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The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

theturnsignalblog.com

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Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#151

Post by rad_gruchalski »

DigitalSea wrote: post #70
dghlsakjg wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My 1997 Lexus has a knob that controls the digital climate control. Except that instead of a spinny position encoder, they used a knob with stops so you have tactile feedback for when the temperature is all the way up or down. This is the kind of detail that I love about a well engineered car.

My 2004 5 series BMW had this (it was called iDrive). A command style knob that could move on an axis of sorts (up and down, left, right). You could also press it in. I absolutely hated it.

They have removed it in their newest models. They have truly lost their minds at BMW. Everything on the touch screen and the panel that housed all tactile buttons how now one big led strip. Truly dumb design and a ton of wasted space.

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#152

Post by batushka5 »

Reading this feels living through new dark age of Human–computer interaction (HCI). As and oldschool engineer, I was though HCI in year 2008. How to place and calculate controls, heatpaths, click to action counts, colors, where to use what... And all this accumulated knowledge went down the drain (even in military!). Now rediscovered like some lost art.

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#153

Post by snickmy »

gamedever wrote: post #146
scottbez1 wrote: post #7

Oh, hi, creator of the SmartKnob (mentioned in the article) here - I'm continually blown away by how much UX discussion it has generated over the years! One of the things I regret a bit about the prototype and demo I originally shared is that I used a press action and the screen as a modal/menu interface. The screen makes for a snazzy demo video, and works great for interfaces where you have the user's full attention…

How is this different than a Nest thermostat? It's got a rotating knob you push in to switch modes and haptic feedback for clicks

I'm not aware the new nest has a haptic feedback for the detents (those tiny steps as you rotate) to create a force resistance

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#154

Post by Hackbraten »

d--b wrote: post #124

I take the opportunity to rant about cruise control / speed limit buttons, which have a much worse UX than climate control. If someone in the auto industry reads this: Can I get a button that says 50, one that says 80 and one that says 130. Right now, you have to hit “set” and then adjust the speed limit with some up and down arrows, which is really annoying and takes your eyes off the road. 99% of the time I need 50…

> so if you prefer, you do 1/2/3 where you can set the 3 speeds in the parameters.

Please don’t do this. Presets can be super difficult to understand. Configuring them can feel overwhelming, and you can’t verify your presets easily while the vehicle is stopped.

> Or at the very least, make the arrows adjust the speed in 5kph increments.

Does pressing and holding the arrow not do that for you? I remember (before I went carless) that my Audi used to do 10kph increments, displaying the target speed in the HUD, when I pressed and held the lever.

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#155

Post by rounce »

makeitdouble wrote: post #117
xp84 wrote: post #3

I applaud the author for putting thought into how to design digital controls, in contrast to the "just put whatever garbage on a touch screen" strategy most carmakers do today. However, I still question the benefit of this complex, modal control (you have to press a single knob to "cycle between" multiple modes). My ancient, 2016 car features three knobs. This luxury allows me to, without looking, adjust any of three…

FTA > I discovered thermal comfort depends on four environmental factors: air temperature, heat radiation, airflow, and humidity. He's managing more variables than those handled by your three knobs, and also deals with seat temperature in his setting. You might not want any of the finer control, some don't even want climate control and will run with open windows in dead winter. But I see a lot of benefit of his appro…

A good interface would provide a helpful abstraction that allows the user to make clearer and faster decisions about those four variables rather than just exposing them directly to the user.

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#156

Post by bufferout »

Surely the pinnacle of design here would simply be two buttons: "I'm too hot" and "I'm too cold" (assuming you couldn't somehow automatically measure that state e.g. contactless thermometers).

All the complexity of deciding resulting target temperature and fan speed is work that an elegant and intelligent system should then perform for the end user. If it can't be determined automatically, try harder or add more controls.

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#157

Post by [deleted] »

bufferout wrote: post #156

Surely the pinnacle of design here would simply be two buttons: "I'm too hot" and "I'm too cold" (assuming you couldn't somehow automatically measure that state e.g. contactless thermometers). All the complexity of deciding resulting target temperature and fan speed is work that an elegant and intelligent system should then perform for the end user. If it can't be determined automatically, try harder or add more cont…

[deleted]

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#158

Post by snickmy »

LoganDark wrote: post #28
scottbez1 wrote: post #7

Oh, hi, creator of the SmartKnob (mentioned in the article) here - I'm continually blown away by how much UX discussion it has generated over the years! One of the things I regret a bit about the prototype and demo I originally shared is that I used a press action and the screen as a modal/menu interface. The screen makes for a snazzy demo video, and works great for interfaces where you have the user's full attention…

I wish the devkits were not out of stock!! I've been wanting to get or make one of these for years

we still have some units, but available only in UK

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#159

Post by CRConrad »

Animats wrote: post #127
CRConrad wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not infinitely rotatable, though, like some knobs are; TFA mentioned a 270° rotation range. So a pointer “beak” (or some other haptically recognisable asymmetry) should be easy to add.

It's infinitely rotatable unless the software tells the motor to push back. The encoder appears to be relative, rather than absolute, so the physical positioning at power-up is unknown. Thus, the physical knob can't have a physical pointer with consistent behavior. I have an LG washing machine with a knob like that. After power up, you have to turn it one notch before it lights up to indicate the current position, wh…

> It's infinitely rotatable unless the software tells the motor to push back.

Aha? OK, I read that wrong then.

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#160

Post by nottorp »

rahoulb wrote: post #150
nottorp wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's how the knobs normally work. And the original poster describes how "automatic a/c" or "climate controls" have always worked in cars, you set a target temp and they handle fan speed and air temperature. Why does the article want to make a multifunction dial with no tactile feedback? Have they only ever driven a Tesla?

There's a whole section in the article about experimenting with different positions and weights of the haptic feedback as the dial is moved and how to tie them in to the display on the control itself.

Yes. But how about a dial that stops turning at the minimum and maximum and doesn't need you to take your eyes away from the road at all?

So last century eh? Maybe also less life threatening.

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