Comments for observing DESIGN

Comment on ESCALATORS: Why are they so BORING? by Carleton

Carleton — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:13:48 +0000

I would be very curious to see a curved escalator in person. It is much more difficult to design and build a curved escalator over a straight one. I would have thought it was impossible with out your photographic proof.

Comment on ESCALATORS: Why are they so BORING? by Andrea

Andrea — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:16:59 +0000

Escalator or not?
This is a picture of a moving ramp I encountered in Copenhagen, at first glance I thought it was an escalator. Although the looks are pretty standard the experience of getting on and off was engaging as it was new and not as easy as stepping onto an escalator.

http://picasaweb.google.com/andrea.beukema/Copenhagen#5270050356740362562

Comment on Wrong information or no information? by Michael Spitzer

Michael Spitzer — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:43:37 +0000

Thanks for the comment Carleton. I would agree that they don’t turn it off because someone spent a lot of money on it and turning it off would admit failure. If it works around 50% of the time (although it is probably less than that), it seems that that is good enough for some.

Just tonight I was told by the computer voice that there was a train arriving, followed by it telling me that a train would arrive in 3 minutes, followed by a train arriving, at which point (after it stopped) was I told again that the train was now arriving.

I am sure there are major design challenges also, like you said, but every other city I have been to with a system like this seems to get it right at least enough for people to trust the system (DC, San Francisco, London, Paris). Yes, the NYC system is old, but so is Paris’. It is also very large — but so far we’re just dealing with the L line which is about the simplest line in the system (just back and forth, no express tracks, etc.). If you think about it, how hard could it really be? I could stand it if it breaks down entirely now and again, but the fact that is is just plain wrong just doesn’t make sense.

Comment on Wrong information or no information? by Carleton

Carleton — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:15:21 +0000

I have to say, I have been curious about this for a long time. In particular, how was this system intended to work? And why does it fail so miserably? I can’t imagine proposing a system for tracking the trains which could be so unpredictable, but then again… I don’t know what the design challenges are.

I am also confused as to why they have not turned it off or improved it’s performance. I would assume it’s to save face.

Comment on Thinking about context by Rebecca

Rebecca — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:32:05 +0000

That’s a really interesting and disturbing image. It raises a question… Even if I had thought about the context of design a priori, I still might not have pictured all the weird contexts my design could have landed in. How then do you think about context without going crazy and trying to think of ALL the contexts. Is there a general question that is still more specific than, “What will the context be?” to help designers think through a potentially embarrassing display?

Comment on Etch-a-sketch and the iPhone by Carleton

Carleton — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 20:05:55 +0000

I would argue that a minimum of 4 fingers are required to erch-a-sketch. Those knobs are really hard to turn with out pinching them!

Comment on Cell phone key lock (almost) by Joslyn

Joslyn — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:03:54 +0000

Ok, I just tried this on my BlackBerry Curve. I was able to turn the phone off when the keyboard was locked, but when I turned it back on, the keyboard remained locked.
Interesting, though!