Ergonomics Canada 2008 - (Page 11) Revealing Bad Designs Have you ever been stumped by how something works or pressed the wrong button in an elevator or couldn’t figure out how to open a door? While you might feel frustrated and a little dumb about making these “mistakes,” most of the time the fault is bad design. Bad design includes objects which are poorly labelled and/or designs that go against convention, allowing an unintended action or use, or objects whose function is not immediately obvious, making them difficult to use. Here are some examples of bad designs and how to rectify them: Here is a set of double doors. Even though the handles are clearly labelled with the words “Push,” since you can grip the handles, a number of people will try to pull them. Solution: remove the handles and attach a flat panel to make it obvious that the door is to be pushed. To open this valve, which way do you turn the handle? Solution: Enough said! This is the thermostat in a hotel room at an ACE annual conference. Although clearly labelled, the direction to increase the temperature goes against convention and a number of conference attendees turned their rooms into saunas. Solution: follow convention by directing the user to slide the control to the right to increase temperature. Photo courtesy: Monica Henriques Do you have examples of bad designs? Send them to info@ace-ergocanada.ca for consideration in our next issue. For more examples of bad design and potential solutions, visit www.baddesigns.com. Medicalpeople producing medical reports Independent Assessments Of Physical And Mental Capabilities TORONTO • HAMILTON • OSHAWA • OTTAWA • HALIFAX • CALGARY • VANCOUVER T E L : 4 1 6 - 5 9 9 - 5 9 9 1 • FA X : 4 1 6 - 5 9 9 - 1 5 3 0 • AC R O S S C A N A DA : 1 - 8 0 0 - 4 8 3 - E X A M ( 3 9 2 6 ) ISO-9001:2000 REGISTERED Serving You Since 1989 www.riverfrontmed.com 394207_Riverfront.indd 1 E-mail: info@riverfrontmed.com Association of Canadian Ergonomists • Association canadienne d’ergonomie 11 8/2/08 9:29:06 AM http://www.baddesigns.com http://www.riverfrontmed.com
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