This is a lovely example of great design. Beautiful, too. I'm sad to see it didn't catch on.
On a related note, I would like to own an EV -- but a touchscreen operated car is out of the question. Where did all those competent designers go and why didn't they design an electric car?
Cthulhu_ 20 days ago [-]
Thankfully it looks/sounds like they're moving away again from touchscreen-only operation. It's probably an Apple effect where the established brands follow the innovator, without actually confirming what the innovator did was good.
they ripped out the GUI-based controls after a bad crash
(actual story is more complicated though -- they transferred partial control of the helm to another station, instead of transferring full control, leading the new operator to think they had lost control of the boat. similar thing happened with air france 447 where a single pilot panicked and the others couldn't observe their control input)
eternityforest 17 days ago [-]
UX for control from multiple places is just really hard:
* How do you know what you have control of
* How do you take/give control
* When you release control, does the other guy's input instantly take over?
* Or does it only take effect when the other guy makes a change something?
* Do you need to be able to see the specific inputs the other guy is giving?
* Do you need to see the actual outputs if the result is actually some merged combination of inputs?
* Under what circumstances should the computer skip scheduled automated tasks due to manual action being taken(See the Gare de Lyon rail disaster)
* Do users need to know about the presence of absence of an automated control input that could, but has not yet taken effect?
* Does anything special need to happen when nobody at all is controlling it?
In home automation, the usual solution is basically just a mutable global, anything can change it, when you're not actively changing it, leave it alone so someone else can... But if you need more than that it gets complicated in a hurry.
hawski 20 days ago [-]
I don't like this design all that much. It makes sense, but it is too spaced out for me.
I love the design I have in my current car - Renault Laguna 3. The HVAC control panel is between air vents and on the top it has three buttons: Soft, Auto and Fast. I like how it uses words with no negative connotations (it could be Slow and Hard). Soft is for it to be quiet, Auto is the most common setting for me and Fast is self-explanatory, though also recommended if you have passengers on the backseat. Then there is the current temperature (and other HVAC settings) display and finally very comfortable and big up/down rocker switches to change the temperature with a 0.5°C resolution. I usually do not change the temperature much. A knob seems to invite changes for people who do not understand a concept of a thermostat.
Then there is AC off, closed circulation, fan speed and air distribution buttons. Right below this are buttons for quick defogging (I don't know how to call it) and the back window heating. Buttons that do not change the state shown on the LCD display have their little LEDs to signify their state.
The analysis of real-life interfaces is quite interesting, and as a novice in the field I had never reflected much on the by-feature / by-operation / by-technology / by-use case distinction.
curtisf 20 days ago [-]
Only tangentially related, but just yesterday I learned of Lego's defunct "Modulex" brand, and the serious and apparently widely popular Lego-brick-based project management display boards from the '60s to the '90s.
The small size and comforting pastel colors seemed especially inviting to me.
It makes me yearn for more tactile and actually pleasant-to-work-with computer UIs.
I wonder if there’s a 3D printed version somewhere online
jddj 20 days ago [-]
I'd like it if I could zoom on my phone on a site about ui/ux with small pictures.
iamjackg 20 days ago [-]
If you're on Android, there's an accessibility option in Firefox and Chrome that allows you to always zoom on any page, even if the website normally prevents it. On Firefox it's under Settings -> Accessibility -> Zoom on all websites.
jddj 20 days ago [-]
That's better, thanks
20 days ago [-]
george_cave 20 days ago [-]
Hey, I'm the author of this site!
You're on Android I think, based on the other comments here? I only have an iPhone to test, but I can pinch+expand the site on my phone no problem. Was not intentional to have blocked it! Sorry, I'll see if I can work out why.
Thanks! Will try shortly. I guess iOS/Safari just ignores this property then.
jddj 20 days ago [-]
Firefox Android, yep.
That makes some sense actually if iOS ignores it. Whenever I come across the behaviour I wonder why, but if it's just a copy/paste magic meta tag which goes unnoticed by most browsers then I can see how that could proliferate.
george_cave 20 days ago [-]
Ok, this should be fixed now, let me know if you still can't zoom!
jddj 20 days ago [-]
Works, thanks
tda 20 days ago [-]
Works for me!
20 days ago [-]
ndjdjddjsjj 20 days ago [-]
My Samsung phone on Chrome lets me.
mlsu 20 days ago [-]
Hah! Awesome post. I have to say my favorite as a kid was the white radar screen with the "38" on it. Maybe I should have gone into UX?
istrice 20 days ago [-]
This kind of post makes me tingle with joy
sghiassy 20 days ago [-]
It’s like a Christmas ornament. Unnecessary in utility, and yet so fun to enjoy
soulofmischief 20 days ago [-]
I wish my phone was more like a bop-it.
hennell 20 days ago [-]
You're only a tube of glue and a bad decision away
Cthulhu_ 20 days ago [-]
I wish I had a use case for a cyberdeck.
DonHopkins 20 days ago [-]
Somebody posted some beautiful and inspired Lego renderings of their red science pack factory, created in Bricklink Studio 2.0, to the Factorio Facebook group.
Seems like they moved the power button to the top of the column.
