That Damn Image "Quality" Switch/Bad Information Architecture: Learn From My Mistake!

Over the past week, I used Hipstamatic as often as usual--taking hundreds of photographs. Every time I switched a lens, I was left with a funny feeling...


...fast forward to Friday night when I was going through them in Adobe Bridge: hundreds of 1200x1200 images!

Yep, I accidentally flipped that Damn Image "Quality" Switch down. I always, always shoot at 1900x1900.

I tracked it down to the exact moment I'd done it. Naturally, it was while thumbing through the lenses--something I do (mostly) without looking, and/or by listening to the clicks and counting. It's a real shame, since there were a lot of stunners in that week...all medium-size.

That funny feeling I had was me seeing that switch (newly and incorrectly) in the middle position and subconsciously grating against it . But, since I hadn't purposely reset it, I wasn't consciously aware of it.

My fault? Certainly.

But it's also a case of poor Information Architecture by Synthetic Corp--and not just because the switch is so easy to inadvertantly flip during lens changing. The additional sin is conceptual: it's a preference (image output size...like viewfinder style, shake on or off, etc), and not a feature (lens, film, flash). It belongs on the Hipstamatic Settings screen under the iPhone's Settings. Period.

Beware...


;)