Russ Beale wrote a good article on slanty design in Communications of the ACM.
Beale, R. 2007. Slanty design. Commun. ACM 50, 1 (Jan. 2007), 21-24. Beale (p. 24) list 5 design steps for achieving slanty designs (these are quoted from a bulleted list in the article). "Identify user goals; Identify user non-goals—the things users don't want to be able to do easily (such as deleting all their files); Identify wider goals being pursued by other stakeholders, including where they conflict with individual goals; Follow a user-centered design process to create a system with high usability for user goals and high anti-usability for user non-goals; and Resolve the conflicts between wider issues and individual goals, and where the wider issues win out ensure that the design meets these needs." Slanty design is a part of public kiosk and vending machine design. For example, if you are designing a kiosk for sending mail, you might want to consider how to design the kiosk so people don't put really heavy things like children or large shopping bags on the scale or keep people from squirting glue into the various slots. Chauncey On Jan 30, 2008 9:04 AM, Jeff White <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Thanks Jeff. I was actually looking through Lockton's site last night. > It's interesting stuff, for sure. > > I came across another example of slanty design recently, spurred on by > an upcoming trip to Switzerland - in "porta-johns", they use a certain > type of blue light instead of traditional light bulbs. It was designed > to discourage the use of heroin - the blue light makes it impossible > for a drug user to see their veins, which prevents them from using > needles. The swiss culture is full of design examples similar to this > one. > > Jeff > > > On Jan 30, 2008 12:25 AM, Jeff Howard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Slanty design describes solutions that purposely reduce aspects of > > functionality or usability. It's employed when the system must > > address wider goals than the user might have, when, say, they wish to > > do something that in the grander scheme of things is less than > > desirable. Think of it as an anti-affordance. > > > > http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/10/29/slanty-design/ > > > > Examples of "Slanty Design" include: > > - Google's initial omission of the Delete Button in Gmail > > - Angled surfaces that prevents people from leaving trash on them > > - Cone-shaped cups that discourages users from leaving them on the table > > - Baggage carousel with a sloping floor to keep the area clear > > > > This technique resonates through many of the posts on Dan Lockton's > > Architectures of Control weblog. It's one of many ways to implicitly > > guide the behavior of users and from that point of view it helps > > inform the practice of interaction design--often by highlighting > > cautionary tales. > > > > Many of the examples on the site are analog in nature, but there are > > plenty of digital examples to browse through as well. I've pulled out > > some of the most interesting below. > > > > // jeff > > > > > > ANALOG EXAMPLES > > > > Architecture as Crime Control > > http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/10/18/review-architecture- > > as-crime-control-by-neal-katyal/ > > > > Deliberately Creating Worry > > http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/06/15/deliberately- > > creating-worry/ > > > > Product Psychology to Discourage Anti-Social Behaviour > > http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2006/10/20/product-psychology- > > to-discourage-anti-social-behaviour/ > > > > Traffic Management > > http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2006/12/22/some-more- > > architectures-of-control-for-traffic-management/ > > > > Anti-Public Seating Roundup > > http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/07/24/anti-public-seating- > > roundup/ > > > > Controlling Shoppers > > http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2006/05/12/controlling-shoppers/ > > > > > > > > DIGITAL EXAMPLES > > > > Changing Behaviour: Water Meter Taps > > http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/06/28/changing-behaviour- > > water-meter-taps/ > > > > Digital Control Round-up > > http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2006/12/30/digital-control- > > round-up/ > > > > Epson Messes Up My Day > > http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2006/10/21/epson-messes-up-my-day/ > > > > Do You Really Need to Print That? > > http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/11/06/do-you-really-need- > > to-print-that/ > > > > Dishonourable Discharge? > > http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/08/07/dishonourable- > > discharge/ > > > > Making Energy Use Visible > > http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/07/24/making-energy-use- > > visible/ > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > > *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* > > February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA > > Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > > To post to this list ....... 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