Object Assumptions / Clear Purpose

Jan 08, 2009

The Shanghai taxi driver's tool kit includes a Chinese-English phrase book covering popular destinations and phrases. One might be tempted to think that this simple service could be delivered digitally, perhaps with value added in the form of maps and advertising - already popular in cities like Shanghai & New York.

Except that in the melee of instructing the driver where to take you the less ambiguity there is the better - a paper phrase book has a clear purpose, whereas an 'electronic device' could be an invitation to anything - is the taxi driver trying to help you get to your destination? Or trying trying to take you to a tailor he knows will pay him a tasty commission?

Of course - good design provides cues and boundaries to the object's purpose - that it is a phrase book, that it's not an attempt to sell up. Which means that the market for such as specialised device is so narrow as to be commercially unviable.

But that's not to say this practice will not 'go digital'. When where-I-want-to-go-to-next devices i.e. location aware mobile phones, become mainstream its the phone that is handed over. Now apply the same what-can-i-do-with-this-device logic in reverse - when you hand the driver a mobile phone what are their expectations of what you are asking them to do? How does the design, even something as simple as the number of visible buttons affect the expectations of the what you can do with the device? How might these expectations differ between, say a N96 or an iPhone?

Location:
 China »  Shanghai Keywords:
 advertising | book | digital | purpose | taxi