The quality issues that I have covered include manufactured product issues, software glitches and problems faced in everyday life due to inefficient design if the product.
Case 1
Problem: The above picture shows an annual blood donation drive at my undergrad college in India. The volunteers had been allotted their respective tasks beforehand. Eight major blood banks had agreed to participate and we expected the donors to cross 1k mark. During the event itself, some junior volunteers tasked with sitting a the front desk and dispatching the incoming donors to beds, left their station and went off to take their pictures and share them online. This led to a massive confusion and people begun leaving when they didn’t know which bed to go to.
Solution: Some volunteers noticed the disturbance at the front desk and promptly took care of the situation by multi-tasking and sharing the extra responsibility. This shows that the person who has been assigned a duty must fulfill it honorably and must strive to handle extra workload for the greater good of an organization. That day we made a South Asia record of collecting the maximum number of blood units in one day. We had collected 1,171 units of blood in merely 7 hours.
Case 2
Problem: The picture above shows the air vent in my room. It has two problems. First, it’s situated directly above my bed. So when I sleep in the night, the air flow hits directly on my face, leaving me cold. Now, I’ve thought of changing the position of the bed. But the room is small so, it’s not feasible to arrange the room in any other manner Second, the shutters on the vent are metallic. So when I try closing it, the metallic shutters make a screechy sharp noise. Making it impossible to achieve a peaceful environment.
Prevention: To address the first problem, the designer should’ve provided the vent on a side wall or above the door. That way, the air flow wouldn’t hit you from above. For the second problem, instead of providing metallic shutters, they could be of plastic coated with rubber which wouldn’t make sharp acoustic noise. Alternatively, they could have a rotation mechanism similar to those used in airplanes, which is much more effective.
Case 3
Problem: The above pictures are of my dresser. You can see there’s a sharp nail end protruding. It might seem quite innocuous, but it’s quite the opposite when the dresser is placed right next to the study table. In this case, I’ve scratched my feet in a bad way when I was studying and subconsciously moved my feet and they rub against the sharp nail. This can prove to be quite dangerous if this dresser is placed in a household with a young child.
Solution: The manufacturer should apply a padding or insert the nail from outside towards inside, so that it’s not as harmful.
Case 4
Problem: This picture shows my study table. As you can see, there’s a small rack attached near the bottom. The problem is that this rack is not removable. As a result of this, I’m not able to stretch out my legs under the table and am forced to keep my legs folded under the chair whenever I sit down to do some work.
Solution: the designer probably thought that the rack will provide great utility, and for most parts its correct. But it should’ve been removable, so that if someone wants to stretch and sit comfortably, the rack could’ve been removed and the person would sit comfortably.
Case 5
Problem: These are the pictures of two different cell-phone chargers. In the first case, the (white) wire is extending horizontally. When this charger is plugged into a wall, over time the wire at the joint might be damaged or cut because of its constant downward pull, rendering the charger useless.
Solution: The second picture (black charger) shows the charger from same company but designed for newer phones. This charger is much reliable since it extends vertically down and has a thicker wire. Making it much more durable than the older ones.
Case 6
Problem: This picture is of ethernet port of my laptop – lenovo G50. As shown, the port is protected by a cover. Once the cable is inserted, the cover jams it and prevents it from coming out. Making it impossible to take out the cable with bare hands. I use a pen to pry open the cover, this gives a little space to pull free the cable from the laptop.
Solution: I agree that this feature provides protection and prevents any foreign substance from entering. But it’s not designed to be user friendly. The manufacturer could use a sliding cover instead of this retractable one.
Case 7
Problem: This is the screenshot of an article I tried reading on a news daily’s website. The problem with opening the article on a touch-screen phone is that, the interface has numerous advertisement and suggestions for related articles smack in the middle of the article I was reading. Due to this, while scrolling down, my finger inadvertently touches the region where the advertisement is and it opens a new pop up window, thus ruining the whole reading environment.
Solution: I don’t hold anything against the websites hosting advertisements on their pages. But they should do so in a manner that doesn’t hinder the visitor’s website experience. The same advertisement could’ve been placed in a sidebar or at the bottom of the page, thereby making the interface user friendly.
