ExperienceLab

Product ‘mash ups’: an interesting way forward?

Some recent product releases and announcements have been of interest. Not because they represent completely new ideas but because they seem to present an interesting blending of two or more product elements into a new product.

Take the recently announced nook e-reader from Barnes and Noble. The new device features an e-ink screen for reading text plus a touch sensitive colour screen at the bottom. The colour screen allows a user to flow through book covers using gestures and touch. If you were to blend elements of standard e-readers with the iPhone or iPod Touch the nook could well be the result.

In a previous blog we have expressed doubts about e-readers. In the case of the nook it is possible that the colour screen might detract from the experience of becoming ‘lost’ in a good book, however the combined functionality does seem intriguing.

This also makes me wonder what other products and design elements could be ‘mashed up’ to produce something new. Ideas on an electronic post card please!

'Naked Streets’ - an example of when less is more

Recent trials in the UK and in Holland have shown that a street with fewer lights, signs and road markings can actually make crowded roads safer. These so-called 'Naked Streets' allow traffic to flow freely (and slowly) while drivers seem to take extra care and give more consideration to other road users. 

It seems counter-intuitive that removing traffic lights would cause drivers to slow down, negotiate junctions more carefully and look out for pedestrians more diligently. But that is exactly what happens when the lights at a junction are faulty - everyone takes more care. The 'Naked Streets’ initiatives capitalise on this by deliberately taking things away. The result? Drivers, cyclists and pedestrians are more likely to make eye contact and afford each other more space and respect as a result.

I also wonder if by removing some of the street furniture we might make our environments simpler to understand at a glance. As experience designers we know that every element within range of our senses competes for our attention. Each aspect that needs to be processed and understood takes time, time that might otherwise be spent on looking out for the unexpected. Indeed all of this reminds me of the old saying that a design is complete when there is nothing else (superfluous) left to take away.

POWERMAT - an end to cable / charger clutter?

Last summer our family packed in preparation for our holiday. It took most of the day to get ready and load the car, allowing for everything needed by 3 children, 2 adults and 1 dog. A long drive lay ahead and the car was loaded with gadgets and entertainment devices to keep the kids happy. This included MP3 players and handheld games consoles, mobile phones, a camera and a camcorder. Plus, of course, a tangled mess of chargers, cables and power adaptors.   

Post Office no-queue system - is it ‘just the ticket’ or ‘too good to be true’?

Although, for the British, queuing seems to be one of our national sports, I hate waiting in lines at stations, bus stops, shops, Post Offices … the list goes on. In particular, I have always dreaded visits to the Post Office. Cue flashbacks of endless waits in very slow moving queues. This was, until last week…

Operation Flashpoint : a flash in the pan?

Looks like I'm in for a bit of a walk...

Last weekend as I was browsing my local games shop I came across a copy of Operation Flashpoint : Dragon rising. Now I've never played any of the previous titles in the series before, so I bought a copy for my 360.

The case promised that the game would put you as close to war as you would ever want to get, and now that I've played it I can certainly agree with them. However if I was going to get close to war in my decidedly un-military trained self then it would help if I had a bit of assistance, especially as I'm placed in charge of three other men.

The first mission of the game placed me directly onto a very nicely rendered landscape with my 'squad', having been told to take out a target on the map. I spent a few seconds moving myself around, seeing what the world had to offer and then was ready for what they had to throw at me. Now the game is pretty realistic, too realistic some might argue especially as I spent the next 20 minutes walking to a target some distance away only to be killed at my first encounter with the enemy.

Who wants a dedicated ereader?

Who wants a dedicated ereader? Not a lot of people. Not yet, anyway. But there are three groups, maybe four, that are hot for the Amazon Kindle, the Sony Reader, and the other wannabe contenders.

We've talked to scores of people in our studies, and we aren't yet seeing much demand for dedicated ereaders. People almost always like the ereaders better after they've tried them, but not enough to actually want to buy one.

The Amazon Kindle goes worldwide

Amazon's ebook machine, the Kindle, has just gone international making it legitimately available in my home country, the UK, for the first time. I'm excited -- I've been studying ebook readers for most of this year and this is the one that has the most buzz.

I've already been testing one borrowed from an American friend so I know what it's like. It feels great in the hand, just the right weight and with nicely curved edges and corners. The pages turn much more quickly than with the first generation Sony Reader I was using. I like the 'read aloud' feature and the large font sizes when my eyes got tired. And when I tried it out in the States, the shopping features were head and shoulders above any other ebook reader we've seen.

The new PSP go: initial impressions are mixed

Sony launched the PSP go on the 1st October 2009. Here at ExperienceLab we like to think of ourselves as intrepid researchers, so I volunteered to take a look at the new device (well, someone had to!).

In this article I summarise my initial impressions of the new PSP and the setup process. Despite having owned the original for several years my experience with the new product was not entirely positive. 

I have concerns about the physical design of the device, as well as a few gripes regarding the setup process and associated Sony PlayStation websites. For further details read on.

Why do video games have a limited play-time?

Games suffer from having an end. Games tend to work in one of two ways – either they work along a linear storyline or they continue indefinitely by ramping up the difficulty level. The problem with the former is that stories tend to have a beginning, a middle and an end. Once you’ve reached the end, there seems little point in starting back at the beginning again, unless you have the memory capacity of a spoon.

National digital retune causes problems

September 30^th was National Freeview Retune Day. This was a reshuffle of channels proceeding the introduction of High Definition on Freeview. Despite it being widely trailed beforehand, the confused of the nation still caused the website explaining the changes to crash and were calling the Freeview helpline at a rate of 200 calls per minute seeking advice.