Designs in our everyday lives

Some examples I have observed around the house and the city of San Francisco...

_conceptual model

original design:
I had a difficult time trying to open this door when I first moved into this apartment. It took me 5 minutes trying to figure out how to open it. The knob is there but when you turn it, the door won't open. Another try was to turn the knob on the top, but still wouldn't work. Then tried to turn both knobs, then the door finally opens. I found that I would have to turn the top knob and the door knob at the same time. The trigger on the top moves up and down to lock/unlock the door. It was confusing, but now I've gotten used to it. But for someone who doesn't know how to operate it, they could get locked inside when there is a disaster.
improvement:
Make it simple. A knob should be there to open the door when you turn it. The locking device should be a separate object and function.


original design:
This has got to be the worst design ever for a shower control. There is no indication or visibility for how to make the water come out of the shower. You'll never guess how you turn on the shower. You reach under the faucet, grab the part where the water comes out and pull down on it! This design is bad for a number of reasons. One is that nothing else works like this. Another is that the "control" for turning on the shower doesn't look anything like a control, so the control is basically hidden.
improvement:
Make the shower control visible to the user. Instead of it being underneath the faucet, there could be a button or knob on top of the water control handle or on top of the faucet head.

_contraints

original design:
This isn't quite the ordinary pencil. Say, you've gotten yourself this mechanical lead pencil and you figured that when you press the top, there would be something to stop the lead from going all the way out -- but with this, there was no constraint to stop the lead from going out when you are pressing the top, the end result is a broken lead from falling out.
improvement:
There should be something to stop the lead from going all the way out like the way the regular mechanical pencil is designed. One click should get a reasonable length of lead to come out, enough to be able to write.

_mapping

original design:
This image is the intercom buttons in front of an apartment gate. This illustrates an example of bad mapping because it does not let the user know which button is for which apartment. It is so badly designed that the numbers had to be written to indicate the designated number---furthermore, the numbers are not even written in order. Imagine if the numbers weren't written and all there was just the buttons, we would never know how to use it or even contact the person to let us in.
improvement:
The way we could improve this is to either design the buttons descending from 1 through however many numbers or from left to right.


original design:
This stove is an example of bad mapping as well because we have to assume that the right knob is for the bottom right, the second knob from the right would be for the top right, and so on. It is not natural mapping to the way we would perform it naturally---say, if the icons indicating the locations weren't there.
improvement:
The way we could improve this is to design it the way the locations of the burner were designed. In other words, bottom left, top left, top right, bottom right.

_feedback

original design:
An example of bad feedback in a power strip because it is already a red switch, there is no indication whether we know we are switching it on or off. No light to indicate power or even a label saying on/off.
improvement:
The way we could improve this is to provide lighting or some kind of sound to indicate the on/off.


original design:
Good feedback. It lets the user know when the button is on by the green light when he/she pushes it. When the user pushes it again, the light turns off.

What we see & use everyday

"The human mind is tailored to make sense of the world" -- is what Donald A. Norman had stated. The world is full of objects and things that help us with our everyday lives, whether it be technological or traditional. To make our lives easier, of course. But how many times have you felt embarrassed trying to get something to work in front of a group of strangers only to find that you have failed to get it to work?

Well-designed objects are easy to interpret and understand. They contain visible clues to their operation. Poorly designed objects can be difficult and frustrating to use. They provide no clues or sometimes false clues. They trap the user and confuse the normal process of interpretation and understanding. Alas, poor design predominates. The result is a world filled with frustration, with objects that cannot be understood, with devices that lead to error. What we should do is observe the things around us and our environment, and try to find what the problem is and solve it.

Conceptual Models
A good conceptual model allows us to predict the effects of our actions. Without a good model we operate by memory, blindly; we do operations as we were told to do them; we can't fully appreciate why, what effects to expect, or what to do if things go wrong. For everyday things, conceptual models shouldn't be complex. Scissors, pens, and light switches are pretty simple devices -- there is no need to understand the underlying physics or chemistry of each device we own, simply the relationship between the controls and the outcomes.

Visibility
By looking, the user can tell the state of the device and the alternatives for action. Looking at a door, the correct parts must be visible, and they must convey the correct message. With doors that push, the designer must provide signals that naturally indicate where to push.

Constraints
Consider a pair of scissors -- the sizes of the holes provide constraints to limit the possible fingers. The big hole suggests several fingers, the small hole only one. In other words, the designer should keep constraints in mind to prevent human/user error and define limits.

Affordances
Affordances provide strong clues to the operations of particular things. (Knobs are for turning. Slots are for inserting things into. Balls are for throwing or bouncing. When affordances are taken advantage of, the user knows what to do just by looking: no picture, label, or instruction is required. Complex things may require explanation, but simple things should not. When simple things need pictures, labels, or instructions, the design has failed.

Mapping
The relationship between two things, in this case between the controls and their movements and the results in the world. Natural mapping -- For example, a designer can use spatial analogy: to move an object up, move the control up. To control an array of lights, arrange the controls in the same pattern as the lights. Some natural mappings are cultural or biological, as in the universal standard that a rising level represents more, a diminishing level, less. Similarly, a louder sound can mean a greater amount, therefore naturally our mind thinks "raising up the control" means louder.

Feedback
Sending back to the user information about what action has actually been done, what result has been accomplished. Imagine trying to talk to someone when you cannot even hear your own voice, or trying to draw a picture with a pencil that leaves no mark -- there would be no feedback.