Finding inspiration in the everyday.
Often when I’m working on a certain aspect of the UI design phase for while I sometimes find analogies in everyday occurrences that I can relate back to the current UI I’m working on. It doesn’t matter if it’s a good or bad experience it’s all part of drawing information and ideas outside the context that you’re working in. I may look at it and work out how could this be improved or what makes this a good experience.
It’s true with everything though, the more interest you take in something the more you notice it, and the greater the detail you notice it with.
I had a similar realization at a McDonald’s recently. I noticed that after taking my order the cashier had to walk about 12 feet along the front and then down the side of the kitchen to get my fries. Then, to get an ice cream cone the cashier could just turn directly around. I couldn’t help but think, "Don’t more people order fries than ice cream?" My friend pointed out that a lot goes into the plumbing and venting of the equipment that dictates their placement.
While I understand that to an extent, it sounds an awful lot like a developer saying "it would be easier if we just used a grid of data rather than an interactive chart". I bet gourmet kitchens are arranged to meet the needs of chefs despite what is easier to build.
Nice observation Rob. I’d probably say the McDonalds kitchen layout compared to a gourmet kitchen layout is like comparing a kit home to an architecturally designed beach house. The kitchen layout probably hasn’t changed since it was first developed. One size fits all, and more of a data driven approach then a design driven approach.