Designing for Vampires: Transparency
I was washing my hands in the restroom at the Downtown Bellingham Community Food Co-op when I heard the most multilingual swearing by the guy standing at the sink next to mine. He was having an awful time. He couldn’t get anything to work.
First he tried to get soap from the dispenser. He held and waved his hands under it repeatedly. No soap.
This is Mark holding his hands under the dispenser.
You can’t see his hands? Neither could my camera. Or the sensor in the soap dispenser. I flicked my fingers under the sensor and he caught the dollop of soap, coated his bloody hands and turned to the sink.
Here’s Mark trying to get water from the sink.
See that sensor? Designed to avoid contamination from touch? Minimizing water waste? Shutting off without input every few seconds?
It was blind to Mark, hands still covered in soap. Again, I offered to trip the sensor and he was appreciative but his swearing didn’t let up.
Rinsed and soap-free, he turned, naturally, to the paper towel dispenser. Again, touchless. Here’s Mark trying his wet hands in one of many positions to be seen by the machine.
I helped him out so Mark left with dry hands. Still swearing.
Lessons learned:
- User research happens when and where you least expect it.
- Clearly vampires weren’t included in user testing of these common products.
- There’s no clear channel for vampires to advocate for their needs to the manufacturers. No consumer phone number, QR code, twitter handle, or other contact vector.
- Obviously an entire industry has to rethink sensors for the spectrum impaired. Maybe borrow Hollywood’s technology for getting vampires on video?
Thanks to our friends at Skype for Vampires.
