Reflections on a bad design

The candidate - The wiper controls from a 2006 Subaru Legacy


To understand why this is a bad design, 2 infrequent users of the product were interviewed to see if they could still remember what each control did and how to operate them.

Their reactions:

The first user: My dad

He was able to recognize what main function the wiper control was for but failed to correctly identify how the main wiper speed was set. He thought it was done by twisting the knob as this was his experience from previous vehicles. However, in actual fact this is done by pulling or pushing the entire stem down or up.

Next, he was able to identify the interval duration control for the wiper (the knob with the marked out scale besides it) but incorrectly assumed that twisting the knob towards the larger markings made the wipers activate faster (shorter interval). The reason given for this was that it is usually the norm that the larger markings would mean a faster setting. The smaller markings actually indicate a shorter interval time and thus the knob should have been twisted upwards instead.

For the rear wiper controls, my dad didn’t have any problem identifying the functions and operation of the controls. He did however, find it weird that the marking for the ‘interval’ setting is inconsistent between the front and rear wiper controls. For the front it’s a symbol while for the rear it’s the words “INT”.

The second user: My mum

She pretty much had the same reactions and problems with the controls but in addition, she was initially unable to identify that it was for the rear wipers.

What they learnt:

Having both individually gone through the design of the wiper controls, they both then realized that the controls were not very well designed as they are not intuitive enough. Some amount of trial and error would be needed to figure out how to use the controls.

Both of them had relied on their past experiences with other vehicles as well as certain assumptions about conventions in design (such as the larger markings = faster/bigger assumption) to aid them in understanding these controls. However, through their interaction with this specific design, they then realized that these assumptions may not always be the case.

Their impressions on the brand:

Both of them however, did not feel that feel that this poorly design component would affect their impression of the brand as it was only a trivial matter.

Personal thoughts:

Having used these controls myself on quite a regular basis, especially during these few rainy weeks, it is still easy to understand why one would be confused by them. I only figured them out after some period of trial and error, especially the interval duration setting.

Both my parents have not used these controls for a few months and it would seem that their operation is easily forgotten. All these factors point to the importance for such product design to be intuitive and natural to the user so that for example, the common assumptions made by users can be applied. It was not at all surprisingly that they were confused by the controls, especially the interval duration setting since the mapping used is counter-intuitive.