We've all been there—befuddled by the many options the washing machine has to offer and envisioning the possible horrors that could arise with the push of a wrong button. It's a scenario that's generally resolved with a quick phone call to mom or a web search. Convinced that there had to be a better way, Peter Fabor, UX designer at Avast Antivirus and founder of The Surf Office, has come up with the straight-forward washing machine design we've all been Google searching for.
After a bit of personal research into the realm of washing machine confusion, Fabor found a fact from the Daily Mail that put his project into motion: "58% of British men can't use a washing machine properly because they find the household appliance confusing." Even more, the headline on the Daily Mail's coverage states that a quarter of British men can't even mange turning the machine on. I'm sure that statistic reaches much further than the British—I for one have been known to tie-die many white shirts while trying to wash them and I'm an American lady.
With this in mind, Fabor took on a more exploratory method of research:
I decided to visit the nearest store with electronics. They had about 50 different types. I explained to the shop assistant, that I'd always had problems with user interfaces of washing machines and I wanted to buy something really, really simple. She didn't understand me well. Therefore I had to tell her I was a total idiot, looking for a "washing machine for total idiots." The simplest type offered 15 special washing programs.
Fabor's flowchart-like design steps users through a few easy questions, dumbing down a process that didn't need to be smart to begin with. If anything, we should be applauding our ability to memorize and adapt to the complicated process our current machines put us through. Think back to the first time you were face-to-face with the gaping apparatus—hands full and brain reeling, it took some time before your linens came out the way you'd happily daydreamed about at the appliance store (because that's where you go to buy those things, right?).
As of now, this design is only a concept—but we'd love to see some appliance manufacturers follow Fabor's lead. Read more about his strategy in detail here.
Via Medium
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What's he doing using figures from the Daily Mail? As anybody with an ounce of sense knows that anything from that rag has to be taken with a huge dose of salt. And what pool did they survey to get that result? It's utter rubbish. Washing machines are not complicated. All you need to do is read the instructions. In other word people who claim to be idiots because they can't operate their washing machine are just in reality being lazy and can't be bothered to learn how to use their washing machine or read the washing instructions in their clothes.
Oh and to the author of this post, you've taken the time to learn how to use a computer and create content, you probably have a smart phone, drive a car and yet you claim not to be able to use a washing machine. What does that say about you?
Yes there is an argument to clean up interfaces in washing machines as with other appliances and gadgets, but this is really a joke as it flies in the face of what you actually need to do with a washing machine. You do need options to deal with what you have to put in them other wise how are you to deal with the differing items you put in them? eg whites, coloured, woollens, delicates, kids mud encrusted etc.. etc..
Sorry for my rant, but I am really rather disappointed with this article.
R
When the controller on the dryer went out, I replaced it with an arduino controller, three solid state relays, and connected the "start" button on the outside to the arduino as the only input.
Put in your clothes and press the button. It will run for 40 minutes and stop. If you open the door, it pauses the timer and stops, when you close the door it starts again. The button just cycles through 40 minutes, 60 minutes, 20 minutes. Pressing the button with the door open cancels everything. It's so simple and I love it. Some day I'll add a sensor to determine when the clothes are dry and it will just stop on its own at the right time.
For the washer, I'm still working on it, but the principle is the same. Put in your clothes and hit a button for half or a button for full. That's really all there is. We use cold water detergent and don't have anything that needs a "gentle" cycle. That's all I need. a button for the dryer and AT MOST two buttons for the washer. If the clothes are *really* dirty, we just wash them twice. very. simple.
You could eliminate most of the UI with one development - washable RFID tags built into the garments that the washer would read, tabulate the averages, and make the call on how to proceed. Perhaps even advise the user when the combination of garments to be washed together is inadvisable or would produce a less than optimum clean for much of the load.
Throw it all in, press a button, done - I believe is the effect we're really going for.
The prinicpal is sound: Do we really need this many modifiers on the basic concept of "I want my clothes clean?" But, he would be remiss to not look at lower end appliance: they do not have all the bells and whistles. They wash clothes and that is it.
No, the real issue here is the overall Design of the machine and how it intersects with modern marketing. What we are really asking is: Will the market tolerate a mid to high end washing machine where Less is More? (this goes with the assumption that low end machines are not only basic in their UI but also cheaply built and have very little design aesthetic or integrity; not always true, but generally the point)
We have trained the consumer marketplace to perceive that more features (buttons) equals bigger value. To take those buttons away would cause consumers to question the value of the product, and they would be reluctant to pay the premium prices that the manufacturer and retailer hope to garner.
I work for a major Appliance brand and I can tell you that the consumer, however, does recognize this overzealousness of UI. They even recognize their own cognitive dissonance in purchase behavior. I have been in countless research sessions where these consumers admit that they buy because of all the buttons, but then never use any of them in daily wash activities!
The REAL design question is, how do we design out the complexity without eliminating the choices? Tiered interfaces, via touch screens are of course the knee jerk reactions, but consumers also hate non- tactile feedback. We as designers have an opportunity to create this new breed of appliances where Less Complexity is More Value, and it will most likely drive higher profits. Because in the end, that's why we are doing it, right?
As to the Fabor design- it is insultingly dumbed down and oversimplified.
It seems that the best interface should be something double layered: A super simple first layer of main controls, and some more accurate controls placed on a second layer almost hidden to be not perceieved by "dummies".