Design Notes:
Shrockworks sliders I reviewed. The review does not explicitly detail design features but the product has innovation in function design (sliders and steprails in one product) and they have a nice tucked and balanced look earns a wow.
http://www.adventuracompany.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=1
Maglite LED upgrade kit. Easy click on and brighter. Innovative function earns a wow, build quality is a bug.
http://www.adventuracompany.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=1
Power Adapters are the great frustrations because their size limits where you can plug them in. Often times you will find an outlet below the adapter blocked, limiting how many items you can plug in. BUG.
Design improvements would place the housing to the horizontal side rather than vertically aligned. See below for picture illustrations.
Bad design:
Good design:
Every discussion in design needs some Legos. I submit a design I made 15 years ago continues to survive. Not only is it a timeless design but its simplicity lends the structural integrity that can survive the abuse of a boy and his younger sister. WOW+
I am particularly pleased with the angular, compact, and dangerous presence of the craft.
Toyota FJ Cruiser doors and windows. BUG.
We spend alot of time talking about design doing things different and in ways that look good. I think Toyota got too zealous on these aspects with the FJ Cruiser. While the FJ excels in off-road driving, it suffers with its windows and doors.
The windows are poorly positioned and very small. The is a strong aesthetic statement from the windows; a very modern and aggressive look emerges from them. However, this is a vehicle that you drive and restrictive visibility and blindspots should be a greater concern than looks (although looks do sell).
The doors are a further burden. To enter or exit the back seats the front door must be opened and the front seat slid forward. On the trail your passengers are constantly getting in and out to spot for the driver and the system is just annoying. I would love to hear what the reasoning for the doors on the FJ is from the designers - and then tell them they need to change it.
A final minor bug note, the rear seats do not fold flat. Whether you want to move stuff or sleep in your vehicle, flat-folding seats are a must.
All of these bugs kept me from buying a Toyota when I replaced my Tacoma. I went with the Nissan Xterra Offroad. However, lots of people go with the FJ Cruiser and it is hard to tell how much of them decide because of the Toyota (and Cruiser) badge or the design factors.
Google Chrome tabs get a WOW and a Bug.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LiN2RdWSN0
Dynamic tabs are a great innovation for tabbed browsing. It makes tabs flexible to specific needs an user may find for a certain webpage. Those with large monitors may appreciate this feature the most, although its presence will not adversely effect small resolution enviroments. Movement is slick and solid and the browswer is fast.
The bug comes when I close a tab and cannot retrieve it. Having a recently viewed tabs feature could do much for this browser. Designing around people means we need to think like people. An non-user oriented design would say that if something is closed it is no longer needed. If we keep an user’s needs in mind we can see that managing and recalling information is done differently by different people and taking away options to recall is artificially limiting.
Digsby Bug
This multi-protocol chat client contains a show stopping bug for me. Whenever a message is recieved and Digsby is not the window in focus the taskbar will flash until you click on Digsby. If your taskbar is set to autohide it will pop out and flash at you. Users that hide their taskbar find themselves interrupted and distracted. Sadly this is available on competing software but not Digsby as a design choice. The creaters of the software felt that an option to turn off the flashing would result in making the options list cluttered and therefore confusing. I am reminded of our talks of having layers of accessiblity to features. New users have limited options presented and advanced users have the ability to open of a set of advanced options. Perhaps I can send Digsby to innovation class to learn about this idea.
Baconator WOW
This product gets a WOW simply for the already legendary name. An instant hit that resonates across America, land of the Baconator.
Product: HP 2710p Tablet PC
Design Feature: Pop out LED light: WOW
HP has made an attractive feature that adds value to this tablet at what is presumably a low cost to provide. When you are using this tablet in notebook mode at night you may find yourself having trouble with the keyboard. Simply push the small button along the top edge of the screen and a small LED light (the right circle above the screen) pops out and illuminates your keyboard with just the right amount of brightness. Mac uses glowing keys to illuminate the keys but I find this design to be more versatile – I can use the light to read off a source paper. Added bonus, clicking the light out is fun.
Logitech Harmony 880 Universal Remote Control WOW
Can a remote control be innovative? Some have tried over the years only to become so complex only the geekly may follow along while the normal people use their 42 different remotes.
“Choose the activity you want to do, not the component you want to turn on.” This phrase is a revelation and epitomizes quality innovation to me. I don’t think about what needs to be turned on and then set up to do use my home electronics because the electronics do it. Have I mentioned that I only need to select one item to do this.
Activity based that may not be the most amazing feature of this device. For that we look to the ease of setup, which is incredibly simple. To paraphrase one user comment I was told, it is, “totally 100% idiot proof and painless.” I find that statement hard to believe given A) there is a fair amount of complexity in home electronic systems B) a computer is needed and C) affordance is never something you can assume everyone will ‘get’ in a product. Regardless, the setup has an intuitive feel and once you pass that hurdle anyone can use the remote.
Sadly there is one more WOW factor with this device - the price tag of $250.00!
LorenV.com A personal WOW.
This website is were I really turned a corner in my web design abilities. It is built off an existing code base that I modified and built around my own vision with appended code and all new graphics. It is meant to feel like discovery and exploration in our world and ourselves with the classic and the modern coming together to the future.
-LorenV