The latest operating system of Xiaomi mobile phone allow the notification shade to show on lock screen. It has brought a lot of convenience to its users because users can directly activate some functions on the lock screen instead of entering into the homepage (e.g., silent the phone, connect to a network, or switch on the torch, see GIF 1).           However, many users did not aware that the their security has been neglected. There are a plenty of toggles in the notification shade which carry different functions. One of them … Continue reading The Notification Shade on Lock Screen

          I started to go to a gym recently and used the treadmill to workout for the first time. It was a Precor 932i Treadmill (see pic 1 & pic 2) and no any preset workout program was provided for its users to choose. Hence, I just discovered its function by my own.           At first, I did not really understand what did the upper LED display show (a.k.a. Program profile display, see pic 3). There was so many segments of small dots in a row but only the first segment was … Continue reading The LED Display of a Treadmill

          I’m a person who likes to play mobile games, especially the games which are related to strategy and time management. Recently, I found myself being annoyed by a game named Karaoke Rush. At first, I was quite enjoy when playing that game, yet, after the game became more difficult (after leveling up for numerous times), I was annoyed as I found that I was unable to deselect the action that I had chosen to perform before.            Before explaining why I am annoyed by the game, I would like to talk about the characteristics of the … Continue reading The Reversibility of Actions in Mobile Game Design

I guess people who always drive will familiar with the audio feedback of locking /unlocking a car. Normally some sounds will be presented to serve as an indication of whether the car is locked/unlocked. Instead of checking the door lock knob, the audio feedback has brought so much convenience to the users. Users don’t have to stare at the door lock knob to make sure the door is locked/unlocked because they can listen to the audio feedback.           However, the convenience which is brought by the audio feedback will be lowered when the users were far away from the car because … Continue reading The Feedback of Locking and Unlocking a Car

Normally, drivers get visual feedback from the indicator lights on a car dashboard after activating certain important function (e.g., Image 1). However, this feedback is built on the understanding of the indicator symbols. As a new driver who is totally unfamiliar with the car, I found myself easily forgot and confused the meaning of those symbols, thus, the purpose of feedback which is to convey the consequences of actions (Norman 2013) might somehow be violated. This issue is particularly critical when new drivers are driving but the driving situation becomes challenging all of a sudden. For example, I am unsure … Continue reading New Drivers and Feedback Modality

Directory is crucial to us when we are uncertain of the direction to certain places. In today’s fast-paced world, a directory is aimed to provide helpful and accurate information as fast as possible because users may be quite impatient and want to get things done within a short time. Recently, I have come across a touch screen directory in One Utama Shopping Centre which is somehow time-consuming. The on-screen keyboard of that directory which is shown in a picture below has taken me a longer time to insert the name of places. As you can see, the layout of the … Continue reading The Keyboard Layout in Touch Screen Directory

Have you experienced the time when you do not have any opinion on the products but on their containers? Cosmetic tubes are widely used as the container for facial cleanser, however, do you enjoy using it? There are a few reasons that reduce my enjoyment when using the cleanser with this kind of container. For me and perhaps for most of the people, both hands are needed to apply and rinse the cleanser from our face. However, most part of our hands will unavoidably touch the container in order to get the cleanser. Then, it is very unclean if we … Continue reading Do you satisfied with your facial cleanser containers?

Recently, I just realized how hard to find a toilet seat that is not slipping. From home to school, restaurants to shopping malls, almost all of the toilet seats have slipped to one side.   It is very uncomfortable to use a toilet seat which is not positioned well and I almost fell down from it last week. In my opinion, this flaw is due to the little consideration of how people really use the toilet when designing the toilet seat. The designer may think that people just sit upright without moving when using the toilet, hence, the design of … Continue reading Dear toilet seat: Please don’t slip anymore