Assignment 0 - A BAD DESIGN

Bad designs are all around us, but usually we don't bother to notice/remember them, which explains why I took quite some time to figure out this assignment , until I saw ....

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YES ! The NUS COMPUTERS!

That was when I remembered how these Dell comps used to give me problems. What I really thought is bad about their design lies in their CPU specifically, which I believe many of you might have encountered problems with the incovenient positioning of their thumbdrive slots :

Bad Design Problem

For some reasons, the positioning of the slot, which is placed at the lower portion of the CPU, is designed to be tilted downwards. And by common sense, users usually place their CPU either on their desk (eg. NUS) or on the ground. As such, the thumbdrive slot will be away from user's point of view, unless they bend downwards to peek.

So, the frustrating part comes when users attempt to insert their thumbdrive into the slots which are underneath the covers , all these while without being able to see where they are stuffing their thumbdrive into. This is particularly agonizing as the thumbdrive slots are usually quite small. So the usual experience is to try a couple of times , after flipping the thumbdrive up & down or shifting left or right *ARGHHH* before users can finally insert their thumbdrive correctly.

ALTERNATIVELY, users also can try this :

See what I mean? users can have difficulty detecting the slots if they were in a sitting position. And being a lazy person, I hate to bend down/squat down to plug in my thumbdrive. In my 3 years in NUS, I have always seen students struggling with their thumbdrives.

User Reaction

Feelings towards the product :-

"This design is totally not user friendly because it defies the basic principals of common sense!"

Lydia

Some of my friends were frustrated about the time wasted to do something so simple , especially when they are rushing to print out their assignments before deadline. In terms of aesthetic aspect, Lydia thought that Dell tried to be different from the other brands and felt that it was quite unique upon initial impression. However, she felt negative towards the product once she started using it.

My friends gave feedbacks that Dell had unnecessarily complexified a design that was meant to facilitate efficiency. In fact, Lydia would rather not use a thumbdrive & save her work online beforehand because like me, she consider it a hassle to squat/bend down to detect the thumbdrive slot. Overall, my friends do feel impatient towards the product after a few unsuccessful tries of inserting the thumbdrive.

Users' Conclusion: A troublesome, unfriendly and inconvenient product

Lesson my friends learnt from the interaction:-

1) Lydia : She mentioned that after her 3 years of using comps in NUS, she is still not able to insert the thumbdrive accurately at her first try. She learnt that she would need bend down to visually detect the thumbdrive slots else be prepared for the 'trial & error' time taken to plug in the thumbdrives.

2) Wen Jie: Due to the expected hassle in inserting the thumbdrive, Wen Jie would rather plug it to the thumbdrive extensions, which some computers in NUS have. Or, to the slots at the back of the CPU.

3) Benny: Think twice before using a thumbdrive

Impression on brand:-

Amazingly, most of my friends mentioned that they will remember this 'trademark design' of Dell's desktop. While they told me that this small design fallacy will not affect their overall impression of the brand, sometimes I do noticed that they curse & swear Dell when they encountered problems with their thumbdrive insertion ;)

My reflection on the product and user reaction:-

This product is not user centric (at least to some nus undergrads) because it does not consider the general behaviors and habits of people when they design this product. As what my friends mentioned, it complexifies a supposedly simple design which does not meet users' needs and capabilities. Unless Dell assumes that users usually place their CPUs high above, I don't see how this "unique" thumbdrive slot design maximises efficiency as it causes user to use more effort than what it should have been. This in turn affects their mood, causing them frustrations and thus overall experience of a product.

While I believe Dell tried to distinguish themselves from others brands with a different aesthetic appeal, user reactions shows clearly that functionality is more important when it comes to computers. If the design does not meet user's expected level of ease in using the product, they will have a negative impression of the brand no mattar how pleasing it looks. This is also lesson learnt for me as I now realise the importance of understanding user's environment such as the manner in which a product is usually placed/used by users.

A possible solution to improve this design is to place the thumbdrive slots horizontally facing users, instead of downwards. With a clear view of the slot, it will definitely make the job of plugging in thumbdrive much easier ! :D