Exercise 5- Jenny Kassen

I LOVE, I HATE


My alarm clock is a nightmare of a design. Although a valiant effort was made to keep it simple and travel sized, as well as easy to use, many of its compositional elements simply end up being dysfunctional.
The organization of the clock face tries to utilize hierarchy, by grouping the three “time” functions underneath the digital clock, and the additional functions below that, the legibility of the text used to explain the functions of each button is so small and has so little contrast to the colour of the plastic, that it is almost impossible, at first glance, to know what to do with the controls.
The slide bars that control the extra control options, (that hold up to five choices, and are labeled both top and bottom), are constricted, but are also very sticky. This means that any late night, or absent minded alarm setting either ends up in the wrong category, (“2nd time, time set, calendar etc…), or not turned on at all. The interfacing is equally confusing. With only three quadrants in the screen, there is no reasoning behind the dispersing of the controls.


My coffee maker, on the other hand, is a work of art. Not only does it provide me with copious amount s of caffeine, but it involves minimal work or thinking.
The controls are split up according to the 80/20 rule. On the right hand side is a slider bar with “on” to the far left, “off” in the middle, and the “auto” function to the far right. (On and Off being the controls that I use, easily eighty per cent of the time.) On the left, clearly mapped and legible in type and contrast, are three buttons that allow the coffee maker to be pre set. Its accessibility comes in the form of visual feedback, a red light to signify the maker is on, in aural feedback, the sound of the coffee brewing, and in the raised buttons for each function. The affordance of the design is found in the finger indents, for where parts pull out, and on the raised ring on the heating plate, to make sure the pot is in its place.