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Critique: Garmin Dash Cameras

Photos of all Garmin dash cams discussed in the episode.

Eric Penn rejoins Tim Keirnan on the show for a critique of Garmin dash cameras. And on Design Critique, you know we bought them with our own money and used them over a number of years, no review units on loan for a week or other favors from the manufacturer. The guys discuss the following models:
* nuviCam LMTHD that combines a GPS with a dash cam
* Garmin 35
* Garmin 46
* Garmin Mini

In both Eric’s and Tim’s critiques, Garmin customer support was a big positive to the customer experience. Sure, the products were useful and usable, without any outstanding problems, but the quality of the customer service is an integral part of the hardware.

When Tim’s nuviCam broke after only two years, Garmin customer support worked diligently to help him fix it. Even though it could not be fixed, having a company sincerely try to help solve a problem salvaged the relationship and Tim would consider another Garmin purchase in the future. Our previous episode with customer service professional expert Charlotte Purvis rings true here. Having high quality staff pleasantly and competently helping on the phone makes a big difference to a brand.

In Eric’s case, his Dash Cam 35 broke under the warranty period and Garmin quickly replaced it. No fuss, no muss. Eric discusses using the Garmin 46 and Garmin Mini together to record both front and rear views in his FiestaST.

Eric also talks about his use of Garmin products for cycling. Visit Eric’s YouTube channel for a glimpse into his life on wheels.

Garmin website publicity photos respectfully used without permission.

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Interview: Charlotte Purvis on The Customer Communication Formula

Photo of Charlotte alongside photo of her book

Charlotte Purvis joins Timothy Keirnan for a discussion about how she ensures good user experience with her clients’ customer service professionals. When we call an organization for help with a product or service, these people are on the front line of customer interaction. How well they assist us will impact our perceptions of a product, and also affect the brand of the company that sold it to us.

Charlotte’s new book is The Customer Communication Formula: How to Communicate with your Customers and Boost your Customer Service Brand. She talks with Tim for 40 minutes about how she developed her customer communication formula, how she coaches customer service professionals in call centers, and the importance of having a professional physical environment for people to do their best work in the office or at home.

You can find Charlotte at her website, www.charlottepurvis.com.

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Librem 5 Featured in iFixit Video

Purism’s Librem 5 smart phone was featured in a video from the good people at iFixit. All three phones in this video have easy-to-access components that make them easy to repair or customize over the life of the product. This is exactly what we at DesignCritique: Products for People advocate for most electronic devices. We value the ease of repair and easy modification of a device over the ultra-thin, glued-shut, replace every two years model that so currently dominates the marketplace.

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Critique: Purism Librem 5 Smartphone Hardware Impressions

Photo of the LIbrem 5 phone with the back cover removed, which shows the user-serviceable battery, cellular modem, and WiFi/Bluetooth. Also in the photo is the excellent SIM extraction tool and a small Phillips screwdriver.

The Librem 5 is Purism’s re-envisioning what a smartphone could be and should be. It runs on Purism’s own Linux distribution, PureOS, which is certified by the Free Software Foundation to be free of non-transparent, proprietary code such as many commercial products use. Open source code has the potential to be less liable to sneak back doors in to what one’s computer is doing, if qualified people audit it regularly.

The “Evergreen” batch of Librem 5 phones is the first official production model, and possesses unique qualities not found in most smart phones:
* Hardware switches to turn on/off camera, microphone, WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular connection.
* Easily removable battery for easy replacement.
* Easy access to replace the cellular modem and the WiFi/Bluetooth circuitry
* Updates to the PureOS operating system for the long term, not just a few years.
* Connection via USB-C to an external monitor.
* Does not inherently track customers’ usage of the phone and apps.

As of December 2020, this Evergreen batch of phones does not have a sleep function, so battery life is very short. The microphone of this particular Librem 5 is described as sounding “muffled” and “under water” compared to other smart phones when I call someone on it. Purism promises continuous improvements to both the phone’s operating system and the Linux kernel that interacts with the hardware, so I’m hoping that improves with time. At this time, for this typical smart phone user, the phone is not usable as my “daily driver”. A future episode will focus on the software of the Librem 5 after I’ve used it more.

Links about the Librem 5 including video tours:

https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/

https://puri.sm/posts/why-fsf-endorsing-pureos-matters/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaRf8JBL7tE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aQp3twe7D4

Adam Curry on the No Agenda Show sometimes has his Off The Grid segment that discusses alternatives for secure personal communications. Give it a listen.

