A Form That Does Not Make You Feel Stupid
A solo episode on form design: why some forms feel kind and others feel like an exam, with examples from a hospital registration screen Wei Lin rebuilt last year.
The Ticket Gate That Had to Work in Half a Second
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Show notes
Designing a metro ticket gate
A ticket gate has to work for a commuter in a hurry, a tourist with a card in the wrong pocket, a parent with a pram and a man who refuses to look at the screen. Wei Lin sits with industrial designer Marcus Ho, who spent three years on a new gate for a busy metro line.
- Why the target time for a tap was under half a second
- The sound and the light, and which one people actually notice
- Testing with a fake station and 200 volunteers
- The pram, the suitcase and the wheelchair
- What Marcus would change if he could do it again
Next week: a form that does not make you feel stupid.
Transcript
Hello, you are listening to Tap Target and I am Wei Lin Tan. This show is about the design decisions behind the things you use without thinking, and today it is one you probably touched this morning: a metro ticket gate. My guest is Marcus Ho, who spent three years designing a new gate for a very busy line, and he had a brutal target. From tap to open, under half a second, every time, for a commuter running late, a tourist with the wrong card and a parent with a pram. We talk about the beep nobody hears, the fake station they built to test it with two hundred volunteers, and the one thing he would change. You are listening on Witspeak Podcasts. Tap in, let's go.
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