Okay, so today I decided to mess around with “instrumentation psychology” – basically, how we react to different interfaces and controls. I’ve always been fascinated by how a simple change in layout or feedback can totally change how we interact with something.
First, I gathered some basic stuff: a few potentiometers, some push buttons, LEDs, and a breadboard. Nothing fancy, just the usual suspects from my electronics bin. I wanted to create a super simple setup to test a couple of ideas.
The Setup
- Potentiometers: These are like volume knobs – you turn them to change a value.
- Push Buttons: Simple on/off switches.
- LEDs: Little lights that turn on or off.
- Breadboard: A board for connecting everything without soldering.
I started by wiring up a potentiometer to control the brightness of an LED. The idea was to see how intuitive it felt to adjust the light level with a knob. Turns out, it’s pretty natural! I noticed I quickly got a feel for how much to turn the knob to get the brightness I wanted.
Then, I added a push button. I wired it so that pressing the button would instantly turn the LED to full brightness, regardless of the potentiometer setting. This was interesting. It felt like a “boost” or “override” control. I found myself using it when I wanted a quick burst of light, rather than fiddling with the knob.
Next, I swapped the single LED for a row of LEDs. I modified the wiring so that the potentiometer would light up the LEDs one by one as I turned it. This created a visual representation of the “level” I was setting. It felt much more precise than the single LED. I could easily see how “far” I had turned the knob.
I played around with this setup for a while, trying different combinations. I added another button that would cycle through different patterns on the LED row. It felt like I was building a little control panel, and it was surprisingly engaging to experiment with the different ways of controlling the lights.
Finally, I realized I was basically building a very rudimentary version of what you might find in a real-world instrument panel – like in a car or an airplane. The knobs, buttons, and lights all work together to provide information and control. It’s all about making the interaction feel intuitive and natural.
This little experiment really highlighted how much design goes into making even the simplest interfaces feel good to use. It’s not just about making things work; it’s about making them work well with how our brains are wired.
