Cluttered? Busted! MIT Has a Designed a Clutter Detector

Visual clutter - the kind that makes it hard to find anything in the picture - can waste time, or even create dangerous situations. So MIT engineers have designed a visual clutter detector to identify when bad design hampers a person’s ability to understand information, causes confusion, or interrupts concentration.

The scientists say the impetus was that "we lack a clear understanding of what clutter is, what features, attributes and factors are relevant, why it presents a problem and how to identify it."

A clutter measuring device may sound funny, but it's actually "a breakthrough that could help everyone from fighter pilots to Web site designers."

The research has been funded by the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation.

Heck, for half of what they spent I could have just shown them my desk.

via Unclutterer

Posted September 14, 2007, filed in Just for Fun, New Products, Must-read articles