Design Critique: Products for People

Tec-Ed CEO Stephanie Rosenbaum joins Tim Keirnan for a critique of two different electric kettle designs that heat water quickly and precisely: the KRUPS BW3140 Savoy and the Cuisinart CPK-17 PerfecTemp.
Both designs accomplish the goal but in very different ways. The KRUPS kettle has its user interface in its base and excellent balance in its carafe, while the Cuisinart has its user interface in the handle of the carafe with better labeling, but worse ergonomics for the carafe itself. We discuss the details thoroughly, along with reflecting on how complex a user population can be for even the most simple tasks like heating water. Keep that user research going, whatever your product or service...
Also, Stephanie received the UXPA's Lifetime Achievement Award the day before recording this!

NOTE: Tim's memory was faulty about the cost of the kettles. They were closer to $90US each.

You can find more details and photos for these products at the KRUPS website and the Cuisinart website.

Tim recounts a 401K benefits website usability failure to cohost Dave Mitropoulos-Rundus. They then discuss the foundational importance of usability testing and of tracking the all-important time on task metric.

Even in 2022, the most professional-looking website can disappoint customers if if UX fails at the most fundamental tasks.

Five years and 50,000 miles in the making, this critique of the 2016 Scion FR-S (aka Subaru BRZ or Toyota 86) puts the long in longitudinal review! Cohosts Eric and Ryan return to help Tim discuss the complete customer experience with the car from encounter, to decision, to purchase, to initial use, to longitudinal reflection.
The "Toyobaru" is in our opinions one of the most successful user-centered car designs we've ever experienced. Toyota and Subaru aimed this car at a narrow customer segment and created something with an enthusiastic following and enough sales to continue the model into a second generation. It never tries to be all things to all people, but rather succeeds in creating passion and loyalty in its customers' hearts.
This episode is way longer than usual at 100 minutes so here are the segment timings:
00:00-51:00 Encounter, Decision, Purchase, Initial Use
51:00-1:07:34 Longitudinal Use and Final Year
1:07:35-1:21:19 Second Generation Improvements
1:21:20-1:40:33 Special Guest and Conclusion A design this pure, with a customer base so well defined, is proof that large corporations can delight customers if an executive champion and a dedicated team work in concert to achieve their customer-centric goal.

Pinar Guvenc, a partner at Sour Studio, joins Tim for a discussion on how this consultancy does their Architecture, Interior Design, Product Design, and Public Spaces work. Sour is a hybrid design studio with the mission of addressing social and urban problems through sustainable and inclusive methodologies. Sour's use of co-creation panels and extended collaboration with all the diverse stakeholders on their projects is discussed, as well as a case study in public space design they did in Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey. Sour is proud to say they work "with" clients and stakeholders, not "for".

Check out Sour's work on making accessibility a priority in product design with their Degree Inclusive antiperspirant packaging and their ADA 1.0 clothing form that helps retailers make fashion accessible to people with disabilities.

You can find Sour at
https://www.sour.studio/

Read some information about Taksim Square as well as view some photos.

Instructional designer Brian Duck joins Tim for two topics: why are UX practitioners still having to persuade some companies that we need access to end users on our projects in 2021, and why Sony's ultra portable digital audio player is so bad compared with Samsung's player from 15 years ago.

00:00 - 08:00 We commiserate on the need in 2021, in some companies, to explain the fundamental need for early access to the end users of our projects rather than accept what managers dictate as "What the users need". Too many places still think requirements can be determined without proper stakeholder involvement.

08:00-40:00 We discuss the lack of progress in portable digital audio player UX by contrasting the superior UX of Samsung's 15-year old YP-U2J design with Sony's recent NWZ-B183 design that Tim is disappointed by. Brian tries each player for the first time to provide "newbie eyes" in this informal discussion ( this is not meant to be a real usability test). We discuss the importance of benchmarking a product category's UX among competing products before starting a project, and ensuring that those benchmarks are met or exceeded. We don't have any inside knowledge at Samsung or Sony about these two projects, but the glaring UX mistakes in the Sony are difficult to understand in 2021.

