Master Project Update

Now my master project have been going on for more than a year, and it has been an long and hard proses. But at the same time it have been very interesting and I have learned allot about my project and about myself.

During the first year I have become much more aware of the growing amount of information overload  in our modern life. We have so manny choices that it’s silly, and even becoming a burden. And this is having a big impact on the human brain. I will wright more about this in my next post.

Therefore my master project is now about how I as a visual communicator can do something with this information overload. I tried to find places where I could get advise about how I could reduce the big piles of information that I have to communicate for a client, but all I found were how I as a user could deal wit it.

This is why I now set out to make a webpage that is meant to be a guide to other designers who have too deal wit communicating information. The project consist of developing tools that you can use in your project proses to cut away information, and have good arguments for why you do it for your client. A strong focus on the user is in the center of the project.

 

What would happen if the people who makes remotes had made the iPod?

I have taken an iPod and made its controls like TV producers makes their remote.

As you can see every function has their own button, this means that every function is just one button press away. Amazing! There is even a area on the bottom where settings can be hidden and exposed by a sliding part. This thing looks amazing and is has so many functions, it must be a great product. Just se how much it can do.

 

I don’t think the iPod would have been around today if it were like this.

Volume Controlers?

I just started with my pilote project for my master, and as a part of this I am colecting symbols from warius machines and categorising them.

Take for example the volume controls, why are there so many variations for such an easy thing? They all represent the same action whit different symbols and shapes. Some more unlogical than others. Take for instants the two dots on the right side, Is the full circle more or is the empty circle more?

Why is it like this? Why can’t they all use just one type of standard shape/symbol? 

Can you tell me why? Or would you like to tell me witch symbol you think is the best?

A user fix parking ticket machine interface

Today I came over this picture of a parking ticket machine that has annoyed an user so much, that the user have modified the machine to make it better. 

Original link: Uselog.com

Panasonic’s multitouch remote control concept

Today when I were going trough my Google reader I saw this post about Panasonic’s new multitouch remote control concept. Original link: Engadget

It is nice to see that companies are trying out new things. I think that they often just bring out remotes with more and more buttons, so nice to see something different. 

This one has less buttons and makes you look at the screen instead of looking at the remote. Its like the track-pad that you find on laptops, so it’s turning the TV into a computer.

Public symbols and pictograms

Public signage/warnings and pictogram’s are a great sourse of inspiration. It’s a visual language that is meant to be understood by people all over the world. Take for instance these arrows, they communicate a direction without the need of language/words.

Toilet sign is a example of a sign/pictogram that is well known and comes in many variations. 

Other signs you might newer have seen before, but still you can understand them.

 

These are typical danger/warning pictogram’s telling you about various ways of dying or deforming your body. No language needed except for the visual.

You can get instructions by a series of pictogram’s, that for example enables you to operate this japanese fire extinguisher.

Most of the pictogram’s you See on a daily basis are usually simplistic. But sometimes you come across more advanced ones.

Speakers by Max & Truong

This is a pair of speakers that I and my friend Truong made. They are designed to go perfectly with your laptop. They enhance the sound from your laptops built in speakers, and give you mega surround from above. As a added bonus your screen goes from widescreen to not widescreen.

For the nice price of 890$ you can buy your own set.

Som days with our new remote (Updated)

I’m not happy. So I had to hide some of the buttons just to see if it would help.

Our original TV remote now has these three functions left. ON/OFF, volume and signal-source.

I think this is a pretty odd situation, now I have to operate two remotes in order to watch TV. One for volume and ON/OFF, another to change the channel.

I think I will have to open the manual that came with the Get HD decoder in hope of a solution to this mess.

(Update)

And so after reading the manual it turns out that the top part of the Get remote is devoted to controlling the tv if you program it. (this kind of information is important and therefore it would have been nice if it where clearly advertised when you first resive this new remote) So now our dual wielding remote days are over? NO. They are not. Because our tv brand is not supported.

But the good thing is that the makers of this system did try to make it logical. Before I found this “program your remote” feature I were shoked by how badly this new HD tv system of the future were designed. But after this discovery it is slightly less bad.

But the menus and navigation between channels are still making me and my girlfriend mad. But this is for the next post.

A new remote in my home (Updated)

Today a new remote control did sneak into my home. Ai ai ai where do they all come form?

I can tell you where it came form, and that my friend is our new digital HD tv decoder from Get. (Witch I have been trying to escape from as long as I could) Nowadays you need a tv decoder to be able to see tv, because the old analog tv system is taken down.

So this means that to watch tv you now have to use two remotes instead of one. (and have an extra box under your tv) Twice the mess.

There is good intentions behind all of this I think. You get nice things like a guide where you can se what’s on the different channels right now, and what’s coming. And you get better video-quality and sound-quality. 

I just got it today but this is my first thoughts about this new stuff in my apartment:

1. The remote is crowded as usual. No surprises here.

2. The tv menus are a bit slow and unfamiliar.

3. I have to tiptoe around the channels I don’t have. Ai ai ai watch out.

4. I cant find a way to remove channels that are duplicated manny times. NRK for example has special versions for all the different parts in norway, really annoying when you try to zap trough the channels.

5. I like that i can make my own favorite list, but i can’t find a way to arrange them in the order I like. And I cant find a way to circle trough them without going into the menu. (So watch out for the channels you don’t own, or the duplicated ones.

(Update)

6. If you want to change the volume you have to use the tv remote. To change the channel you have to use the Get remote. Logical?

But this is just the first day. I will give it time and se what happens.

Observation 13 Sep. // Apple TV

I and my girlfriend had a family birthday party in our apartment this saturday. We had familymembers in all ages. At he end of the party som of them wondered what our Apple TV could do. Then we showed them that we used it to rent movies, watch tv-shows and play music.

Suddenly smal children down to the age of 8 and adults were using it like they newer have don anything else in their life. It were surprising to se how quickly they had full control over the devise and browsed thousands of movies and tv-shows. I think that it’s fascinating how you can control so many features with such an simple remote.

Info:

Apple TV’s remotecontrol has six buttons, the menues ar on the tv screen so that you look at the tv and not the remote.