Case 8
Problem: Anyone who’s undertaken a train journey in India has seen that a train compartment is divided into cabins. Each cabin consists of six bunks. Four on one side and two on the other side of the aisle. The railways has provided charging plugs only on the side with four bunks. This poses a problem to people travelling on the other side, especially in long journeys taking more than a day. I myself have faced this problem many a times while travelling longer distances.
Solution: The railways should fix the problem by providing charging outlets on both the sides of the aisle. This will provide all the travelers with ease of charging their electronic devices and they wouldn’t have to cross the aisle time and again.
Case 9
Problem: The picture above shows the entrance and exit door of an Indian railways car. As seen, there’s a vertical ladder-stair at the door which the passengers have to use while climbing or getting down at a station. This ladder is a hazard to someone who is in a hurry or to elderly people who have to gather strength to go in or out. Moreover, the ladder is metal which makes it slippery.
Solution: The railways authority should increase the height of the platforms so that the people can easily step in and out without much effort. Bringing the height of platforms to that of the rail car will improve the passenger’s safety and convenience.
Case 10
Problem: For the past month I have been using Hulu. It’s an online streaming service which plays your favorite movies and TV shows right where you are. The problems that I have faced I that the website runs a javascript of its own which interferes with that of your browser. This makes the interface and browser non-responsive for some time and take a minute to run again. This can ruin anyone’s movie experience as it’s quite tedious and irritating.
Solution: To prevent this problem, I’ve used the dedicated applications of these service providers (Netflix, hulu). This way the service’s video decoder doesn’t run counter to that of the browser and the video plays without any hiccups. Alternatively, the service providers should collaborate with the browser designers and figure out a way so that their website is compatible with the browsers.
Case 11
Problem: My primary google ID is based in India. This gives me access to applications and google services specifically launched in Indian subcontinent. Upon arriving in United States, I needed to use applications of American banks and travel companies. But since my google ID was based in India, I wasn’t allowed to download these various applications in my smart-phone. After 3 days of exchanging emails and calls was my account finally allowed to use USA specific applications.
Solution: We all know that Google maintains a personalized location data on each user. It should use this data to determine the location of the user and allow them to use the applications specific to that country. Once the user leaves that region, google can once again block those applications to the user. This can allow the traveler to have a full thronged google experience – he can download apps of local banks, restaurants, hotels, travel agencies, etc.
Case 12
Problem: In almost every home in India, people use bolts and latches for door and windows. The above picture is from a window frame in my home back in India. The problem faced here is that certain type of wood used to make doors, windows and their frames is susceptible to expanding at varying degrees in humidity. Since a lot of regions in India experience extended monsoon, the expansion of wood often disturbs the alignment between bolts and their latches. This makes closing and opening of doors and windows difficult and sometimes outright impossible if the alignment is too far removed.
Solution: The manufacturer of furniture should use wood that has been processed and cleared for usage in humid environments. And the wood should be coated with an anti-humid material which prevents the wood from absorbing water vapors and expanding.
Social Networking Articles
Eco-friendly West Wing wins 2016 Shed of the year
This article informs about an eco friendly shed made just out of recycled and re-used materials. This stands in contrast with other man-made structures which are usually made from loads of manufactured bricks, plastic and cement, all of which have a considerable carbon footprint.
Its green roof is covered in wild turf and features a total of 400 used milk cartons, cut and layered for drainage. The interior includes a loft space, accessed by ladder, with a bed and an area to relax. One interesting feature is a bookcase that serves as a hidden door and reveals a secret room for his kids to play and sleep.
Made out of years of love, passion and hard work, this shed disabuses us of the fallacy that only steel and glass can make a beautiful structure.
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A Tablet for the Blind
The video tells us that the existing Braille digital technology has shortcomings such as the reader is allowed to read one line at a time and the technology is also very expensive. It costs around $4000 for the old one whereas this new technology tablet developed by the people at University of Michigan have developed this tablet which is cheaper than the existing technologies. This revolutionary tablet would eliminate all the complexities of Integrated wiring and circuit boards for high-definition display and GPU rendering, instead it would require some sort of physical/mechanical controllers to control the movement of air bubbles or fluid. This fluid or air bubbles would need to be transferred to new positions on the tablet smoothly so the braille text is seamless and responsive.
Click here for the reference article.
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Let’s create a cleaner and greener future 