Lego has a two-stud brick with a 45° slope that's used as a control panel on various vehicle kits, from automobiles to underwater craft to extraterrestrial shuttles. George Cave, a senior interaction technologist at KISKA in Salzburg Austria, collected 52 different Lego control panels and use them in a terrific mini-course in physical interface design.
Here's an excerpt:
Differentiating inputs
What could cause 400 WWII pilots to raise the landing gear on their B-17 bomber just before touchdown? Catastrophic pilot error, or something more fundamental?
It was the psychologist Alphonsis Chapanis who first suggested that the high rate of crash landings might be the fault of poor interface design. The adjacent landing gear and flap control knobs were identically shaped. The pilots never stood a chance.
B-17 belly landing, and the shape coding that helped to irradiate the problem. Source: Wikipedia
His temporary solution was to glue differently shaped strips of rubber to each switch, enabling blind operation by touch alone. This gave rise to the idea of shape coding and a system of differentiation still being followed in aircraft cockpits today.
We can compare the three interfaces [at the top] to see this in action. Ignore the overall layout, it's the differences between individual switches that matter here. Imagine trying to feel for one of these buttons without looking. The left panel ("Slope 45 2 x 2 with 12 Buttons") would require careful hand-eye co-ordination. The right panel ("Aircraft Multiple Flight Controls") clearly distinguishes between the throttle (large, linear vertical movement), toggle switches (round vertical flick) and the push buttons (square push-in).
To get one last flight on Marine One, Donald and Melania Trump left the White House early today in advance of Joe Biden's noontime inauguration. The chopper will take the outgoing President to his Florida compound two weeks after he "provoked" an attack on the U.S. Capitol complex. Five died as the building was sacked… READ THE REST
Miya Ponsetto was arrested for attacking a Black teenager at a New York City hotel last week. Ponsetto was recorded on video at the hotel falsely accusing the 14-year-old and tackling him when he refused to let her confiscate his phone. In this CBS News interview, Ponsetto describes herself as "super-sweet," portrays herself as the… READ THE REST
A hospital staff member donned an inflatable suit in order to cheer up co-workers and patients at San Jose Kaiser this Christmas. Unfortunately, his attempt to bring some much-needed holiday cheer to the hospital backfired. It's believed that the fan from the inflatable costume may have splayed particles across the emergency department, infecting 44 people.… READ THE REST
Every year, U.S. News and World Report compiles its Best Jobs list – and once again, the venerable news outlet has determined it's pretty great to be a network architect. For another year, the role of computer network architect is on their list of the top 10 technology jobs around, with an unemployment rate of… READ THE REST
Did you get a new iPhone for Christmas? Or, maybe you splurged on a new smartphone with that infusion of holiday cash. Either way, your purchase isn't completed when you walk out with your new phone. Making sure you're equipped to keep that thing charged up 24/7/365 is just as important. Easier said than done… READ THE REST
If you aren't up to speed on the intricacies of knives and knife production, then a Thai Moon Knife might look more like a weapon than a kitchen utensil. With a wide blade that visually looks more like a cleaver than a traditional food preparing knife, it's the product of more than 200 years of… READ THE REST