DesignAday

My name is Jack Moffett. I am an Interaction Designer with over ten years of experience. According to Herb Simon, that makes me an expert, so I must have something worth sharing. I have started this venture as an exercise to spur critical thinking about my chosen profession. I hope that others may find it thought provoking as well.

DesignAday will present a brief thought about Design every weekday.
Apr 07
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In the Details: Cruise Control

Seeing as how the new Mazda5 is my wife’s car, this weekend was the first time I had driven it for any significant distance—a couple hundred miles. It was therefore the first chance I’ve had to check out many of its features.

I’ve always found it to be a bit odd that in all of my previous cars, there is a dash indicator to tell you that the cruise control is turned on, but none to tell you that it is actually engaged. I was pleased to find that this was remedied in the Mazda5. When the cruise control is turned on, the word “cruise” lights up in amber on the dash. Once it is actually set, the indicator switches from amber to green.

Granted, it’s a bit subtle, and I hadn’t noticed it at first, but now that I know, I will never be left guessing as to who has control of the accelerator.