Looks like some monkeys were involved in the design of the cubic go-card readers at suburban train stations in Brisbane, Australia. A new additional card reader has just been installed at the train station I use. My first thoughts are, “Errrhh!”
The display on the reader has low contrast. The audible beeps are not loud enough. The visible indicator (red or green) is still not bright enough.
This benign-looking card reader will actually drive you mad.
These new machines are no improvement over the old ones. Sometimes it is difficult to determine if I have successfully “touched off” the reader. To top it off, at the end of the journey, there is a fine imposed automatically for not “touching” the card reader. The fine can be refunded if you argue that the reader didn’t work, but that process takes days, and your claim may be rejected. So even after some years of go-card installation and so-called improvements, they still haven’t got it right.
There are a number of HMI problems I’ve experienced with these suburban train station card readers:
The LCD display is fairly small and has low contrast. In unfavorable light conditions, it is extremely difficult to read, especially since it is outdoors.
The display fogs up in heavy rain during summer months, rendering the display unreadable.
There is an audible indication of a card swipe. However, the beeps are not very loud, and if the train is departing, the beeps are very hard to hear.
The beeper on some units fails altogether, possibly due to water ingress.
There is visible indication of a card swipe by way of indicator lamp, but since the LED has low intensity and is in unfavorable light conditions in either morning or afternoon sunlight, it can be almost impossible to see indication.
The LCD deteriorates over time from sunlight exposure. It becomes unreadable on some units. Some of these issues (foggy screen, failing beeper, and maybe the LCD degradation) may have been fixed on newer readers, but the fundamental poor HMI is as bad as ever.
The above deficiencies contribute to overall confusion -– “Did it read my card?” -– and it requires extra attention to the machine to attain positive feedback. The time available to observe the reader feedback can be less than two seconds before the next passenger swipes a card.
Apart from these issues, the card reader machines function well –- that is, when they are working.
These problems could be a result of the test function. It could be the designers tested the units indoors or at night and decided, “Yep, looks good.” Or maybe they did not complete adequate ergonomic, environmental, and conditional testing at all.
You can find a relevant discussion of the go-card reader problems here.
This entry was submitted by Toni Graham and edited by Rob Spiegel.
Tell us your experiences with Monkey-designed products. Send to Rob Spiegel for Made by Monkeys.
I'm always amazed at how often the user interface design of a machine seems to come last, and how even sometimes the entire functionality of the machine is compromised because cheap and/or poorly-performing parts were spec'ed in. The VTA light rail system in Silicon Valley is among the better systems with self-serve card-swipers and ticket kiosks, but I've occasionally encountered one that ate my dollar bills or refused to recognize my card.
In reality we can usually find that a design by big government will usually be minamilist and typically inferior. This comes from the designer having very little stake in the goodness of the design or in it's sitability for the particular application. In this particular case, high brightness LEDs do cost two to three times as much as the less bright ones that have a similar color and size. So it is natural for a cost optimization person to go with the cheaper product. Of course, looking at the photo of the terminal it is not clear as to where the LEDs are located. IT would appear that the primary goal was to make a system that was both cheap and vandel resistant, and that usability was someplace down on the list. That does happen.
My first guess is that the ones responsible for this product never use that means of transportation, and so they have no idea as to how well it does/ does not work. My second guess is that it was well designed but then purchasing got hold of it and substituted cheaper "equivalent" parts. The third guess is kickbacks to the buyer to accept junk.
Of course, disabling it completely would not be that hard. What you would need is a high-voltage spark ignition module such as used for gas refrigerators, a well insulated lead, and a nine volt battery. Drawing a half-inch spark to various parts ought to cause some interesting changes. Of course, it would be wise to not do this in tryhe middle of a crowd, but rather earlier in the morning.
I share your angst and frustration at poor design. One hates to characterize an organization based on a single observation but such a poor design does seem to be so characteristic of a product purchased by a large government entity.
Two thoughts struck me (pretty much my daily allocation, by the way):
#1 This type of design problem is really not limited to just large government entities but is also endemic in organizations where the end user/customer is isolated from the design/marketing folks. If you read the 'Monkey did it' blogs on this web site, you will see many other examples.
#1A However many of the similiar examples from the commercial world are one's that only pop up due a product getting old. Your example is one where the whole design is riddled with 'design insufficiencies' - ah, leave it to the government to score big on this one!
#2 My second thought (almost forgot it in the rush of the moment) is that it is so characteristic of an engineer to see the design inadequacies and want to do something about it!
OK, that's it for now. My brain is officially empty.
It's ridiculous that the screen isn't readable. I've been researching the market for 15+ years on the latest sun-light readable displays for my previous employer. I used to meet suppliers in the parking lot with an extension cord on sunny days. If I couldn't see the display, the discussion was over before they set foot inside. I had a cheap cell phone about 5 years ago or so - not a high function smart phone, just a little pay-as-you-go cheapy. Even this thing had a transflective disply that made it extremely readable in bright sunlight.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
6 
