Anyone could make this screen look better. But it takes more than that to make it a good design.

I had an instant, negative reaction to the proposal. Not because of the design itself, which demonstrates a solid grasp of the information cab riders want and the context in which they’re consuming the information, but because the designers understood the design problem all wrong.

If the sole objective of Taxi TV is “providing useful information to riders,” then Antenna’s design is commendable. But that’s not the only–or even the primary–objective of Taxi TV. A 2007 Times article about NYC’s Taxi TV contracts confirms as much: Taxi TV is about advertising, not providing useful information. (Sidenote: WABC’s Taxi TV provides a pinpoint description of NYC taxi passengers, as only a marketer could—“upscale, affluent and captive”.)

It’s unpalatable, but Taxi TV is an advertising platform first and foremost, which means that Antenna’s proposal is a failure. The client—advertisers—would never agree to having their content off by default, hidden behind an “Entertainment” button. That design wouldn’t make it past the first client review (if even that far).

This is a perfect illustration of the tension designers face between providing the end user with the best possible experience and not getting fired by your client for doing so. For Taxi TV, the best user experience is clearly at odds with the business objectives. A good designer reconciles that issue instead of pretending it doesn’t exist.

How I Would Improve Taxi TV

I’ll put my money where my mouth is and offer a better proposal. Here are the design principles I’d follow, ones that I feel would result in a realistic and implementable design for Taxi TV’s interface.

Design to keep the screen on

From the advertisers’ perspective, nothing is worse than what I regularly do: hop in the cab, get instantly annoyed at the screen blaring at me, and immediately hit the OFF button on the screen. Of course, Taxi TV should allow users to turn the system off, but the content and the UI should do all it can to convince users that Taxi TV is worth keeping on. To do this, start the cab ride with a dashboard or overview of the things a passenger can do: see a map, get fare information, or watch TV. Don’t just give the user a choice, show them what they could experience with a small, live updating map like the one Antenna designed, a live (but muted) TV screen, and live updating fare information. Entice passengers to drill down into any of these three options.

Shut up and enjoy the ride

Leave the sound off until the passenger turns it on. This allows ads to be seen while decreasing the chance that a user immediately and instinctively turns the TV off when the ride starts. I would do my best to convince the client that muted ads are better than no ads at all. This could even be a useful design constraint for advertisers: make your ads compelling enough that passengers want to hear them. Or, to take it a step further, the NYC TLC could have structured the entire advertising model so that advertisers only pay for passenger interactions (as opposed to muted impressions).

Don’t do anything unless the user requests it

Taxi TV’s posture should be passive and reactive. Let the passenger approach Taxi TV and provide only what the passenger requests. Ultimately, this will feel like a less annoying experience to the passenger and makes them less likely to form a negative view of Taxi TV with repeated experiences. As a result, you have a passenger audience that is less hardened and more likely to see Taxi TV as a useful resource than an obtrusive annoyance.

There was, and still is, a tendency for companies to take what I call the Billion Dollar Bucket approach to building websites. They spend an inordinate amount of time and resources building a gorgeous shell—the bucket—then they fill it with any old crap: old and outdated content, broken links, images and videos that don’t reflect current brand standards, etc.

It’s only been in the last three to five years that people have started to appreciate that what you say or view is as important as how you get to that material.

—“Content Strategy Q&A”

For years, we’ve been spending millions of dollars on strategy and research, user experience design, visual design, and technical platforms. In other words, we’ve invested in everything we need to build the online vehicles for our content.

And yet, strangely, it’s the content that gets left until the last minute. It’s the main reason projects are delayed or even abandoned. It’s an afterthought, a nuisance.

Why? Because most of us haven’t yet realized that we’re actually in the publishing business.

… But here’s the deal. The moment you launch a website, you’re a publisher. The moment you begin a blog, send an email, participate in social media, build a widget, even show up in search engine results… you are a publisher.

Publishers plan far in advance which content they will create. They have established, measurable processes in place. They invest in teams of professionals to create and care for content. They would never think of starting with design and then cramming content in at the last minute.

Like it or not, this is your job now. Web audiences demand useful, usable content. If you don’t deliver, they will leave. And in order to deliver, you need to make content a priority. You need to think like a publisher.

Me: “We did some research that indicates that the registration may have run out. Your organization registered and managed the domain name, so I can’t help with this since we have no involvement in managing the domain name.”

Client: “[very angry] I am reading your email in disbelief. You are the webmaster – how can there be an aspect of our website that you have no control over?”

Why is that client from hell? Because they don’t understand the relationship between domain name registration and site functionality? Because they called the webmaster when there was a problem with the website?

Sites like these, while good for the occasional laugh, only contribute to web professionals’ image as aloof, arrogant, know-it-alls. If clients don’t know how this stuff works, it’s not their fault.

On a positive note, Michael Beirut’s talk about great clients is inspiring:

2010/01 Michael Bierut from CreativeMornings on Vimeo.

Sed convallis! Morbi cursus, libero non congue malesuada; lectus ligula vehicula enim, et hendrerit ligula massa at libero. Vestibulum non ante. Etiam vestibulum augue eu tellus eleifend adipiscing! Nullam tristique pulvinar felis. Vivamus cursus! Aenean sit amet odio id tortor dapibus feugiat. Nullam mollis scelerisque magna? Aliquam sed augue quis neque congue blandit. Mauris sit amet magna in dui interdum pellentesque. Donec hendrerit pretium lorem. Suspendisse fringilla, risus sit amet vehicula aliquam, nibh magna pretium purus; pharetra sagittis nibh mauris non orci. Sed tristique. Fusce a eros quis massa fringilla posuere.

Morbi sit amet massa. Mauris non lorem a mauris porta dapibus? Phasellus nisi. Quisque congue, odio nec semper consectetur, libero diam facilisis lorem, eu dapibus lacus risus et magna. Quisque ut dolor nec justo tincidunt sodales. Nunc vulputate. Etiam condimentum, diam non feugiat viverra, quam turpis pharetra neque, a aliquet nisl enim a orci. Cras mattis diam in erat. Cras dapibus odio in dolor. Mauris lectus. Quisque quis orci.

Open letter from a Distressed Bookseller

Jim Carty, Destroyer of Local Businesses?

I find the debate fascinating. I only have two things to add to the discussion: 1) my textbook buying experience at Shaman Drum was miserable, but not exceptionally so; 2) I wonder whether this is less a case of capitalism’s “creative destruction” than it is a case of a small business that relied too heavily on a single revenue stream.

McCloud’s Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art is one of the most influential books I’ve read—it’s a must-read for any designer.

One of the doctors behind Hello Health has a really illuminating blog post announcing the service and explaining why something like this hasn’t happened before now.

Who they’re targeting:

Our market is the 47 million people in America without health insurance; the other millions of Americans who are underinsured; and the 40 million Americans over the next four years who will have high deductible health insurance plans.

…If you cannot afford the ridiculously expensive insurance premiums in your local area, we provide the next best thing — your own personal accessible doctor who you can communicate with however you’d like who treats your medical conditions at a reasonable price, and who helps you spend your money wisely. We are not a replacement for insurance. We, at hello health, are simply your best healthcare resource for the vast majority of people who do not get hit by a bus in a given year. We save you money.

It costs $35 per month. Office visits are $100 to $200, short emails with doctors are free. Available only in north Brooklyn right now.