Our summary of UX advice for the portable digital audio player design space is what Samsung did right in 2006:
* Employ high contrast for easy reading in dim light and for users who have difficulty with fine print both on screen and on the body of the player.
* Employ large enough text for the same reasons both on the player and in the screen.
* Provide an asymmetrical cap shape and make sure it fits tightly to protect the USB port from being damaged.
* Provide an asymmetrical shape of the player itself to make it easy for users to operate by feel without eyes on. This includes the headphone jack location for players that are not solely bluetooth.
* Provide large enough and easily recognized hard buttons for basic function like Play, Next, Back, FF, REV.
* Ensure the firmware operates the hard buttons consistently as on the Samsung--the Sony unit changes the direction of the Next and Back buttons based on which menu screen a user is navigating, infuriating!

A positive review of the Sony that contrasts with Tim's disappointment:
https://www.techulator.com/resources/15789-Sony-Walkman-NWZ-B183F-review.aspx

A quick YouTube video of a delighted Samsung customer whose YP-U2J still works great after 15 years. Build quality matters as well as UX!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgbUrN_g7lQ

Gordon Olson, CEO of Torii Industries, joins Timothy Keirnan for a discussion about a new design of tank-less water heater. Tank-less water heaters remove the need for a large water tank to be heated 24 hours a day for occasional hot water use. Besides being inefficient use of energy, traditional tank water heaters can fail catastrophically, and provide large amounts of landfill waste after their useful life is over.
The Torii solution will replace an old centralized water heater with a tank-less model that uses a carbon foam inside the pipes of the unit to heat water very quickly & efficiently for use on demand. This design does not expose metallic components to the hot water that catalyzes oxidation and subsequent wear. Sensors and software will monitor the components and facilitate component replacement before any failures occur.
You can visit Torii Industries at
https://toriiway.com/

Dr. Laura Bix from the Michigan State University School of Packaging returns to the show! Her latest project was researching the packaging of medical supplies used by EMTs in the field as they stabilize patients and transport them to the hospital in the ambulance.

Dr. Bix describes how most medical supplies are normally packaged for the highly controlled Operating Room environment and how they might not work as well in the field and in ambulances. From initial investigation ideas, to recording ambulance environments on closed tracks, to constructing an ambulance simulator usability lab for testing the opening of packaging with EMTs under repeatable conditions, Dr. Bix walks us through all the phases of the project.

Here is an article on Dr. Bix's work at the school, including the study we talked about in this episode (I used two great photos from this article in this blog post, thank you MSU!):
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/packaging-the-industry-no-one-thinks-about-but-saves-lives

Visit the MSU School of Packaging website.

Even more links:
https://www.facebook.com/MSUPackaging
https://www.linkedin.com/company/msupackaging/
https://www.instagram.com/msupackaging/
https://www.instagram.com/msucoppac

Tim Keirnan interviews author David Loehr and designer Greg Swenson about the new memoir That's How Strong My Love Is: From Rock and Roll to James Dean. The memoir is an insider's perspective of rock and roll history, James Dean legacy, fashion, pop culture, and the counterculture of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s from New York to LA. This book is unique in that David, the world's foremost archivist of James Dean's remarkable life and career, saved so many artifacts from his own interesting life experiences to document them, including ticket stubs, posters, autographed photos, letters, post cards, clothing from various periods, photos, badges, pins, stage designs, newspaper clippings, and more. Greg worked with David to design the presentation of the memoir text and the appropriate artifact photos and scans, plus the cover.

