A case study in how poor language hurts design

What does “unblank projector” mean?”

This is an excellent lesson in why we need to use humanistic, usable language. Design is not just about visuals.

This is a photo I took off the projector in my class last week. Our classrooms have a Crestron automation system in them that controls lights, projectors, and audio. It’s a touchscreen system, so there shouldn’t be any issues creating signifiers that are both very discoverable and understandable.

I eventually figured out what “blank projector” and “unblank projector” meant, but good design should be obvious, and one of the core concepts of good product design is memorability. The concept of blanking and unblanking a projector is not memorable. It’s barely English.

What is happening here is that there is a way to turn the projection from the projector on and off, without turning the projector itself off. Let’s say you are giving a presentation, and you want to turn the projector off so that you can write on the board or so that the projector isn’t distracting when you are doing something else. “Blank projector” allows you to no longer project, while keep the projector still technically on in case you want to start quickly showing something again (some people who saw this button assumed it projected a blank screen, perhaps all black or all white, which further underscores the poor language).

Creston has already taken the concept of shutdown for the entire A/V system, which seems to be the genesis of this poor language decision. Hitting the shutdown A/V system button will turn the projector completely off and raise the projector screen. Turning the projector back on from this state can take a few minutes. Because of this, someone, somewhere, thought it best to call the act of turning the projection from the projector off — but not the entire system — “blank projector.”

It would be much simpler to say “turn off projector,” and “turn on projector.” Is this 100 percent accurate from an engineering standpoint? No.

But who cares?

The core of the issue here appears to be people at Crestron confusing inside baseball issues with user facing issues. It is true that “blanking projector” doesn’t actually turn…