Appliance UI nightmares

In the modern world, I use appliances daily. They help me with all sorts of ordinary tasks. My interaction with them gets them working. Most commonly, I use an interface for it. And that's where the trouble starts. Over time, I've seen appliances that were hard to configure. By sharing them, I aim to increase awareness of appliances' UIs.

UI nightmares #

Navigation misconception #

The first is about a navigation misconception with the microwave at the office. It has a digital display and a scroll wheel to adjust the input. I only have one controller and multiple input options. So, I need some indication by the machine of which input I'll change. The solution at this point couldn’t be more confusing:

After inspecting this setup: Which side (left or right in the picture) is selected? In other words, will it change the left or right side using the scroll wheel? Would you agree our gut tells us it is the right side with the blue background that illuminates us? Turns out this is wrong. It's the left side. A black background on a black surface with a red border at the top means selected. 🤯

This microwave is installed in the office. Everyone using it is confused over and over again.

Touchscreens everywhere #

You might have recognised this trend. Nowadays, a device with many buttons has a touchscreen in the latest release. It's being marketed as the next big thing. The most famous example I can think of is the Touch Bar on the MacBook 🫠.

Don't get me wrong: A touchscreen can offer the user convenience if done correctly. However, it is up to the user to determine if this solution is best suited for interacting with a device.

Touch buttons #

Then there are other products which work perfectly with buttons. It is a blast. Suddenly, the next generation has touch buttons instead of physical ones. Why? I don't know. Maybe it's to have something new to show or to be cheaper to produce.

One example I remember is the cooktop at home. The old one has knobs. I can set the number to heat the hotplate perfectly. There is no problem. It just works.

The new one has touch buttons, and the issues have started.

Setting the level is very hard and takes practice. The touchscreen isn't straightforward.

Sometimes, a hot cooking pot near the input causes the stove to make error sounds. Is placing a pot on the cooktop problematic now? Wait, what?

The beauty of physical buttons #

In short, I can use it without looking at it.

A colleague of mine once told a great story I certainly relate to: When driving, I have better things to do than look at the screen to select the song. Well, driving, of course. I focus on the road and my surroundings.

With physical buttons, I still have a display to see what I select. But after doing the same routine often enough, I remember the combination that got me to playing music. I use the buttons and don’t look at the screen anymore. I know three clicks from the scroll wheel and two clicks on a button, and my playlist runs. That's so comfortable. I don't have that with a touchscreen.

Product Managers sometimes answer to feedback: “Oh, but you can use the voice assistant.” Maybe it's just me, but it feels weird to talk to a machine. It's just not my thing.

When associations don't work #

Next up is a coffee machine. Here, I have the touchscreen of a coffee machine in the office. It shows some brewing options and some circles at the bottom of the screen.

The circles at the bottom of the screen look like a pagination. There might be more options on other pages. And I'm correct with that assumption.

The specific layout of the pagination reminds me of the pagination I’m used to on an iPhone screen.

So why don’t I use the same swipe gesture I already know to change the page? But it turns out that swipe to the next page doesn't work. Even worse, when I try the gesture, it recognises a click. So it takes the start of my swipe as the selection and starts brewing.

That means the first time I use the device, I'll be surprised with a random beverage. After that bad experience, I try to click the circle to move to the page. And here I go.

It's astonishing. Everyone using any of these devices does it wrong the first time. Didn't they notice while developing the machine? Who said yes to shipping the product with this UI?!

It's part of your product journey #

These examples show that mistakes can still happen late in product development. But first things first.

In product development, I focus on four dimensions: desirability, feasibility, viability, and usability. Most often, I start in this order.

Customers won't buy the product when there is no desire for my solution (desirability). I have to be able to ship the product to have a product to sell (feasibility). I have another problem when customers don't want to pay enough for my production cost (viability). Finally, even if I fulfil the first three points, I might still produce a difficult-to-use product. This will annoy users, and they still won't be satisfied. And this is where the issues with these appliances are.

A note to the creators #

These examples highlight that it is essential to do proper UI testing, even for physical appliances. It can be as simple as showcasing your product with free usage at the next marketing event. You provide your potential customers with the machine and let them explore independently. You stay behind and carefully watch what they're doing. The learnings you gain from these experiments are invaluable.

If you need help with that, you can approach UX/I experts. They focus on user experience and user interface and know what to do.

Conclusion #

I use appliances daily. They might be personal devices at home or shared with colleagues in the office.

Human and machine interaction can cause issues:

• I mix up an element with the cursor and head in the wrong direction.
• Touchscreen replaced buttons where I loved using buttons.
• I associate an interface with something I already know, but this time, it works differently.

It is crucial to test humans' interaction with the machine's controls. This is especially important for appliances. Once built, I intend to keep and use them for a long time.

Even from a product development viewpoint, usability is essential. It might not be the first thing, but it becomes key later. Reality shows that there is much to gain by obtaining user feedback during development.