Good/Bad Artifact Assignment: Onite living color light

Do Yeun Kim

Onite living color light

Onite living color light is a mood lamp with a simple design. The exterior shell is of plastic material, shaped similar to an egg. The on/off switch and colors of light can be controlled using the color strip on top of the mood lamp. On the under side of the lamp is a hook for hanging or fastening, and power LED and reset buttons are on the rear.

Visibility

None of the functions provided by the object is written down on the surface of the object. This may be a downside regarding the visibility of the object, but I must beg to differ as there are plenty of obvious visual cues that replace writings.
The color strip is is a great visual cue as to what the object is capable of performing and what the purpose of the color strip is - dictating the color of the light that will be cast. The on/off switch is slightly difficult to find, as it is noted by the arrow at one end of the color strip, but does not explicitly say "on/off".
Resetting function is also not spoon fed. There is a small button on the rear of the object that serves as the reset button. While such mechanism is observable in almost all small electronics - such as lamps, gaming devices, older phones - and one should be able to able to deduce its function using common sense, it is indeed not completely obvious as to what function the button serves.

Mapping

Mapping of the functions of the object is not at all difficult, but possibly not optimal. The artifact has two functions: it can cast light of specific color designated by the user touching a specific spot on the color strip, or automatically transission the color being cast along the color strip. While the first function can easily be performed by the user - a simple tap on the color strip - the later may be a little difficult. One must press and hold the on/off portion of the color strip, which, as explained earlier, is not quite readily visible. Although this object does have some downsides regarding the mapping of the functions, it is not as complicated as the offic phone examples provided by Murray.

Affordance

While plastic casing would not quite insignuate "Write here" or "Break this" as in the British Railroad Company example, the color strip that is eccentuated due to monotonous white color of the main compartment does call for the user's attention. Also, it would not be an overstatement to say that a color strip is associated with specific colors of the spectrum of visual light, which is what the artifact is built to provide for the user. One would be able to associate the red string provided with the artifact with the hook/loop - which is definitely too small for fingers unlike the holes on a pair of scissors - on the underside of the artifact and figure out its affordance: the loop affords the user to hang the artifact.

Conceptual model

Base on the above descriptions I do not think that much discrepancies can occur between the designer's model and the user's model. The object has simple functions that can be carried out by simple actions acting on simple inputs.

Feedback

The LED light for the charger and the actual lighting are the only feedback we receive from this artifact. While this artifact does not afford an entire arsonal of feedback, these two functions are all that we really need, as this artifact is, in fact, a mood lamp. We can tell whether the artifact is charging by checking the LED light in the back which. We can tell whether the artifact is functional by checking if the light does come in when the artifact is on.

Summary

According to Murray's criteria, the Onite living color light is overall a well-designed artifact, because its features are highly visible , easily mapped , is made of appropriate material in correct shape for affordance, has simple and unmistakable conceptual model , and has highly functional feedback