[HN Gopher] UX Testing for Public Infrastructure
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UX Testing for Public Infrastructure
Author : setgree
Score : 51 points
Date : 2022-09-20 13:23 UTC (9 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (setharielgreen.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (setharielgreen.com)
| Jill_the_Pill wrote:
| It's also crucial to do this kind of testing for users who are
| disabled, elderly, children, etc.
| setgree wrote:
| Absolutely; for instance one wonders if the LaGuardia team
| user-tested the handicapped bathroom stalls or merely designed
| them to code?
|
| But in general even user testing for the median/modal person
| would be a big step forward...
| sidvit wrote:
| It's funny they the author mentions the subway as bad UX here
| because as someone new to NYC I find it's actually quite easy to
| tell which line goes to which section from a cursory look at the
| map. I think the line coloring goes a long way towards that
| setgree wrote:
| Glad to hear it and welcome! (I am the author and I have gone
| the wrong way on the subway many, many times, maybe I am
| especially a doof ;)).
|
| I think maybe a better example would have been boarding the Red
| Line in DC, where both terminuses (Shady Grove and Glenmont)
| are in Maryland where neither is the largest town en route
| (Bethesda and Silver Spring, respectively). It can be tricky.
| triggercut wrote:
| > What levers might we pull to get other projects to follow suit?
|
| Show that it adds a net-benefit for the cost of investment from
| as early as possible. You need to embed it into the usual
| Business Case processes and overall investment frameworks, that
| are often set and used by government. Then you need to get those
| early expectations/requirements transferred through to each
| subsequent phase of the investment cycle and not left on a shelf,
| which is incredibly difficult given the lack of continuity
| between project teams. Then you need to make sure it's featured
| in the commercial agreements for commissioning, operations and
| maintenance. Oh, and have it defined in terms of benefit value
| (both monetary and nonmonetary) that is monitored and managed.
| setgree wrote:
| agree with all that! But I think there's also a cultural
| component, where the folks who, e.g., designed the second
| avenue subway come from a different background than you or I,
| and ux testing just isn't part of their suite of "highly
| mentally available tools," so to speak. So for those of us who
| don't actually work in civil engineering, I'm wondering what we
| could do to promote the user journey mindset.
| przefur wrote:
| It's actually refreshing to read about airport that has been
| properly decorated with signs. Without proper information it can
| get really messy. This plus the stress that often comes with
| visiting airports makes it a really tough UX case. I'm glad that
| this terminal was tested properly, I wish some airports could do
| the same in following months! Also, worth nothing, "wide enough
| to open the door and roll in a bag without bumping into
| anything," This sounds like an absolute opposite to hostile
| architecture trend that spawns public places nowadays.
| setgree wrote:
| > This sounds like an absolute opposite to hostile architecture
| trend that spawns public places nowadays.
|
| A lot of that user-hostile design in public space seems aimed
| at discouraging people from loitering/camping out, especially
| those who didn't pay an entry fee or buy something. But
| everybody at an airport bought something to get in, and
| everyone has a specified departure time, so I think there's
| less incentive to make people uncomfortable.
|
| "How To with John Wilson" has a bit about user-hostile design
| in public architecture that changed how I see New York,
| especially if you consider that some of the city's 'users' are
| pigeons.
| 0xbadcafebee wrote:
| > consumer products live or die on usability
|
| Only consumer products in a competitive market, where the UX is
| everything. Your toothpaste does not live or die on usability;
| it's toothpaste. It could be less useable than another toothpaste
| and you probably would never notice. Maybe you buy it because
| you're brand-loyal, or it advertised a new completely made-up
| quality, or it's just on sale. Sometimes the UX is just a minor
| aspect of the whole, like car mediacenter interfaces. Stuff sold
| by quasi-monopolies don't compete at all; nobody cancels their
| Comcast Family TV Package because the TV guide's UX sucks.
| gumby wrote:
| > Your toothpaste does not live or die on usability; it's
| toothpaste.
|
| Actually it does. Is it hard to get the cap back on so it
| spills in the sink? Can you squeeze the tube so it doesn't just
| shoot out but rather can be metered out?
|
| The old aluminium tubes were great in that you could roll them
| up from the end -- now I have to use a small claim because the
| plastic ones are too springy and won't hold a crimp, but I
| guess it's acceptable to most people.
| setgree wrote:
| I think that essentially all the toothpastes for sale at CVS
| have passed a two-part usability test: squeezable and pleasant-
| tasting.
|
| It's true that usability might not provide the _edge_ in a
| commodotized market; but passing some minimum threshold might
| be a necessary condition for success. Imagine trying to sell a
| toothpaste that was hard to get out of the tube.
|
| A lot of the least usable things in my life -- paper straws,
| smart TVs -- just _look_ like consumer products, but their
| actual goal is something different.
| bern4444 wrote:
| This article reminded me of another one I read (also from HN I
| think) on the design of the NYC Subway metro card machines[0].
|
| Design is a topic I'm fascinated by as it can literally make or
| break a system in ways that few other aspects can (including
| software imo). If we put in as much effort into the design of
| everything as these groups did for the new terminal or the metro
| card machine I wonder how much nicer everything would be. Good
| design is invisible in that you don't even notice it was designed
| IMO. I hope to see more of it everywhere.
|
| [0]https://www.curbed.com/2022/08/goodbye-metrocard-machine-
| fri...
| gertrunde wrote:
| I had a memorable connection through Miami airport once, where a
| few airport staff were getting quite irate with people asking for
| help, responding with "Read the signs! It's clear and simple!" -
| while stood near a confusing sign....
| setgree wrote:
| It seems that "forgetting how confusing things are to
| newcomers" is one of the cognitive failure modes I encounter
| most often.
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