ExperienceLab

Sticky fingers

Gelupo describe themselves as ‘the finest artisan gelato experience this side of the alps’ and I definitely agree. I love Gelupo! Since it open last June I’ve been through at least 9 loyalty cards and I go there so often that my friends describe it as my local pub.

The ice cream is delicious and the sorbets are so good that you can just count them as part of the normal ice cream selection (rather than the boring low calorie relatives) but it’s not just the ice cream that is good. The whole experience of eating at Gelupo is great.

 

'The customer is always right' - but are they bothered?

I visited my local Argos at the weekend, when collecting my product there was a customer feedback terminal positioned on the collection counter (see image). There were five questions on the terminal, each were quite wordy questions, with 5 ratings per question. I was only at the counter for 6 secs just to pick my product up; I didn't even have time to read the first question before I was on my way out the door (although I did have time to take a quick snap!). I was curious to see if other customers would have the time and interest to use the customer feedback terminal, so I waited and watched 8 customers go to the counter and collect their products. Not one person even took a second glance at the terminal.

Patient journeys - the importance of the door handle complaint...

When you walk in to my doctor’s office in Tooting, you are greeted with an overwhelming number of signs – what not to touch, when and where and how to exercise, what to eat, what not to drink – but the one that irks me is in CAPITALS:

“PLEASE SEE YOUR DOCTOR ABOUT ONE ISSUE ONLY.”

This sign harms the ability of the doctor to treat the “door handle complaint.”

Smoke signals

For me a hospital environment isn't usually a happy place. I imagine dreary walls, a quiet, dull, sterile environment, strange smells, boredom of waiting, and more waiting, pain... or is that just me?

However, I recently visited the nicest hospital I've ever been to and for someone like me, who's often waiting whilst another person has treatment, I found enough to do to keep me occupied and remove my worries!

Toyota opens Window to the World

We love this video of Toyota's "Window To The World", displayed at last weeks Our Future Mobility Now conference in Brussels.

The concept was developed in conjunction with the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID) and uses augmented reality to turn a pane of glass into an interactive display that provides passengers with information about landmarks as they pass. Even better, passengers can draw on the window, creating interaction with the passing environment.

Would be great to think that this type of technology could be the future of car travel, and surely a welcome relief for weary parents!

Improving the car parking experience

I recently visited Portsmouth and parked at Gun Wharf – the large outlet shopping centre there. Now, I don’t think I’m going to shatter anyone’s preconceptions if I say that parking is not normally an activity that causes people to bubble with excitement and happiness. It’s a frustrating experience of tediously driving around, trying to spot that elusive space. Car parks are typically designed to make this harder by arranging cars in rows, so that you drive past these rows and have to look down them to try to find a space – at which point we realise that the laws of perspective are not on our side, and more often than not that tiny Mini fools you into thinking there’s a space when there isn’t, or the gargantuan 4x4 is hiding a perfectly good space.

'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.

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…

Waiting for the sign to change

Timetable signs in airports and train stations started a new and unfortunate trend a few years ago, about the time they took down the old CRTs and replaced them with thin displays.

Instead of showing a single screen of information of the most imminent departures and arrivals, they began to show two or three screens in rotation. Their hearts were in the right place. They wanted to show more trains and planes. But the effect is not what was intended.

The main effect is that these signs often now cause pedestrian traffic jams underneath them while people wait for the sign to change, often in already chaotic environments full of people all in a rush.

Parking signs: are they too confusing?

It may be my age but I find it harder and harder to interpret the parking signs that surround us in the UK. The purpose of a parking sign is clear: tell a driver where and when they can park, and whether there is a charge or any time restrictions. That’s it. 

So how come some signs make it difficult to answer these questions? Why do I have to check other cars to see if they are displaying a ticket or a permit?

Take the generic example above. Why are both the yellow and the white panels needed as part of the sign? It creates twice the amount of text and numbers to read despite the fact that the timing restrictions for parking and loading are exactly the same.

Here is another example with four panels, lots of numbers and repeated references to permit holders. Now I reckon that permit holders know the area already and know where they can park because they have a permit and local knowledge. 

What does not leap out from this sign is when the non-permit holders can park. But then perhaps that’s the point...