Coming Soon: The Public Transportation UI Bake-Off Everyone's Been Waiting For.
Narcisisstically inspired by my own moblog posting, I plan to write up a full comparison of NY Metro's subway kiosk vs. Chicago CTA's equivalent unit. 'Public utility' user interfaces are among the most important, yet overlooked, in modern design because their impact is felt daily, by tens or even hundreds of thousands, and even the most minor flaw in the user experience can inspire untold rage because its victims have no competitive alternative except for non-use.
This also reminds me of a related design topic: the value of physical wear as an affordance. I've often wondered if wear should be modeled on public utility interfaces (touchscreen or CRT) to help indicate where countless thousands have gone before you. The flipside of this is that if something looks, well, worn or threadbare, you may simply perceive it as broken rather than broken-in. I'd love for some HCI grad student in need of a grant project to explore this one.