http://www.joelamantia.com/customer-experiences/my-new-swedish-friends-context-mystery-and-discontinuities-in-the-ikea-product-naming-system-part-2 experience design, emerging media, business and technology Sat, 06 Aug 2011 18:46:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 http://www.joelamantia.com/customer-experiences/my-new-swedish-friends-context-mystery-and-discontinuities-in-the-ikea-product-naming-system-part-2/comment-page-1#comment-94 joe Thu, 26 Oct 2006 08:16:35 +0000 http://www.joelamantia.com/wp_test/?p=127#comment-94 Steve, that's a great insight - what seems like a barrier (unfamiliar names) turns into a benefit (easily remembered unique IDs) by this view. Feels like there must be some kind of cognitive threshold on how many diffferent IKEA product names you can hold in your memory on the way to the warehouse. IKEA surely knows this - it would explain the paper slips you can pick up throughout the display area that have the product name and number. We all know how easy it is to get your klippan mixed up with your kvartal... Steve, that’s a great insight — what seems like a barrier (unfamiliar names) turns into a benefit (easily remembered unique IDs) by this view.
Feels like there must be some kind of cognitive threshold on how many diffferent IKEA product names you can hold in your memory on the way to the warehouse. IKEA surely knows this — it would explain the paper slips you can pick up throughout the display area that have the product name and number.
We all know how easy it is to get your klippan mixed up with your kvartal…

]]> http://www.joelamantia.com/customer-experiences/my-new-swedish-friends-context-mystery-and-discontinuities-in-the-ikea-product-naming-system-part-2/comment-page-1#comment-93 Steve Wed, 25 Oct 2006 00:25:00 +0000 http://www.joelamantia.com/wp_test/?p=127#comment-93 Hey, Joe- BTW, a key factor of the IKEA naming convention is that they don't name their products to be cute, they're using the product name as a unique model number, which the consumer then uses to pick and pack their purchases from the warehouse usually on a self-serve basis. I expect that using words instead of arcane product codes like "IR-472H" helps reduce errors. It'd be interesting to test, but I wouldn't be surprised if words perceived as nonsense (e.g., Swedish lakes) would actually result in fewer errors than using real English words. That is, I think it's easier to confuse a Rose with a Daisy than it is to confuse an Antonius with a Broder. --s Hey, Joe–
BTW, a key factor of the IKEA naming convention is that they don’t name their products to be cute, they’re using the product name as a unique model number, which the consumer then uses to pick and pack their purchases from the warehouse usually on a self-serve basis. I expect that using words instead of arcane product codes like “IR-472H” helps reduce errors. It’d be interesting to test, but I wouldn’t be surprised if words perceived as nonsense (e.g., Swedish lakes) would actually result in fewer errors than using real English words. That is, I think it’s easier to confuse a Rose with a Daisy than it is to confuse an Antonius with a Broder.
–s

]]> http://www.joelamantia.com/customer-experiences/my-new-swedish-friends-context-mystery-and-discontinuities-in-the-ikea-product-naming-system-part-2/comment-page-1#comment-92 joe Sun, 22 Oct 2006 01:15:02 +0000 http://www.joelamantia.com/wp_test/?p=127#comment-92 I am guilty as charged, and I admit it. Maybe I need a 12-step program for blog essayists. (Hmmm. There's the next great confessional-book-turned-business-model for the blogging generation. We should look into it...) Of course, now that you *finally* have a site, you'll understand [my problem] completely - at least as soon as you put something on it. I am guilty as charged, and I admit it. Maybe I need a 12-step program for blog essayists. (Hmmm. There’s the next great confessional-book-turned-business-model for the blogging generation. We should look into it…)
Of course, now that you *finally* have a site, you’ll understand [my problem] completely — at least as soon as you put something on it.

]]> http://www.joelamantia.com/customer-experiences/my-new-swedish-friends-context-mystery-and-discontinuities-in-the-ikea-product-naming-system-part-2/comment-page-1#comment-91 Aaron Fri, 20 Oct 2006 22:27:07 +0000 http://www.joelamantia.com/wp_test/?p=127#comment-91 Sweet baby jesus, when I don't feel like doing real work {cough}wireframes{/cough}, I watch youTube, not write 15 page screeds on Ikea's place in the world. My favorite Ikea anecdote (don't remember who told this to me) is that 20% of Europeans under the age of 30 were conceived on Ikea beds....so much melamine and MDF. Sweet baby jesus, when I don’t feel like doing real work {cough}wireframes{/cough}, I watch youTube, not write 15 page screeds on Ikea’s place in the world. My favorite Ikea anecdote (don’t remember who told this to me) is that 20% of Europeans under the age of 30 were conceived on Ikea beds.…so much melamine and MDF.

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