haven’t changed in appearance, keyboard layout, or function key mapping in 5+ years?

I actually do appreciate this, as it made my transition from the T40 to an x200 very easy (almost nothing changed, just a little smaller, a little faster, and a little lighter). However, whenever I am forced to use an HP, Dell, etc. I am at a loss because they are a bit scatter shot in their design and usability.