RedShift1 20 days ago [-]
In my car (BMW from 2012), the engine does not shut off when you press the start/stop button when you're driving. It only shuts off the engine when you press it AND you're stationary. This seems like a totally obvious interlock to me, it puzzles me that Ford didn't think of this and as a solution moved the button instead.
stavros 20 days ago [-]
Does that button really start and stop the engine? In other cars I've seen, the start/stop button (with similar iconography) toggles the start/stop system, which shuts off the engine when the car is stationary to avoid pollution.
nom 20 days ago [-]
The best interface bricks are these ones that actually work:
They even put an accelerometer in it, so it can show a working horizon!
The console bricks were so special back then. When you got one in a set it was like finding a rare specimen. Bricks look all alike, but those were different!
That's the UI. There's no actual interaction with the screens.
eru 20 days ago [-]
UX stands for user experience, not for interaction?
mulmen 20 days ago [-]
How do you experience an interactive system without… interaction?
edent 20 days ago [-]
Imagine you go to a foreign country. You want to buy a train ticket. You walk to the station and go to the ticket machine. You see a dizzying array of levers, buttons, sliders, and dials. Each labelled with diagrams which don't make sense to you.
You back away slowly from the machine and try to find a human ticket seller.
Have you experienced the machine?
mulmen 19 days ago [-]
No.
19 days ago [-]
20 days ago [-]
eru 19 days ago [-]
How do you interface with an interactive system without interaction?
chefandy 20 days ago [-]
Even if they were talking about interaction design (sometimes called IX) specifically, rather than experience design, the interaction is in handling, moving, and combining them. They don’t need to have a dynamic electronic interaction to be interactive. I’m not sure a toy with absolutely no interaction would still be a toy.
seumars 20 days ago [-]
Yes, but in this specific case the focus is on the design elements labeled onto the lego blocks.
carlosjobim 20 days ago [-]
You can interact with them for example by licking them, or stepping on them.
adolph 18 days ago [-]
Techno-optimism assumptions in the wild:
Most interfaces in our world contain a blend of digital screens and analog inputs like switches and dials.
awinter-py 19 days ago [-]
'organized -- chaotic' and 'all screen -- no screen' are truly the main axes of UI design
starlite-5008 20 days ago [-]
[dead]
raroma92 20 days ago [-]
[dead]
20 days ago [-]
Rendered at 01:55:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
The UX of Lego Interface Panels (2020) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29502811 - Dec 2021 (10 comments)
The UX of Lego Interface Panels - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24035866 - Aug 2020 (38 comments)
On a related note, I would like to own an EV -- but a touchscreen operated car is out of the question. Where did all those competent designers go and why didn't they design an electric car?
https://news.usni.org/2019/08/09/navy-reverting-ddgs-back-to...
they ripped out the GUI-based controls after a bad crash
(actual story is more complicated though -- they transferred partial control of the helm to another station, instead of transferring full control, leading the new operator to think they had lost control of the boat. similar thing happened with air france 447 where a single pilot panicked and the others couldn't observe their control input)
* How do you know what you have control of
* How do you take/give control
* When you release control, does the other guy's input instantly take over?
* Or does it only take effect when the other guy makes a change something?
* Do you need to be able to see the specific inputs the other guy is giving?
* Do you need to see the actual outputs if the result is actually some merged combination of inputs?
* Under what circumstances should the computer skip scheduled automated tasks due to manual action being taken(See the Gare de Lyon rail disaster)
* Do users need to know about the presence of absence of an automated control input that could, but has not yet taken effect?
* Does anything special need to happen when nobody at all is controlling it?
In home automation, the usual solution is basically just a mutable global, anything can change it, when you're not actively changing it, leave it alone so someone else can... But if you need more than that it gets complicated in a hurry.
I love the design I have in my current car - Renault Laguna 3. The HVAC control panel is between air vents and on the top it has three buttons: Soft, Auto and Fast. I like how it uses words with no negative connotations (it could be Slow and Hard). Soft is for it to be quiet, Auto is the most common setting for me and Fast is self-explanatory, though also recommended if you have passengers on the backseat. Then there is the current temperature (and other HVAC settings) display and finally very comfortable and big up/down rocker switches to change the temperature with a 0.5°C resolution. I usually do not change the temperature much. A knob seems to invite changes for people who do not understand a concept of a thermostat.
Then there is AC off, closed circulation, fan speed and air distribution buttons. Right below this are buttons for quick defogging (I don't know how to call it) and the back window heating. Buttons that do not change the state shown on the LCD display have their little LEDs to signify their state.
You can see it in action here: https://youtu.be/oNHvtI_8A5w?t=12
The small size and comforting pastel colors seemed especially inviting to me.
It makes me yearn for more tactile and actually pleasant-to-work-with computer UIs.
That makes some sense actually if iOS ignores it. Whenever I come across the behaviour I wonder why, but if it's just a copy/paste magic meta tag which goes unnoticed by most browsers then I can see how that could proliferate.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/factoriogroup/posts/24121149...
https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2015/05/recalled-li...
Seems like they moved the power button to the top of the column.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=0pUV_3qeHog
They even put an accelerometer in it, so it can show a working horizon!
The console bricks were so special back then. When you got one in a set it was like finding a rare specimen. Bricks look all alike, but those were different!
You back away slowly from the machine and try to find a human ticket seller.
Have you experienced the machine?
Most interfaces in our world contain a blend of digital screens and analog inputs like switches and dials.