Big little things
The finest details of design can sometimes have a pretty big effect on how easy or difficult it is to use a product. Even things that are, superficially at least, at the periphery of what you’re trying to do can make the difference between a good and bad experience. Here are two examples drawn from my own recent experiences.
The good : my iPod headphones
Well, actually there’s nothing particularly special about the headphones themselves. As far as headphones go, they’re perfectly adequate. The design feature that I really love about them, though, is the little slidey plastic thing that keeps the ear-pieces together when you’re not using them. On my old iPod ‘phones I used to spend frustrating hours (or what seemed like it) cursing as I grappled with a twisted tangle of spaghetti that redefined the laws of topology while simultaneously preventing me from listening to the latest Ricky Gervais podcast. However carefully I stored the headphones I always ended up with the same jumbled morass. So great was my need to solve this problem that I’d even designed the plastic slidey thing in my head before I realized it actually existed. As it turns out, the contrast between the two sets of headphones is so great that I’m genuinely pleased every time I effortlessly separate my earpieces and start listening to music. Of course, this also raises one of the great conundrums of design: you don’t really notice an awful lot of good design because you just get on with what you want to do (listening to music, in this case). It’s only when good design is contrasted with bad that you start to really appreciate its benefit.
The bad : SCART plugs
I think it’s fair to say that I loathe SCART plugs with a passion. When I switch on my TV just expect it to work. I don’t expect to have to adopt a yoga position to reach over the TV set to wiggle the SCART plug around, while at the same time trying to see whether the picture has miraculously appeared. SCART plugs seem monumentally poorly designed for their job (and let’s face it, their job is pretty simple!). Stupid things about SCART plugs are:
- They’re shallow, so you don’t get much purchase between the plug and socket.
- They have really heavy cables, which puts extra stress on the socket because cables usually hang out of the backs of things, rather than being supported.
- The cable doesn’t spread its weight evenly across the plug. The plugs have the cable coming out of the side so that it acts like a lever and slowly prises the plug from the socket.
I don’t think I’m alone in this. I found out from the guy who installed my digital TV that they have to use specially adapted SCART plugs with clips on them because one of the commonest causes of customer helpdesk calls is plugs working their way out of the back of set-top boxes.
The good thing about SCART sockets? Only that you don’t have to call them by their full name. Syndicat des Constructeurs d’Appareils Radio Récepteurs et Téléviseurs. See.
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About
I'm Stuart Church, a user experience consultant with Pure Usability in Bristol, UK. Sensorydrive is my personal blog and covers user experience design, information architecture, product design, psychology, research methods, perception and pretty much anything else that takes my fancy! You can find out a bit more about me if you want...
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