 

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Susan Weinschenk on 100 Things Every Designer Needs To Know About People

Image of the book cover

Susan Weinschenk joins Timothy Keirnan to discuss the second edition of her wonderfully useful and usable book 100 Things Every Designer Should Know About People. First published in 2011, 100 Things… has helped many types of professionals and students learn to be better designers. Now Susan has updated it for 2020 and you will hear her and Tim discuss:

  • What led Susan to update a modern design classic.
  • Reflections on Susan’s other books, which Tim has been reading since 1997’s GUI Design Essentials.
  • Neuro Web Design will have a second edition. You heard it here first on Design Critique: Products for People!
  • Tim’s favorite chapters
  • How Susan and her coworkers at The Team W are handling presentations and conferences remotely in 2020.

Check out Susan’s Twitter feed.

Visit Susan’s company at
https://theteamw.com/

Susan has been on the show multiple times over our 15 years and you may enjoy hearing this older episode about the Neuro Web Design book.

 

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15th Anniversary Episode with Tom Brinck and Stephanie Rosenbaum ( Buzzwordification of UX #3)

Photo of two cupcakes with the number 15 in candles on them, with two filled wine glasses behind.

We’re 15 years old! Tim Keirnan is joined by show co-founder Tom Brinck plus UX legend Stephanie Rosenbaum for a celebration of the show’s 15th anniversary. From July 2005 through now, we’ve kept going when other shows faded away.

Tom and Stephanie continue our discussion series on the “buzzwordification” of UX–the good and the bad of our terminology becoming popular in the past five years–and memories from 15 years of doing the show.

Thanks to everyone who listened, wrote, and guested on the show. We’re proud of 15 years of our discussions on design, without annoying ads interrupting the informal, naturalistic conversations. Have a listen and feel free to dig into the older episodes in our archive!

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Dark Pattern on the Sunday Times Website

Screenshot of Sunday Times website.

This is a short episode on the dark pattern of not allowing a customer to leave a service without having to go through a lot of unnecessary effort. I had not intended to leave but was just checking the monthly cost of my digital subscription–and noticed that there was NO way to stop the monthly billing of my credit card.

This made me so angry I immediately decided to cancel the subscription, even though the content was good. It’s the principle of the thing. As a customer freely engages with a business, so should they be able to leave. Unless there’s a commitment in a contract, which did not apply in this case. It took a 15 minute online chat  to accomplish what should take one minute and a couple clicks.

The Dark Patterns website referred to in this episode is at
https://darkpatterns.org

Thanks to Harry Brignull and Alexander Darlington for their excellent work.

Here’s the excellent Sunday Times article on the French philosopher Levy’s latest book. I never disliked the Times for its content, only for trying to hold me captive.

And Wired magazine has a timely article on some other dark patterns.

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Interview: Kelly Goto on Universal Design and more

the goto research company logo in bright yellow

Kelly Goto, owner and principal of gotomedia and gotoresearch, joins Timothy Keirnan for a discussion about universal design and related topics. Dave M-R and Tim discussed Kelly’s excellent 2018 article about professional terminology in episode 135 last year. Now she is on the show herself to cover a fun range of topics, including

  • Universal Design,
  • Inclusive Design,
  • Accessibility,
  • Japanese design,
  • Advice for students, and
  • Designing for an aging population.

Join us for 45 minutes of serious discussion that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Kelly provided the following links to continue the learning after you’re done listening:

https://www.gotoresearch.com/2020/02/27/the-era-of-adaptive-experiences-rethinking-universal-and-inclusive-design/

http://www.universaldesign.com/
(“great story about Target in there — it is a “design for all” store.”)

http://www.inclusivedesigntoolkit.com/

https://www.service-design-network.org/

https://www.ageinplacetech.com/
( “a tech blog run by a friend / colleague of mine”)

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Critique: Bose QuietComfort 25 Noise Cancelling Headphones

Photo of headphones unboxed

Larry Rusinsky returns to the show to help Tim critique the Bose QuietComfort 25 acoustic noise cancelling headphones. In an exhaustive (some might say exhausting) discussion, we found these headphones were a great value for how they sound (not bad, not great, but very acceptable in noisy environments) and for their their usability (mostly terrific). Light weight, comfortable, obviously labeled left and right sides, detachable cable, and they degrade gracefully by continuing to supply less good but still listenable sound even when the battery dies. But no problem, it’s an easily found AAA battery. So much is so right about this design.

The links referred to in the episode include:

“How Noise Canceling Headphones Work” from the excellent soundguys.com

A very useful comparison of the Bose QuietComfort 25 with the 35 from Forbes.com

A balanced editorial from audioholics.com titled “Bose: Why Audiophiles Should Stop the Hate”

Finally, Bose was one of the first consume electronics companies to invest in their own storefronts to get customers some exposure to the brand.

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