article for AXIS/japan: demonstrating process

> see pictures of vending interfaces
> see pictures of guiding people and traffic

< back to main text of article
< back to thinking
< back to kame in may
< back to home

Manually operated
13: Bread schedule at a bakery in Kyoto: Endearingly ingenious, to remind us that magnets and stickers can be more efficient than computer displays.

article for AXIS magazine, tokyo:
issue 5/6, may/june 2000
feature "getting there, getting things", on interface design

reproduction or duplication prohibited

Demonstrating process

Electronic
8: In its central station, San Francisco's MUNI has introduced a status display for its subway car positions: Hopefully, this is still just a test. How can users possibly relate the tunnel diagram to the map underneath, which is differently simplified?
9: Kyoto's well-working system to indicate approaching buses: This electromechanic approach seems more appropriate than a screen display.
10: A display "in test", found in May 1998 in the Tokyo subway. It shows the positions of the last trains in the entire system, 2 years before and better than San Francisco. (But why the diagonal style?)

Stationary, non-changing diagrams need to show the entire process, but also allow us to compare all steps at once: Printed media can also be interactive.

11: Displaying your train's position within your subway car has become a very helpful classic since about 10 years.
12: Shinkansen destination chart: When the entire itinerary is displayed consistently, it is interesting how the intervals between cities seem to represent different distances and travel time.

14: In this bicycle storage, understanding the process of storing also becomes understanding how to retrieve your bicycle, by reverting the process.