Jo and I stepped into this lift last week and just had to take a photo.  Where is the right facing button going to take us??  I guess it goes to show that implementation is so important.

Lifts can, at times, be confusing.  Is street level ’0′ or ’1′? Did I enter the building on ‘G’ or ‘B’?  Jo and I saw this example whilst visiting the Department of Justice on Wednesday.  And immediately took a snap.

Doors are often used as examples of good and bad design. As in, “Handles are for pulling etc.”

Last week I came across these doors and was a little confused.  Upon looking at the photo, it is clear how each door operates.  My confusion may have been a ‘user issue’ but it did defy my expectation that double doors open in the same direction.  Is it me or the doors?

When on an important client call it can be quite stressful figuring out which button to use to place the call on hold and avoid rudely hanging up on the person. No matter how many times I’ve taken calls using this phone, time and time again I get confused . So much so that I’ve had to create my own work around for the device by placing a sticky note on the phone.

Fridge control

Last night the fish in the fridge froze, so I attempted to increase the temperature .  Then I was faced with the options of ‘high cool’ or ‘low cool’.  In terms of temperature, I am familiar with warm or cold, even high or low, but not high cool or low cool. Is high cool, extra cold, or the higher end of the cold spectrum?

If you must write help documentation, ensure it is needed. And actually helpful.

“We shouldn’t assume that the general viewing public is an idiot”

Joshua Davis (via InspireUX)

There are some serious coffee drinkers in the UsabilityOne office, and a number of us are fairly fussy about our coffees too. So when our new coffee machine arrived we were keen to fiddle with the settings and configure it just the way we like it.

Several weeks later, we still haven’t worked out how to do that. We do know how to change the language on the menu though.

When designing an interface, design for the most likely and frequent activities your users will undertake.