Weblog for reading internet design.

I just wanted to share some thoughts on today’s seminar by Philips Design:

The main project they showed us today was the Ambient Experience in which they created a system of “ambient” graphics to guide patients through the process of an MRI.

The first thought I had was that this seemed slightly pointless. The only time I had an MRI, I was so doped up, they could have had naked cheerleaders and I wouldn’t have noticed. (How would you know that they were cheerleaders if they didn’t have the uniforms?)

But, the most practical application seemed to be the comfort level of the children that would be placed into this machine. That made sense to me.

They also showed the interface for an un-named coffee machine, that could adjust your cream and sugar. Again, I take my coffee black. It was a fairly cool interface.

But somewhere between hazelnut implants and mocha soy latte grande flachito, I realized that my thinking was flawed. If I was designing everything for myself, digital cameras wouldn’t make that fucking shutter sound, my iPod wouldn’t *CLICK, and things would only make noise when my attention was needed.

But a lot of people aren’t used to technology and the idea of depending on technology, so they need this reinforcement that these devices are working, which usually is in the form of it’s analogue predecessor. Technology’s relation to society is definately in a transitional phase, and many people need these old comforts.

I haven’t always kept in mind what the end user wants in my projects. I just somehow assumed that they were somewhat like me, but they aren’t, which is probably why Myspace is so popular.

Oh yeah, Ambient Experience: With all that other stuff in mind, I can see why people would probably dig it, but for someone who doesn’t go to the doctor a lot, it would seem kind of weird. I guess I want my doctor’s office to make that clicking shutter sound.

This entry was posted on Thursday, 8 February 2007 at 2:30 pm and is filed under Interactive Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.