|
One of my earliest design awareness memories is the spark set off by a magazine ad in the 70s about a futuristic archeology dig done by a society that unearthed a 20th century car stereo. Based on the size and arrangement of the controls, the future scientists deduced a description of the creatures who must have used it.
“They had”, the report postulates, “eight or ten very thin fingers approximately eight inches long…”
Of course, who could blame the archeologist for naively assuming this intelligent civilization would have actually designed its devices to conform to the physical and emotional needs of its population?
“Hmmm”, I thought. “Why the hell wouldn’t a car stereo have big, easy-to-hit buttons (if it had buttons at all) and intuitive controls? Doesn’t a body have to manipulate these while driving?
Some 30 years later and only now are we seeing real changes in design of car stereo controls that seem aimed at making the driver’s life easier (and all of ours a little safer).
Looking back, even the stereo advertised in the magazine so busy poking fun of its competition, did little in my opinion to answer its own criticisms.
|
