Critique: Holmes Window Box Fan
A window box fan seems like a relatively self-explanatory product. After all, one simply turns on the fan via a switch of sorts, which in turn makes the fan’s blades spin, thus circulating the air about the environment you are in. Relatively simple then. In this sense, the characteristics by which one judges a positive or negative user experience is by the ease with which one can turn on the fan, and obtain the cool breeze that they desire. Fans that make it very easy for the user to accomplish this task are deemed a “good design,” whilst fans that fail to fully meet this criterion may verge on being called a “bad design.”
Upon very first inspection, there doesn’t seem to be very much wrong with the fan. It’s perfectly streamlined, fitting nicely atop a window sill with as little interference as possible. There’s no getting around the fact that this is a very sleek product; there are no handles to disrupt its lines, no switch humps to concave out of the product. Just a simple square with rounded edges (Figure 1). With so many box fans on the market, differentiating between the various options seems almost impossible. All offer the same premise: a fan with a narrow-depth casting that sit directly on a surface without a cumbersome base design. Most Box Fans are roughly 20” in width and length, most offer multi-speed options, and almost all are made of plastic and can be bought from Walmart for a cool $19.99. Diversity doesn’t seem to be quite so important in this market sector. If any product differentiation is to be made amongst brands, it will be in very small, very minor details.
Therefore, the constraints for this product seem to be relatively high. Being in a market where almost all the products are the same, most people will buy these products off of two factors: price and looks. Given its emphasis on slightly more aesthetical principles above pure user experience, its target audience must be someone on the younger front, someone that will use this to cool off, but want something that looks good while doing it. It’s only after one starts using these products that one sees that its usability could be better. As such, I could imagine that the designers tried to make this specific product as sleek as possible so that it stands out in the existing marketplace, doing so specifically by eliminating any bulky switches or handles that stick out on the sides and that would destroy its sleek profile. The solution? Putting it on the back (See Figure 2). While this does solve the problem, it is, in a way, the easy way out, a solution that works and solves the aesthetical goals the designers may have envisioned, but also creating a usability problem in return. Given that designers weren’t diligent enough to take this problem into account and create a more well-rounded solution suggests that they may also have been constricted on a packaging front and or a money-time scale. If more money and time were put into designing this product (which, mind you, is relatively cheap), then perhaps the designers and engineers could’ve created a trick switch of sorts that effortlessly blends in with the sides, or perhaps even effortlessly blends onto the front.
Interestingly, after exploring the Holmes Fans website and reading some of the reviews of my own personal “Holmes 20” Box Fan-Black,” I was intrigued to find that I wasn’t the only one facing the same issue. Other users also complained about the rearward located switch being clunky to use, a user even citing that they “wished the fan’s switch was in a more usable place.” This, clearly then, is an efficiency problem, as it prohibits frequent users like myself from turning the fan on and off with ease. The learnability and memorability factors aren’t as much of a challenge, as once a user learns that the switch is located on the back, it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge to remember. This isn’t a flaw so deep that it prohibits the user from using the product affectively, it just is a minor annoyance that could become quite irritating over time- showing that a better design ultimately is needed.
To fix this solution, one simply would have to relocate the switch (potentially on the front of the fan where the logo currently lives- Figure 3 below) or create a switch that consists of buttons that are labeled 1, 2, 3 (for 3 different speeds-highest number, highest speed) and off (such as in Figure 4 Below). Both solutions would maintain the aesthetical sleekness the designers originally envisioned while maintaining the fundamental functionality of a good product. Sketches of my solutions are shown below.
