2 ms·

I don't see how this says anything except that people aren't that good at visually comparing height and circumference of cylinders. The people who designed my c

I don't see how this says anything except that people aren't that good at visually comparing height and circumference of cylinders. The people who designed my coffee mug are probably just as bad at it, so it isn't like I as the customer am not seeing the vision they had in mind. They would be just as wrong unless they happened to remember the dimensions. The height to circumference ratio of coffee mugs (considered on its own not in how it affects design) seems completely irrelevant to usability and greatness of coffee mugs as well. Don't get me wrong, I think this inability to spatially relate height and circumference is interesting. And I think it's interesting that customers view products differently than designers. I just don't think the two ideas are related in even the slightest way.

RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago
Hi DanielStraight, thanks for taking the time to reply, as you have helped me clarify some thoughts. Firstly, I've tried this in person on about 20 people, and almost every one has reacted with "No Way!" and snatching the string from my hand to do it for themselves. They thought it simply had to be a trick, it couldn't be true! They were amazed. I agree, pretty much all this says is that people are, in general, really bad at comparing height with circumference. The thing that interested me was that every one of them "knows" that C=pi.D. They still got it wrong, and it blew their minds. I was hoping some people here would try it and have a similar reaction. It appears I was wrong. However, the continuing point is this. The few who didn't get surprised, are surprised that others are surprised. To me, that says that they expect others to think as they do. For entrepreneurs this is the route to a quick and not-very-painless death for their enterprise(s). I was intending this exercise to be an analogy for people, just as the color of the bike-shed is an analogy. Clearly my intent failed for you. You have taken it very literally, talking about the designers, and how the ratio might relate to usability. That wasn't my intent, and I clearly failed in my intent, at least with you. So I have learned a lesson. My readers aren't me. I'll be thinking about that for a while. Thanks again for your time.

RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago

Hi DanielStraight, thanks for taking the time to reply, as you have helped me clarify some thoughts. Firstly, I've tried this in person on about 20 people, and almost every one has reacted with "No Way!" and snatching the string from my hand to do it for themselves. They thought it simply had to be a trick, it couldn't be true! They were amazed. I agree, pretty much all this says is that people are, in general, really bad at comparing height with circumference. The thing that interested me was that every one of them "knows" that C=pi.D. They still got it wrong, and it blew their minds. I was hoping some people here would try it and have a similar reaction. It appears I was wrong. However, the continuing point is this. The few who didn't get surprised, are surprised that others are surprised. To me, that says that they expect others to think as they do. For entrepreneurs this is the route to a quick and not-very-painless death for their enterprise(s). I was intending this exercise to be an analogy for people, just as the color of the bike-shed is an analogy. Clearly my intent failed for you. You have taken it very literally, talking about the designers, and how the ratio might relate to usability. That wasn't my intent, and I clearly failed in my intent, at least with you. So I have learned a lesson. My readers aren't me. I'll be thinking about that for a while. Thanks again for your time.