The Design Challenge

The Typewriter The first typewriter Letters were written It worked However – Trial and error showed first models fell short – Stenographers and practical persons found the devices were not easy to use and unreliable.

The Typewriter Dozens of models were tried James O. Celphane destroyed many The inventor (Mr. Sholes) was frustrated and exhausted The process showed the weak spots and defects

Good Designs Evolve Good designs almost never come on the first try The typewriter went through dozens of design iterations Craftspeople have always known this – Rugs, pottery, hand tools, furniture – Like climbing a hill in the dark; one in front of the other. (Are we going up or down?)

Forces That Work Against The Evolutionary Design Complexity Too many variables Cost of implementing change New products are in design before old products are released Pressure to accelerate the release cycle. (“New and Improved”)

Individuality Each company must distinguish their product from the others Consider the telephone – Was once an awkward device – Had to crank to generate a signal – Evolved to be the cell phone

Consider The Keyboard Early keyboard had a wide variety of layouts One was circular, with letters in alphabetical order Another was like a piano keyboard, with black and white keys In the end, a rectangular layout was adopted Still later came the ‘shift’ key and the ‘tab’ key

Expect Your HCI Projects To Evolve Show your projects to real users Incorporate their feedback Remember: It’s an iterative process Adopt the ‘Agile’ model Understand and work around the roadblocks Mr. Bryan quote: “Fail as fast as possible”, so that you can move on to the better idea