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Category: Everyday Usability

Here I share with you everyday usability pitfalls or well-rounded designs.

Everyday Usability 16 – Design of error messages continued

Everyday Usability 16 – Design of error messages continued

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Errors messages are a tricky part of the HMI design. An error message means that the user cannot reach the goal of an interaction and it therewith carries a negative emotion (negative user experience). However, the adherence of simple principles can improve the design of an error message and consequently brighten the user’s mood (increase user experience). An error message should be simple, easy to understand, easy to locate, and, in the best case, instructive. Simplicity means that the message…

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Everyday Usability 15 – Design of error messages

Everyday Usability 15 – Design of error messages

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The screenshot shows an error message from a computer in the library. The error message says: “Could not perform this operation because the default mail client is not properly installed.”. There appears to be a of technical error. Errors are a an unfortunate part of the human-machine interaction. As they interfere with the intended task by their nature, error messages can degrade user experience, particularly if the message does not follow basic principles. The message should communicate be clear and…

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Everyday Usability 14 – Learning to use chop sticks

Everyday Usability 14 – Learning to use chop sticks

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Learning how to use chopsticks is not an easy task. The fingers need to be in the correct position and it requires fine motor skills to successfully aim at small pieces. After struggling to acquire that skill myself, I wondered how little kids learn to eat with chopsticks. It appears that one option is to follow a guide such as this wiki instruction page. Another option is to invest in special chopsticks for children, also called learning chopsticks. A colleague…

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Everyday Usability 13 – Carpal tunnel syndrome: explanation and improvement

Everyday Usability 13 – Carpal tunnel syndrome: explanation and improvement

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What is it? The carpal tunnel is a tunnel out of connective tissue between the bony forearm and hand. The tunnel is a passage for nerves such as for movement of the fingers and haptic feedback of the hand. While using the computer and interacting with a mouse the wrist is strongly bent. This causes a contraction of this nerve tunnel and over longer time the nerves passing through will be damaged. Consequential effects are pain during and after mouse…

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Everday Usability 12 – History of the 10 button keypad of the telephone

Everday Usability 12 – History of the 10 button keypad of the telephone

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You come across it everyday but you hardly spent any thought about it: the telephone’s 10 button keypad. It appears natural in its 3×3 arrangement, the numbers ascending from left to right and from top to bottom. The same layout is used on e.g. smart phones, ATMs, cell phones, pin entry devices and card payment terminals. However, the number layout is different on a calculator or numeric part of the keyboard (3×3 as well, but ascending numbers from left to…

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Everyday Usability 11 – unusable shower

Everyday Usability 11 – unusable shower

This article is about the contrary of usability, how to make something not usable. Designers can design something usable, but they can also employ the same knowledge to design something unusable. I recognized such an unusable product in a hotel. I got the impression that the shower design was made intentionally difficult to use in order to save water. Below is a funny guide on how to design an unusable shower. Use a fixed shower head instead of a hose…

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Everyday Usability 10 – Low frequency noise

Everyday Usability 10 – Low frequency noise

Acoustic is an important factor for the ergonomic design of workplaces. I was reminded of that when I started working on my laptop at my new desk. The noise of the laptop’s ventilator happened to be in such a frequency that interacts with that of the desk surface. Resulting, the desk worked as sound box. Whenever I put the laptop on the desk it started to produce very low but still noticeable humming sound, just above the hearing threshold level….

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Everyday Usability 9 – Elevator interface usability

Everyday Usability 9 – Elevator interface usability

Recently I went to work very tired. This tiredness nearly made me accidentally press an alarm button in the elevator interface. I had to use an elevator with very slow closing doors. Naturally, I wanted to speed up the process and tried to press the dedicated button to close the doors. My finger already touched the surface of the button when I realized it had the wrong colour. I look closer and saw that I nearly touched the “call service”…

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Everyday Usability 8 – Fire door

Everyday Usability 8 – Fire door

The department which I work for moved in another building. The building consists of three interconnected houses (or three single houses if you ignore the connecting way). Each house is similar in design. The design integrates an easy fire escape route, but does not integrate the fire safety concept well. One side of a house consists of big open offices and the other side of meeting rooms and smaller offices for higher management. I’m working in one of the big…

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Everyday Usability 7 – Usable tap design

Everyday Usability 7 – Usable tap design

Taps are an everyday item that comes in a great variety of designs. Unfortunately, this can lead to usability issues. But, first let us focus on the user requirements for a tap. At minimum a good usable tap should indicate the following: Design criteria for a usable tap Whether the water flow starts manually or automatically (e.g., motion sensor). An icon with a hand and two lines marking the motion sensor clearly indicate an automatic tap. Whether the water temperature…

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