99% Invisible

  • Archive
  • RSS
banner

Episode 37- The Steering Wheel

(Press Play Above)

Download, Embed, Share…

wheel grip

(cc photo by Nate Steiner)

If I asked you to close your eyes and mimic the action of using one of the simple human interfaces of everyday life, you could probably do it. Without having a button to push, you could close your eyes and pretend push a button, and that action would accurately reflect the action of pushing a real button. The same goes for flipping a switch or turning a door knob. If you closed your eyes and faked the movement, it would sync up with its real world use.

Now if I asked you to do the same with a car’s steering wheel, you’d think you’d be able to describe steering accurately and mime the correct movements with your hands in the air, but you’d be wrong. Very, very wrong. You’d probably kill a bunch of imaginary people.

Our friends at Humans in Design, Tristan Cooke and Tom Nelson, bring us this story about how our brain knows how to steer without really knowing how to steer, and what that means for steering wheel design. They interviewed Dr. Steve Cloete, from The University of Queensland, who conducted the awesome blind driver studies.

Source: SoundCloud / Roman Mars

  • 1 year ago
  • 24
  • Comments
  • Permalink
  • Share
    Tweet

24 Notes/ Hide

  1. routertest2013 reblogged this from 99percentinvisible
  2. transportationnation reblogged this from 99percentinvisible
  3. decoderzone reblogged this from 99percentinvisible
  4. element67 likes this
  5. newsvasttrav likes this
  6. igor-ledochowski-hynosis reblogged this from 99percentinvisible
  7. juliabarton likes this
  8. yoursandmann likes this
  9. 99percentinvisible posted this

Recent comments

Blog comments powered by Disqus
← Previous • Next →
A tiny radio show about design, architecture & the 99% invisible activity that shapes our world.

itunes

itunes

"99% Invisible...is completely wonderful and entertaining and beautifully produced..."
-Ira Glass, This American Life

"We think what he’s doing is inspiring. It has a kind of rhythm and musicality that you don’t normally find in radio or podcast storytelling."
-Jad Abumrad, Radiolab

New episodes released every 10-14 days, airing weekly on 91.7 KALW in San Francisco. Fridays at 7:35am and 4:44pm, Saturdays at 8:35am, and Tuesdays at 10:55pm. Also, 24/7 on Public Radio Remix. Distributed by PRX.

itunes

Produced by Roman Mars. It’s a project of KALW, the American Institute of Architects, San Francisco and the Center for Architecture and Design.

Twitter: @romanmars

"Roman Mars lights the radio. His pieces conjure other worlds, grapple with big ideas, make sound three dimensional. They are smart and funny and original. The Kitchen Sisters would like to be Presidents of his Fan Club."
-The Kitchen Sisters, Peabody Award-winning producers for NPR

"I love the show. It's wonderful. [It] actually reminded me of why I love radio."
-Jonathan Goldstein, CBC's WireTap

"Mars is the Ira Glass of design."
-Allison Arieff, design columnist for The New York Times

More very very very very very very very cool people saying nice things about the show.

KALW
AIA-SF

Logo design by Stefan Lawrence. Hire him!

Pages

  • About
  • FAQ
  • Staff favorites
  • RSS
  • Random
  • Archive
  • Mobile

Effector Theme by Carlo Franco.

Powered by Tumblr