Design of Everyday Things [94]
6.9 Overcoming Complexity through Organization. The remote control device A (above) for the Bang & Olufsen audio set (there are no controls on the set itself) serves numerous features and options. The controls are made simple through several principles. First, the buttons are grouped into logical, functional modules. Second, the display on the remote gives good feedback about the operation. Third, infrequently used controls are hidden beneath a panel B (below), which reduces the visual complexity in normal use but is available when needed.
In the case of the overly complex audio/television set, the components were from different manufacturers. Nonetheless, they were intended to be purchased and used individually. I have seen equal complexity in components from a single manufacturer. Some salespeople try to create the impression that this is how it has to be, that anyone with any technical competence can manage to work the devices. No, that attitude won’t work. The equipment is simply too complex, the interaction between components too overwhelming. There was nothing particularly elaborate about my colleague’s equipment. This person was reasonably sophisticated in technical things—she has a Ph.D. in computer science—but was baffled by an everyday audio set.
6.10 A Personal Instruction Manual. My colleague had to write out three pages of instructions to help herself set up any desired configuration of her audio/video components. Too many interacting parts, too much complexity.
One of the problems with audio/video equipment is that even if each component has been designed with care, the interaction between components causes problems. The tuner, cassette deck, television, VCR, CD player, and so on, all seem to be designed in relative isolation. Put them all together and there is chaos: an amazing proliferation of controls, lights, meters, and interconnections that can defeat even the most talented.
In this case, the false image is appearance of technical sophistication. This is the sin responsible for the extra complexity of many of our devices, from telephones and televisions to dishwashers and washing machines, from automobile dashboards to audiovisual sets. There is no remedy except through education. You might argue that this is a victimless sin, hurting only those who practice it, but this is not true. Manufacturers and designers produce products for what they perceive as their market demands; therefore, if enough people sin in this way—and the evidence is that they do—then all the rest of us must pay for the pleasures of a few. We pay in fancy, colorful-looking equipment that is nearly impossible to use.
The Foibles of Computer Systems
Now turn to the computer, an area where all the major difficulties of design can be found in profusion. In this realm the user is seldom considered. There is nothing particularly special about the computer; it is a machine, a human artifact, just like the other sorts of things we have looked at, and it poses few problems that we haven’t encountered already. But designers of computer systems seem particularly oblivious to the needs of users, particularly susceptible to all the pitfalls of design. The professional design community is seldom called in to help with computer products. Instead, design is left in the hands of engineers and programmers, people who usually have no experience, and no expertise in designing for people.
The abstract nature of the computer poses a particular challenge for the designer. The computer works electronically, invisibly, with no sign of the actions it is performing. And it is instructed through an abstract language, one that specifies the internal flow of control and movement of information,