This quote from Norman reminds of a recent story in the news regarding Lexus and their keyless ignition system. A number of cases have been documented in which people have driven their cars into their attached garages and left them running, having used the keyless ignition. The cars were left running as the owners did not noticing that their cars were still running as they entered their homes. The result? Carbon monoxide poisoning, in some cases leading to death. Below is a link to a short news clip outlining the story (sorry, the tag was broken & I couldn't embed the video):
NBC News Story & Video
This story serves to reinforce Norman's opinion that "it is even more important to add some naturalistic sounds outside the vehicle" (p. 64).
The idea of 'designing in' signals (often in the form of sound) to indicate status at first glance seems a good idea. However, as noted by Norman, there are many drawbacks to sounds that are used and they can be downright annoying. Norman talks about 'scurrying about trying to find the source of signals' (p. 60), an activity that I must admit I have engaged in a number of times, unable to find the source of some irritating warning tone that had been adopted by some device in my house. (As it happens, it was the smoke alarm, that intermittently sent out a series of 3 bleeps ... never when I was close by though and able to positively identify it as the source!) Having had this experience I certainly appreciate Norman's advice to "always try to find some naturally occurring component of the system that can serve as an informative cue about the state of things" (p. 60).
On a side note, some time ago I was given a novelty gift by a friend. It is called 'Al Dente' - a musical device intended to alert you as to when your pasta is cooked. After 9 minutes, Al performs the "Trimphal March" from Aida, after 11 minutes the "Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves" from Nabucco, and after 13 minutes, "La Donna e Mobile" from Rigoletto. I've used the device once ... I prefer the more natural method of watching/listening for the water to boil and throwing a piece of pasta at the wall - if it sticks, it's done!Here's a short clip of Al Dente in action:
"Once designs are thought of as shared communication and technologies as media, the entire design philosophy changes radically, but in a positive and constructive way" (p. 67).
"Affordances are not fixed properties: they are relationships that hold between objects and agents" (p. 68).
"The ability of a person to discover and make use of affordances is one of the important ways that people function so well, even in novel situations when encountering novel objects" (p. 68).
"Providing effective, perceivable affordances is important in the design of today's things" (p. 68).
"visual, perceivable affordances"
I think that these last blue quotes have implications for our current design decisions. In the development of our application, it is important that we consider the affordances of the technology and the ways in which users will make use of those affordances. Our goal should be to provide those 'effective, visual, perceivable affordances' that will enable users to most effectively and efficiently accomplish their goals.
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