e
Moneymaking Multi-Monitor Mayhem, and Why Some Prefer Interface Design That Sucks
Here in NYC we've got a billionaire mayor, and you've probably heard of the device that made him rich, the Bloomberg Terminal. For those of you that haven't, it's an integrated computer system and service feed offering real-time financial data and trading.
For finance peeps, Bloomberg Terminals are like potato chips, in that you can't have just one. Your average user rocks a two-, four- or six-monitor set-up....
...though that can get out of control.
Yesterday Quartz announced they'd discovered that the unpublicized cost is 24 grand a year for a single terminal and subscription. For that much money, you'd think they'd dump a little more design into these things. I mean, check out the keyboard:
As it turns out, the now-defunct Conde Nast Portfolio once asked IDEO to come up with a better Bloomberg Terminal design, just a concept, and just for kicks. In just three weeks, they came up with this:
If you're wondering what those little mini-monitors are, they're for a conceptual device that IDEO called the "Bloomberg Wherever." It was "an electronic notepad that is reused like a virtual Post-it [and that] allows users to take a small-scale Bloomberg terminal device beyond their desks." Bear in mind that this was done way back in 2007, just before the iPhone's debut.
These designs never went anywhere (nor did concepts done by two other firms), as it wasn't an official commission. But why hasn't Bloomberg moved to get somebody to do a re-design? The original Portfolio article stated that "...Company executives see the Bloomberg terminal's unique presentation as a status symbol and a selling point. 'We have to be religiously consistent' to satisfy users who become attached to terminal's look and feel, says Bloomberg chief executive Lex Fenwick."
UX Magazine subsequently translated the spin:
Simplifying the interface of the terminal would not be accepted by most users because, as ethnographic studies show, they take pride on manipulating Bloomberg's current "complex" interface. The pain inflicted by blatant UI flaws such as black background color and yellow and orange text is strangely transformed into the rewarding experience of feeling and looking like a hard-core professional.
The more painful the UI is, the more satisfied these users are.
The Bloomberg Terminal interface looks terrible, but it allows traders and other users to pretend you need to be experienced and knowledgeable to use it.
-
oFavorite This
-
Q11Comment
Directory Company Profiles
Core77
Industrial Design
Resources
Industrial Design
Resources
-
Core77 Directory
Find the Best Industrial Design CompaniesGo -
Copenhagen Institute of Interaction DesignCopenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID) is an international hub of creative minds. We shar...
-
4design
4DESIGN | www.4design.com.au | +612 9280 4454 4DESIGN are a team of focussed, talented, motivated a...
-
Fresco Design
Fresco supports world-class brands with world-class design. Based in the Boston area, a leading inno...
-
Mighty Studios
Mighty Studios is a business-savvy product design consultancy. We believe that good design should be...
-
Spitfire Industry
WHO WE ARE Spitfire is a design studio headquartered in Brooklyn. Our founder, Isis Shiffer, an awa...
-
Cardboard Helicopter Product Design
We are a boutique product development studio in Cleveland, Ohio, and we make ideas fly. Drop us a l...
-
Sundberg-Ferar | Product Innovation Studio
Sundberg-Ferar, a product design firm, helps the world's leading durable product companies to turn c...
K
{Welcome
Create a Core77 Account
Already have an account? Sign In
By creating a Core77 account you confirm that you accept the Terms of Use
K
Reset Password
Please enter your email and we will send an email to reset your password.
Comments
Unfortunately, critical posts and articles often over-simplify the multitude of factors that need to be taken into account which invariably allows for an uncompromising attitude by the author/critic often leading to superior tone.
Gone are the days when traders could spend piles of someone else's money on tools they don't need. Bloomberg terminals remain relevant in a difficult economy despite its price because they succeed where many other services fail.
Specifically, one must realize that the Bloomberg keyboard must function as a standard computer interface, not as purpose-built control panel. Dedicating a single computer to Bloomberg might sound sexy, but in reality that's a setup that helps few. It's most powerful when seemlessly integrated into a trader's work-flow all on a single machine which usually includes Excel, Outlook, Twitter and every IM service out there on top of order-execution interfaces tied to assisting algorithms that many traders code themselves.
The genius of the Bloomberg terminal onscreen interface and keyboard is that they hit a sweet spot in functionality providing a familiar place to rest your fingers and also provides dedicated functionality to their own application with a moderate learning curve.
And does movabletype still not grok an em dash?
And, Lex being quoted in this instance is odd. He's been gone from the company for many, many years. Odd that Core77 has such an outdated post.
Seriously, I am so tired uninformed designers predicting the demise of BBG based solely on their old-fashioned visual design. I mean, really? Bloomberg's entire biz is doomed because of their lack of aesthetics?? And you know this how??? There are more important things than hiring IDEO to choose a lovely shade of blue. So shallow.
In response to Bens comment, this is probably why algorithms have not taken over. My friend is actually a guy that writes algorithms all day to do his trading for him, but the market is a fickle beast. When you finally stumble on a code that works, it will only work for a day or two before requiring a complete overhaul. Granted, that one that worked probably just pulled in $200k in 24 hours....
I wonder if the cost includes the service at high speed. I know that this particular firm pays much more than they should for rent just to house their servers in a room next to the board of trade. I was told they just spent $300k on shaving 3 milliseconds off the time it takes the data to transfer from NYSE to Chicago board of trade. It is sad when they complain about the curvature of the earth slowing down their service.
http://www.antennadesign.com/Featured/9-bloomberg-flexible-display
That said, with examples like Thomson Reuters Eikon, Morgan Stanley's Matrix and now UBS' Neo, the tide is changing with respect to more tasteful visual styling, better researched ideas and more progressive interactions.
I am proud to say that much of the drive of this quality seems to be coming from UK-based teams who are turning their attention away from campaign micro sites and towards sophisticated applications that people use day-in, day-out.
With gossip of Bloomberg investing in the transformation of their own User Interfaces, I don't feel like things will remain as is for much longer. The industry is waking up to User Experience, design and better User Interfaces - they just don't know exactly what that means yet.
More interesting, though, is Bloomberg's use of an adapted keyboard. Albeit, a somewhat constrained peripheral, I have seen many opportunities for distributed physical interfaces to complement the glowing rectangles.
It's great that this article highlights the apparent flaws, if only to point towards a much more progressive future that could have a profound effect on more consumer-based services.