David's memoir is on sale at the following places:
The James Dean Gallery (jamesdeangallery.com)
Ebay.com (https://www.ebay.com/itm/265176747370?hash=item3dbdc40d6a:g:MMMAAOSw~XhgsUW0)
Amazon.com (https://www.amazon.com/Thats-How-Strong-Love-Rock-n-Roll/dp/0578826151/ref=sr_1_1?crid=XH1Q1Z5PUE1D&dchild=1&keywords=that%27s+how+strong+my+love+is+book&qid=1627243483&sprefix=that%27s+how+strong+my+love+is%2Caps%2C200&sr=8-1)

Greg's book, "Recipes for Rebels", is another book design triumph and is available at the following places:
The James Dean Gallery (jamesdeangallery.com)
Recipes For Rebels site (https://www.recipes4rebels.com/?product=recipes-for-rebels-cookbook)
Amazon.com (https://www.amazon.com/Recipes-Rebels-kitchen-James-Dean/dp/0578165139/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1627243823&sr=8-2)

The incredibly good 8 minute documentary "Lenny's Shirts" on Lenny Prussack's fashion design career is at
https://youtu.be/eAuNU8npRv0

Lenny's shirts are available at his Etsy store at
https://www.etsy.com/shop/LennyShirts

This is a solo episode in which I critique the design of Abbott's BinaxNow Covid-19 Antigen Self Test. This test is available in retail stores (in the USA a pack of two is, at this time, about $20). It tests for proteins one's body makes when fighting a Covid-19 infection, the symptoms of which not everyone experiences in the same way. The use of rapid antigen self tests could revolutionize public health for COVID and beyond. Imagine getting ready to visit someone you love whose health is compromised in some way that makes them more risky to something that is going around your area. A rapid self-test can put the mind at ease, especially for symptoms that allergies can mimic. Use of rapid self tests can protect coworkers, family, friends, etc., because if enough people use them during a time of an outbreak, those who may test positive for being infectious can self-isolate and prevent the spread while they contact their doctor to get help if needed.

The BinaxNow test is as easy to use as advertised. The only improvements needed in my experience are a lower price per unit and less daunting technical communication. Perhaps for regulatory reasons, the BinaxNow instructions have a LOT of text on a double sided poster. But the instructions worked for me in the first use, so criticizing the instructions might be unfair.

As promised in the episode, here are some excellent links about the advantages of cheap, easy to use rapid antigen self tests from the two experts discussed in the episode:

Dr. Michael Mina's radio interview about rapid self-tests:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1XTc29ZGtM

Dr. Mina's article from December 2020 about rapid self tests' ability to stop Covid-19 spread quickly:
https://time.com/5912705/covid-19-stop-spread-christmas/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_term=ideas_covid-19&linkId=104733190

Dr. Robert Epstein's Carrier Separation Plan to use rapid self tests to stop the spread of any pathogen in a population:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.640009/full

A good paper on the importance of testing frequency and fast results for reducing an infectious disease:
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/1/eabd5393?utm_campaign=SciMag&utm_source=JHubbard&utm_medium=Twitter

The development of a rapid saliva test is on the way:
https://theshillongtimes.com/2021/05/21/new-rapid-antigen-test-can-detect-covid-in-saliva-accurately/

Another saliva test for Covid-19!
https://www.pleasantonweekly.com/print/story/2021/05/14/livermore-company-develops-first-rapid-saliva-covid-19-test

Eric Penn rejoins Tim Keirnan on the show for a critique of Garmin dash cameras. And on this show you know we bought them with our own money, no review units or other favors from the manufacturer. The guys discuss the following models:
* nuviCam LMTHD that combines a GPS with a dash cam
* Garmin 35
* Garmin 46
* Garmin Mini

In both Eric's and Tim's critiques, Garmin customer support was a big positive to the customer experience. The products were useful and usable, without any outstanding problems.

When Tim's nuviCam broke after only two years, Garmin customer support worked diligently to help him fix it. Even though it could not be fixed, having a company sincerely try to help solve a problem salvages a relationship and Tim would consider another Garmin purchase because the customer service. Our previous episode with customer service professional expert Charlotte Purvis rings true here.

In Eric's case, his 35 broke under the warranty period and Garmin quickly replaced it. No fuss, no muss. Eric discusses using the Garmin 46 and Garmin Mini together to record both front and rear views in his FiestaST.

Eric also talks about his use of Garmin products for cycling.