The glaring design issue of the fire extinguisher, an everyday item with
an imperative role in safety, is its lack of learnability. As seen in
the image above, the nozzle of the fire extinguisher is extremely
complex and convoluted, with all the parts seeming to mesh together.
There appears to be a ring and a lever like fixture which one may use
for release, and the nozzle is somewhat visible. However, as a whole,
the fire extinguisher appears to be a mesh of different metallic parts
which don't clearly point to a purpose or order of usage. The only clear
signifier is that the handle should be squeezed at some point due to its
wedge-like shape. This is clearly exemplified with the fact that step by
step instructions are a necessary inclusion placed on the fire
extinguisher's can.
The most effective way to address this issue is through a more
comprehensive redesign of the fire extinguisher top part. This may
involve redesigning the inner mechanics in such a way that there are
clearer signifiers (as opposed to the ring which leaves the user with no
clear idea of how to operate the ring or whether it should be used at
all, and a less complex nozzle parts with less unnecessary parts.
Furthermore, more coherent mapping is necessary between the parts, and
the order of steps could be made clearer with better placement of each
part on the head of the extinguisher to make the order in which the user
should operate on each part more intuitive. To add on, the design of the
handle could be designed to better fit the user's model of an object
that should be squeezed or have pressure applied to it in order to
operate, because as of now the handle is not a clear signifier that
squeezing it will result in release from the nozzle.
The Front Desk Bell
This bell is located in front of the East Campus dorm front desk, and a
guest who does not have ID access to East Campus is expected to interact
with this in order to contact the front desk to be let inside. Although
the design is simple and essentially efficient, the major design flaw
comes with the lack of appropriate signifiers for the button. In order
to operate this doorbell and contact the front desk, contrary to
expected, one must press on the clear glass-like part over the paper
saying "Call Front Desk", which actually operates as a button. The
greatest flaw with this design is that the button has a screw on one
end, which would result in the user's model initially believing that the
clear part is immobile and there as a sign, and not as a button one can
actually press on and expect movement from.
In order to improve the design of this implemented doorbell, the best
step to take would be to design the button to have greater signifiers
that imply that its a button. For one, this would involve getting rid of
the solid, metallic, screwed in design it currently has which makes it
appear as an immobile solid object with no potential for movement. To
better portray the button, a design in which the location where one is
to press on pops out from the surround would make it appear to me more
of a button, especially if it followed typical button design and allowed
the user to initially view as a pressable button. It would also improve
the intuitiveness of the structure if the button popped out more from
the surroundings instead of appearing as a mere additional fixture, and
this could include changing the color of the button from its
surroundings or making it appear more detailed and artistically designed
as opposed to the plain background.
The Drawer Under The Sink
This last object is a drawer found directly under the sink of the
kitchen in the East Campus dorm 1W wing. As displayed in the video,
while one drawer that looks the exact same as this drawer can be
opened/drawn out, this drawer, which is placed directly under the sink,
is actually only placed there for aesthetic purposes and cannot be
opened. This design is common among many households and relies on the
user's prior knowledge and conceptual model that drawers directly under
the sink do not open, however this results in minimal learnability and
low efficiency. With this design it is easy to haphazardly try to open
the drawer while in a rush or looking for something, or to even
sometimes forget that the drawer cannot be opened and instead think that
it is stuck. Furthermore, a design flaw with the drawer that can be
opened is that it is awkward at best and difficult at worst to open,
with no clear grip or handle to pull on besides an indentation on the
bottom of the drawer
There are a multitude of ways to approach this problem. The simplest way
would be to simply not install a drawer like fixture in the area
directly under the sink, leaving that space an empty slab of wood or
even adding alternative designs and paintwork there. However, if one
wishes to have a drawer-like fixture there to preserve the aesthetics in
place of the intuition, then the next best idea would be to have a
signifier of sorts that signals to the user when the drawer is actually
a drawer and when it is merely a fixture implemented for the sake of
design that cannot actually be opened. One such way to approach this
would be to add a handle to the drawers that can be pulled open and to
not add a handle to the ones that cannot. Not only would this signifier
increase the learnability of the drawer, but it would also increase the
efficiency by taking care of the flaw of how difficult it is to open the
drawer with no clear grip.
