Augmenting cityscape

I had the inspiration for the subject of this post this summer, while having a walk in Milan with a friend. As we passed in front of the XIV century Sforza Castle (italian: Castello Sforzesco), we noticed it was lit by coloured lights, which gave it a quite peculiar aspect.

Castello Sforzesco by night. Photo by --Nick-- on Flickr.

The most notable aspect, however, is that the colour of the light can change over time (this is what is called dynamic lighting): the following time I was in the square in front of the Castle, it was lit by purple light.

The usage of lighting for aesthetic reasons is widely diffused as it’s an important aspect of architectural design. The illumination of the Sforza Castle, for example, was designed by light+, a design studio specialized in lighting for architecture.

While I like the idea of dynamic lighting, though, I’d love to see a different usage of illumination.

For years, light has been used in signaling, to carry some message across distance (on board of ships, for example). Nowadays, a lot of electronic devices include LEDs to communicate meaningful information to their owners.

Architectural lighting can be used to communicate as well: for example, the colour used to illuminate of a given landmark could change depending on the weather forecast for the following day.

While this is a trivial example, light can be used to enrich city landmarks to broadcast some message to anyone seeing them. While maintaining its decorative purpouse, light can transcend mere aesthetics, and used to bear a meaning by itself.

Just as in the past centuries, when people used to look at clock towers to get information that was relevant to them, we can make people see buildings and monuments under a new light. Literally.

If you know of any example of this approach, please let me know.

Informed choice

I’m spending the biggest part of the day in one of those luxury hotels, the ones that are so expensive that no detail is left to chance.

One significant detail: if you wash your hands in the restrooms, you can choose between using a paper towel or a fabric one.

Now, I’m usually quite sensitive to environmental issues. Not that I’m a Green activist, but let’s just say that I care about those things.

That’s why I started to wonder… Which would have the biggest impact: using a paper towel and then throwing it away or rather using one of the fabric ones, that would be washed immediately afterwards? Which of the two choices would have the lesser impact on the environment?

I have no idea, so I choose practically at random each time.

It’s a petty question, I know, but the reason I wrote all of this is another. (Beware, this is the point where my true geek® nature comes out. Don’t go below this line unless you want to read computer related stuff )

As application designers, we might put our users in the same situation: we make them choose between different options, but we don’t give them enough information about the alternatives. And usually, the consequences of those decisions are slightly more important than the ones I had with towels .

That’s when choices become dilemmas. And we should avoid putting people in that position.

Every time we present our users with a choice, we should make sure they know everything they need to make a good decision, why are we forcing them to choose and which the consequences of their action are perfectly clear for them.

How long will it take?

When talking about user experience, predictability is good. Some of the things we interact with in our daily life, though, are lacking from this perspective.

Consider traffic lights: they are among the most widely diffused devices and they can’t be simpler. Green: go. Red: don’t.

Yet, they are widely recognized as universal sources of frustration. Red lights, in particular, are able to annoy almost anyone.

And that’s not just because they are inevitably perceived as something meant to slow you down, but also because they leave you almost clueless about when they’ll eventually turn green. (Even if you can make a rough estimate, it will be basically due to the context, rather than to the device itself.)

This is why Sunday I got impressed when I first saw traffic lights like the one in the photo (in Amsterdam).

With the addition of countdown displays, pedestrians (involuntary users) know exactly how long they’ll have to wait before they can cross the road. It won’t make the wait any shorter, but will certainly make it much less frustrating.

Similar considerations apply also to other activities/devices (think of queues, public transport, and many others), in particular, with activities which involve waiting. But in case of traffic lights, a simple display can really make a significant difference.

What is more striking, though, is that traffic lights themselves are already being built to be aware of time (how could it work otherwise?). Adding that display just means exposing some meaningful information which is already present inside of them. If you think about that, it sounds so obvious that it’s surprising all traffic lights aren’t built that way.