How not to design for user experience: the Ferrari example
Ferrari runs into a UX nightmare with their Formula 1 steering wheel. When the use of something as intuitive as a steering wheel takes a nine-minute video for just a brief overview, you've got a problem. Amazing that Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso are even able to drive the things.
KERS, btw, was a power recovery system from the car's braking used last year. Thank heaven they "simplified" things by getting rid of it.
Video: Felipe Massa's new "simplified" steering wheel explained...in nine minutes
Despite what you might assume after traveling on America's highways and byways, operating a vehicle isn't terribly complicated. At most, there are three pedals, a steering wheel and a gear shift lever. Everything else is just periphery. While the onslaught of infotainment doodads and climate control wizardry have turned the cockpit of your favorite conveyance from an exercise in simplicity into a buffet of dials and buttons, we assure you it's nothing like what Felipe Massa has to contend with.
You see, for 2010, Ferrari decided to make things easier on Mr. Massa by simplifying his steering wheel. The old tiller was a maze of controls, thanks largely to the KERS system the team employed for 2009. Now all it takes to get cozy with the interface that controls the F10 racer is a mere nine minutes of your time and a memory like a steel trap.
Is it possible to have any more respect for our favorite Formula One pilots? We didn't think so until we caught sight of the video after the jump. Somehow, imaging trying to remember whether or not the engineer said the front wing should be at a seven and the fuel consumption at a four or vice versa while lapping a circuit at mind-bending speed just makes our heads hurt.
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wow that is crazy!
From a design practicality stand point, you would have thought they would have deisgned the centre dial to have a more distinct pointer? I could hardly to see it!
I cross-posted this on the usability professionals site, HFI Connect, and got this informed response (gasp! someone who knows what he's talking about!):
But let us have a look at the very basics: specific users in a specific context of use.
>Specific users: Almost every F1 pilot has been racing since their early teens. They know pretty well, what their car does and what every parameter does. Also: They are fulltime professionals, paid to know their stuff.
>Specific Context: while race launches can be pretty dramatic, the rest of an F1 race is not characterized by wheel-to-wheel duels (compared to Cart-races for teenagers or brand cup races). So the adjustments roughly go like this: Start of race: plenty of time to adjust the settings. During the race: Adjust a) to the section of the course b) competetive situation: nothing, defense, attack c) stage of the race. Other buttons like pump for the drink: an F1 pilot will push them so often, he could do so blindfold.
Now let us have a look at some of the design elements of the Manettino:
Multifunction: Central (in terms of importance) functions, signal-bright, easy to distinguish (for a seasoned racer).
Color coding: Functions are color coded to give orientation cues
"L" for Limiter: A wonderful example for working with restrictions: This is the only potentially VERY harmful button. It limits to top speed for the pit lane. Not good when you are being chased. It is designed within a little cup around it to prevent accidential actuation. Still: for a pit stop the access is easy enough.
Racers report a status of flow when they race. Everything just happens. Including some dozens of adjustments on the Manettino. Each lap. The better pilots adjust Break Balance alone for each curve.
Summary: What looks like a nightmare to us is in fact the direct opposite: a most elegant, well informed-by-user-research design. This is one of the rare cases where the designers-engineers capture 100% of their user base: All three pilots of a team are interviewed in- and extensively to optimize the Manettino. Some pilots even have their individual Manettinos.
Thanks for the links, anyway
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I acknowledged his superior expertise, but then noted that if they'd made the thing just a tad more neuroergonomic, like the way they recently put radio tuning buttons on ther wheel where your hands actually are most of the time, they might have better results.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, you have Citroen's steering wheels:
First time I saw this on a C4 many years back, I was blown away. The idea was so simple yet looked so cool and futuristic, somehow.
Xlnt vids.
Saying that it's a UX issue is like looking in the cockpit of a 747 as a passenger and freaking out that you're going to crash just because YOU don't know what all those gauges, knobs and switches are for.