Take the Path Untraveled

     
     
       While I was walking to class one day, I noticed students were cutting through the bushes. As I walked into the side door of Lynch, I noticed that a permanent foot path was made by the students who wanted to travel from Lynch to the Neidig-Garber academic building and vice versa. In the photograph in the top left, one can see that the school made sidewalks that went away from the direction of the building in order to get to other buildings, making this sidewalk fairly unusable for students traveling from Lynch to Neidig-Garber.
       From the students' footpaths, one can see that the sidewalks could be made more usable. In class, a similar post was shared about a path created to get around a barrier. However, this situation on campus is a little different, for students are in a hurry to get to class in the shortest amount of time possible. This can be related to task time; users want tasks to be simple and take the least amount of time possible in order to achieve a goal.
       Another principle that can be applied to this unusable path is proximity. In digital communications, proximity is important, for the closer objects are to one another, the more related they appear to be. Clearly, due to the footpath, the school should make a sidewalk that connects Lynch and Neidig-Garber. Since the sidewalk currently is not close to Neidig-Garber when leaving Lynch, students decided to create their own path. A sidewalk would afford proximity by making the walk shorter from one building to another.
       As far as testing goes of whether to create a sidewalk, an observational usability test could be conducted. In this observational study, the tester could record the amount of students who travel from one building to another, and record how many use the footpath versus the sidewalk. Interviews could also be conducted to find whether it would be beneficial to create a new sidewalk.

Outlet Unknown

       Often times I will be working in the library in between classes or in the evening, completing assignments on my computer. When I go to plug in my computer, each time, I run into a usability problem; some of the plug caps do not open, and I often open the wrong plug cap. There are many usability problems with this design.
       The first usability aspect of these plugs is the idea of there being a constraint. The locked plug caps constrain the user from using certain outlets. While this type of constraint my be of annoyance to the user, it may be there for the user's own good. The constraint mentioned is a lock-out, not allowing the user to use certain plugs. Because some plugs may be broken or wired wrong, the janitors may have created this lock-out so students didn't make an error of trying to plug something in a bad socket.
       Another principle in usability that can be examined with these plugs is the affordance of signifiers. Unfortunately, these outlets do not display signifiers of which one is a regular outlet and which is not. Often times, I make the error of opening the wrong outlet cap. Also, another error I make is trying to open a cap that is actually locked. There is no clear indication of whether the outlet cap is locked or not, lacking signifiers.
       The location of the outlets are also a physical anthropometry problem, something Norman takes time to cover in The Design of Everyday Things. The outlets are placed directly in the middle of the table, making the user have to crawl on the floor to get access to the plug. Some handicap individuals would not be able to do this task. Instead of placing the outlets on the ground, they could be placed on the pillars next to the tables.
       There are many usability problems with the outlets in the library. In the future design of the library, new outlet placement should be considered.

In or Out?

       While I was in Philadelphia, I stopped in to Banana Republic to find some summer clothes; however, when I decided to leave, I pulled the handle to get out but nothing happened. I then realized that the door did not open toward me but away from me. Due to the door having two handles, pictured on the left, users do not know which way the door opens and closes.
       In this scenario, the door had a poor signifier; the door actually signified the wrong action. Users have a conceptual model that when there is a handle, one should pull, and the object will come toward them. When the object is to be pushed, there will be a metal plate, a sign, or nothing connected to the door.
       Signifiers are very important when it comes to design in order to make interfaces more usable. If signifiers are good, users can often save time. For example, if a user wants to order something on a shoe store website and they cannot find the box that signifies where to check out, he or she may spend minutes trying to find a button that indicates how to check out.
       In the situation with the door at Banana Republic, if there was a metal plate on the inside of the door indicating that the user should push in order to open the door, he or she would be able to get out of the store easier and faster. Saying this, sometimes signifiers help to reduce kinematic load. When designing interfaces, it is important that designers afford signifiers in their designs to make tasks easier for users.

Bike Rack that Rocks

     While on spring break in Philadelphia, I ran into this bike pole. I took a picture because of the interesting shadow and then realized what an incredible design this small little pole afforded. Normal bike racks have a gray colored metal that looks almost like waves and does not signify that the rack is for parking bikes. When I saw this red pole in the shape of a bike, this clearly signified that this pole was for people to tie their bikes to. What an incredible design.
     This bike rack not only is a wonderful signifier, it also follows the conceptual model that a user would hold. The bike pole has two tire holes, both of which are big enough to connect a chain to. The rest of the pole does not afford a user to easily attach a chain; therefore, the pole constrains the user to putting the chain through one of the bike's tires which is the intended purpose. In chapter four of The Design of Everyday Things, Norman states that "visible affordances...and visible signifier[s]" articulate "what to do and where to do it" on an object. This is exactly what the bike rack affords.
     This bike rack also affords physical anthropometry. The bike rack is not tall, allowing a small kid to use it. The rack is also not too short, allowing tall adults the ability to use it without bending over. The bike rack rises about three feet from the ground, making it usable by people of all sizes.
    This bike pole is designed well and is extremely usable for it's intended purpose. By placing these bike poles throughout the city, users are able to quickly tie up their bike while going into a restaurant or store. The red color of the poles make the bike poles easy to see and quickly identifiable.