usability of the fisher-price kid-tough camera as an example of good design
Saturday, January 9th, 2010For Christmas, my daughter received the Fisher-Price Kid-Tough Digital Camera. She has used the camera every day since. The quality of the pictures is pretty good – given the fact that it’s a camera for kids. Some of the pictures are below.
She obviously enjoys the camera as it allows her to capture things that are interesting to her and because she can mimic an adult activity.
The interesting thing for me is the ease with which she was able to use the camera. It seems an excellent example of design. Not only is the camera durable – she has dropped it at least 10 times without issue; she was taking pictures within seconds of the package being opened – without instruction.
The camera only has 5 buttons:
The orange button turns the camera on and off. The green buttons with the arrows navigate through the pictures. The gray button with the “X” deletes the pictures after pressing it twice. There is also a black button on the front for taking pictures.
When taking a picture, the image shows up on the screen in the center. When deleting a picture a trash can with a question mark shows up on the screen – over the picture. To actually delete the picture you press the button again.
As someone who defines the direction for developing widely used business reporting software, I find the directness and simplicity of the product refreshing. There are many products - especially in the business world- that become bloated with features that either do not fit the use cases or do not fit them well. This bloating can occur in many places in the software: features, installer, administrative functions, footprint, etc… Bloating is also seen in software companies producing multiple products that achieve similar functions. It is nice to see a product fit the needs of the user so well: only the required buttons, durable design, two clicks for advanced functionality, and it even allows for the downloading of the pictures to a PC without the need for software. I know that business software cannot be as simple as a kid’s product, but I think that we, as software designers, can learn a few things from the design of this camera.