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Smile! You're on a Speed Camera!

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I'm fascinated by the human relationship with technology and how one helps shape the other. A recent example that got me thinking came after the Thames Valley Park Security team installed a speed camera on one of the roads approaching the UK Microsoft Campus. But this wasn't one of those widely despised 'Greed Cameras' that collects money from every motorist exceeding the speed limit. This was a happy/sad camera that displays an electronic smiley face whenever you pass at less than 30 miles per hour. If you go too fast though you will incur the wrath of the sign and see a very sad face instead.

Now, call me a crazed lunatic, but I really like seeing a smiling face in the morning. So much so that I now find myself deliberately slowing down on the approach to the camera so I can guarantee myself of some smiley feedback and enjoy every short second of our brief passing relationship. And one day when I was travelling a little too fast I found myself filled with regret that my 32MPH had made the camera sad. I even thought about go past once again so I could make it smile once more. (Even I think that's weird.)

But what intrigues me is why do I feel this way? It's a speed camera for heaven's sake! Why should I care whether it likes me or not? It has no feelings, no memory. And it's extremely unlikely that our relationship will ever go any further. Besides, I'm already married...

Yet the smiley face gets me every time. It's so instantly recognisable as human that I feel some empathy with what the camera is trying to do. A sad face reminds me of the possible consequences of driving too fast. A happy face reminds me that I'm a nice person, the sort of person that happy people would like to know.

There's a very profound insight into the human condition buried within the smiley speed camera experience. We instinctively respond to certain triggers. And every product designer and marketer should be aware of these triggers so their technology solutions can work harmoniously with our hard-wired human minds.

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