They’re not all made equal
JBL
Touchscreens have ruined the design of some hardware.
Why do we still think of them as premium additions, even though they can make everything worse?
But this also means designers are never really forced to finalize a user interface.
JBL
Bean Counters
For a product manager, a touchscreen is enticing.
If you forget to put a volume knob on a speaker, you’re done.
And this would be fine if touchscreen interfaces were well thought out, buttheyre often not.
Timothy Muza / Unsplash
The appeal of touch for companies is clear: its cheap and fast to deploy from commodity parts.
All design and development is in software, and theres the possibility of endless revisions in the future.
But why do users like them?
This is a bad combination.
“For example, climate control in modern cars it’s not only inconvenient but also dangerous.
Tactile pressing on a physical button could be done without losing control on the road.”
Touch isn’t all bad, though.
Our phones are amazing, for example.
But despite the appeal, it’s not for everything.
And those JBL wireless earbud cases?
Put a status screen on there, sure, but touch controls?
