why i still can't work our tv remote (hint: it's not because i'm stupid)

I’m in the middle of reading a pretty interesting book called The Design of Everyday Things. Donald Norman opens the book by talking about devices that seem impossibly complex to use, and reassuring the reader that their difficulties with such objects are the fault of bad design (and not their own ineptitude). Reading that, I couldn’t help but laugh and think about my constant battles with our tv remote.

(image courtesy of my iPhone)

I’ve never been a tv watcher, so I don’t hold tv remotes in any high regard, but this one really takes things to a new level.

The actions we perform in any given day are motivated by a goal and (hopefully) result in a desired outcome. Things that are designed simply, with the user’s perspective in mind, have a clear map from goal to outcome. If I want to type a particular letter on the keyboard (goal), I would look for a key that matches the symbol I wanted to recreate, and then I would push it (action). Pushing is intuitive – buttons are meant to be pushed. Then, I would get clear feedback (outcome) that the letter had been typed because I can see it on the screen. This is a simple action map.

Sometimes, a designer can anticipate a single goal that might be so critical that multiple actions will lead to the same goal. Usually, when an inexperienced person is learning to use such technology, they’re confused about the redundancy of action, but can figure out the conceptual model in a relatively short time frame.

Where we really get into trouble, though, is when multiple outcomes can result from one goal. This can happen as the result of one action (which is incredibly frustrating… just think of being a guy using a voice-dialing system in which your phone can’t decipher “Call Mom” from “Car Horn”).

The case of our remote is a little something like this:

I’m not sure what kind of design choice leads to a tv “PWR” button next to an “ON” button. I can't, despite my training in design and my own career in user-centered product design, figure out which action actually turns off the tv (and I have a feeling I'm not the only one... although I could just be stupid).

I realize that many of you aren't designers, at least not in the literal sense. But mental models of goals and outcomes are applicable to people as well as things. In fact, the place between a goal and an outcome is the gap between stimulus and response. Unfortunately for us, our mental models and possible actions to reach our desired goals look less like the first concept map I showed and more like the last, with multiple courses of action and relatively uncertain outcomes. Effective communication comes from a clear goal and a good understanding of the outcome, with somewhat variable action. Let's hope that we learn what buttons to push on people faster than we learn on our televisions.