ux-portfolio-xenithkain

Weird Buttons and Function on Lasko Fan

Caleb Besser - 9/30/2022

I don’t really use new technology all that often, as I do not particularly like changing my habits. But recently I needed a fan to beat the heat we’ve been having recently in california. This fan sits on a swivel and is a vertical model, it comes with 5 main buttons including a power one, and a remote with the same buttons.

My goal for this particular interaction was to figure out if I could set a time for the fan to turn off, so it doesn’t waste energy while I am sleeping. I would say the mental model I had matched up fairly well with the fan. All of the icons matched what I assumed they would do. However, in my search for how to solve my problem I found some curious things. For one if you look at the remote, and the fan they both have a button for turning on and off the swivel.

These actually do two different things, if only slightly. The one on the remote will turn the swivel on/off, but it will switch which direction it is going each time. Whereas the one on the fan itself, just turns the swivel on/off, the direction is the same. I found this weird as there really isn’t anything indicating this.

After finding this I attempted clicking the button that looked like a clock, assuming this is what I was looking for. Each time you click it, a number goes up, leading me to believe that whatever number I put would be how many minutes till it turned off. However, I set it to 30 and waited an hour. Nothing happened, it just stayed on. I eventually found out it was because when I was done getting to 30, it had just stayed on that screen. When I attempted to click off it just erased my setting. This I do not believe is a good way to recover from an error, as I then had to re-click all the way back to 30. Still couldn’t figure out how to do it.

I then moved on to another goal, looking for a locking mechanism for the swivel. I wanted to be able to freely move it where I wanted. I was not successful in this venture as I never found this feature, however on the back I did find a hook for the remote. Which previously I had kept on my desk.

Overall the item shows good readability, and learnability, which allowed me to, other than the timer, figure out the product very fast. Though I feel one place they could do better is in the remote, if you look it has spots for buttons that do nothing. They dont click, which means there is not button underneath, its just a sticker.