Switch Designs Already

       The two light switches (pictured above; one is hiding due to being painted over) and the fan knob have poor mapping. The fan knob (above the switch plate) also has poor control signifiers. Norman states that "[b]asic switches and controls should be relatively simple to design well. But there are two fundamental difficulties. The first is to determine what type of device they control....The second is the mapping problem...." The light switches have poor mapping because the light switches on the far left do not turn on the lights on the left side of the room. The same goes for the light switches on the right. Also, since there are two light switches, a user does not know which panel is for the room and which one controls the lights outside. The lights in my house also have a constraint, not allowing the user to make the lights brighter or darker through a dimmer. The fan has poor mapping because it appears as though it is a dimmer for one of the lights due to it's proximity to the light switch plate. Norman mentions that the closer objects are to one another, the more likely a user thinks the controls are related. The fan knob has poor control signifiers because a user cannot tell that it turns on the fan and it doesn't display a signifier that tells the user how to make the fan go faster.
       There are a few solutions to the light switch and knob usability problem. One way that the knob could be more usable is by putting a picture of a fan on the plate that tells the user how to make the fan go faster. This signifier would also let the user know that the knob controls a fan. The designer could have eliminated the constraint of only being able to start at a slow speed by allowing the knob to turn left from the starting position. The light switch mapping could be fixed by what Norman did in his home by having a box-like figure come out of the wall. However, another solution that would make the lights more usable for the user would be to place signifiers under the light switches or just make sure that the switches on the left side of the panel turn on the lights that are farthest left in the room and the light switches on the right side of the panel turn the lights on in the right side of the room. The light switches should go in the order in which the lights are placed in the room so mapping is afforded.

Is It Going to Stop?

       As I was walking out of my sociology class, I noticed a student getting a drink from the water fountain. When he was finished, he began to head for the door to go down the steps, but the water fountain continued to run. Noticing that the water fountain didn't shut off, the young man came back to the fountain to see if there was something abnormal about the drinking system. When the student arrived back at the water fountain, the water stopped flowing out of the system. Due to the poor design of the fountain, when the side push bars are released, water continues to flow for an extra three seconds.
       This design does not follow a user's mental model. A user would think that as soon as the bars are released, water would no longer flow from the fountain. If the water would stop, this would provide feedback to the user that they have, in fact, released the side push bars completely. When the student used the fountain, the Gulf of Execution was relatively smooth; however, when it came to the Gulf of Evaluation, the student did not know what was happening with the water fountain. On the water fountain there are good signifiers; the gray bars tell the user where to push. The mapping is also done relatively well by placing the gray bars on the sides where a person would normally want to push; this is Human-Centered Design. This water fountain also can be applied to the principle of "knowledge in the head" and "knowledge in the world." People often see others using a water fountain and learn from this; however, if a user never saw someone use a water fountain, he or she would most likely still be able to use it.
       While this water fountain has some positive design features, there are some design features that should be changed. In order to make this water fountain more usable, the gray bar could come the whole way around the water fountain; this way if someone had objects in there hands and still wanted a drink, the user could push the front and water would still flow from the fountain. The water fountain should also stop immediately after the gray bars are released, for this would provide better feedback to the user.

Stove Top Almost Burns down Home

       A few weeks ago, I almost burnt my house down while trying to make tea. I turned the stove on using the knob in which I thought coordinated to the correct burner. I went upstairs to fold my laundry and continued to listen for the whistle of the tea pot. A few minutes later, I remembered that I was trying to make tea, but didn't hear the whistle. I came downstairs to find a burner that was bright red and the tea pot sitting on a different burner; luckily, my house did not burn down. There were two pieces of feedback/lack of feedback in the above story. The thing that lacked feedback, is the tea pot; if the tea pot was boiling, there would be a feedback of a whistling sound. One piece of feedback that allowed me to know which burner was on was the redness of the burner. Unfortunately, there wasn't a type of feedback to tell me that I turned on the wrong burner.
       If this stove was better designed, the risk of fire would be reduced. There are many problems with the layout of the stove. The knobs that turn on the burners are on the other side of the stove, meaning that when you reach to turn the burner off, you could potentially get burnt by a tall pot or light your shirt on fire. Another problem with this system is that the diagram of the knobs does not signify whether the burner being turned on is a large or small one. Also, the knobs give a signifier of "front" and "rear" to the user; however, how are you supposed to know what is the front of the stove and what is the back when the knobs are on the back of the stove, not the front? While the knobs do afford the mapping of the burners, there are many ways in which this stove could be improved.
       According to Norman, many stoves have bad mapping. The mapping of my stove was different than the ones that Norman used for examples; in fact, my stove actually may be the most natural of all the examples he provided. However, one way this stove could be improved is by signifying whether a knob turns on a large or small burner, instead of just showing four dots with one filled in. In order to make the stove "fire proof," companies could put a constraint on a stove that would not allow a burner to get hot unless there was weight applied to the burner. Also, the stove could use colored lights next to each burner to signify what burner is on and which ones are off.