The UX of Lego Interface Panels
designedbycave.co.uk
The UX of Lego Interface Panels
1–10 of 41 posts
Re: The UX of Lego Interface Panels
#2Nice article with an interesting approach. Assuming the poster is the author, the word ‘irradiate’ in the caption in the B17 photo confused me, although it did lead to some interesting speculation. Did you mean ‘eradicate’ and your spellchecker went rogue?
Re: The UX of Lego Interface Panels
#3I wish this article actually ditched Legos and used actual examples from existing UIs. There is something to be said about fighter jet cockpits, avionics controls, understanding of haptics in older cars, power plant control boards and subway control rooms, crane operator interface, bulldozer UI, CNC machine HMI and a whole bunch of UI systems that exist out side of consumer space.
For some reason (I blame sci-fi authors and their vision of future), consumer space is eroding rapidly with touch screens. Consumers will eat up marketing bullshit when it is wrapped in a scifi wrapper, with "Now a touchscreen interface!". This is sadly eroding into things like professional oscilloscopes, and even cockpits!
They're cheap, easily reconfigurable (this is a bug, not a feature) and it makes the bean counters happy - "Oh you mean the $48 BOM can be reduced to $7.50 with one touch screen and 1 UI software contractor for 4 months! And we can market it as a cool thing without users noticing? Holyshit, you're promoted."
That said, iPhone is nice. It is rare exception, I don't know how Steve Jobs saw this, but this is perhaps his genius. iPhone + touchscreen interface totally makes sense. Blackberry folks flaunted their physical keyboards and yet, iPhone won. This frankly surprises me. If it was year 2005, I would have bet on Blackberry over iPhone. Everybody did.
Re: The UX of Lego Interface Panels
#4Nice article with an interesting approach. Assuming the poster is the author, the word ‘irradiate’ in the caption in the B17 photo confused me, although it did lead to some interesting speculation. Did you mean ‘eradicate’ and your spellchecker went rogue?
Perfectly fine meaning #2:
To shed light on; illuminate.
irradiate ir·ra·di·ate (ĭ-rādē-āt) v. ir·ra·di·at·ed, ir·ra·di·at·ing, ir·ra·di·ates v. tr.
To expose to radiation. To treat with radiation: irradiate farm produce so as to destroy bacteria.
To shed light on; illuminate.
To manifest in a manner suggesting the emission of light; radiate: irradiate goodness.
v. intr. Archaic
To send forth rays; radiate.
To become radiant.
[Latin irradiāre, irradiāt-, to illuminate : in-, on; see in-2 + radiāre, to shine; see radiate.]
Re: The UX of Lego Interface Panels
#5Nice article with an interesting approach. Assuming the poster is the author, the word ‘irradiate’ in the caption in the B17 photo confused me, although it did lead to some interesting speculation. Did you mean ‘eradicate’ and your spellchecker went rogue?
Perfectly fine meaning #2: To shed light on; illuminate. irradiate ir·ra·di·ate (ĭ-rādē-āt) v. ir·ra·di·at·ed, ir·ra·di·at·ing, ir·ra·di·ates v. tr. To expose to radiation. To treat with radiation: irradiate farm produce so as to destroy bacteria. To shed light on; illuminate. To manifest in a manner suggesting the emission of light; radiate: irradiate goodness. v. intr. Archaic To send forth rays; radiate. To become…
Thank you both! Yes, I'm the author. So you were correct, I had intended it to read eradicate but actually I really appreciate java-man's definition help, so I think I'll just leave it as it is now :).
Re: The UX of Lego Interface Panels
#6This is great. I feel like I'm seeing more and more things modeled in LEGO, and it makes me happy that the community is cross-generational and growing.
On a side note, he picked some of my personal favorites from my childhood in the 90s. The 1x2 tile QWERTY keyboard also found its way into more than it's fair share of things I made.
Re: The UX of Lego Interface Panels
#7If you liked this article, I highly recommend the book 'Make it So', it's a review of the UX and UI of the interfaces in popular science fiction tv shows and movies.
Re: The UX of Lego Interface Panels
#8I wish this article actually ditched Legos and used actual examples from existing UIs. There is something to be said about fighter jet cockpits, avionics controls, understanding of haptics in older cars, power plant control boards and subway control rooms, crane operator interface, bulldozer UI, CNC machine HMI and a whole bunch of UI systems that exist out side of consumer space. For some reason (I blame sci-fi auth…
Thanks for the nice thoughts. I'm a huge fan of all of the interfaces you describe from industrial and commercial applications. I've written previously about my concerns with the touchscreen dominance and the poor UX impact it can have. My day job is to design physical interfaces for all manner of automotive and consumer applications and you could say I specialise in the non-touchscreen design parts.
Regarding the LEGO references, this was just a light hearted look at the problem from a different perspective :).
Re: The UX of Lego Interface Panels
#9The nostalgia this post hinges on is amazing. I remember every one of the example pieces they show here. And what's amazing is many of them you'll find showing up in LEGO sets today. It's pretty rare LEGO makes single-use pieces, even really obscure pieces end up showing up randomly elsewhere.
Re: The UX of Lego Interface Panels
#10I wish this article actually ditched Legos and used actual examples from existing UIs. There is something to be said about fighter jet cockpits, avionics controls, understanding of haptics in older cars, power plant control boards and subway control rooms, crane operator interface, bulldozer UI, CNC machine HMI and a whole bunch of UI systems that exist out side of consumer space. For some reason (I blame sci-fi auth…
Thanks for the nice thoughts. I'm a huge fan of all of the interfaces you describe from industrial and commercial applications. I've written previously about my concerns with the touchscreen dominance and the poor UX impact it can have. My day job is to design physical interfaces for all manner of automotive and consumer applications and you could say I specialise in the non-touchscreen design parts. Regarding the LE…
Please give us an example of the interface you designed (or one you are especially proud of)!