POWER SOCKETS UNPLUGGED
My most recent experience is related to an object that in its simplest version offers a very clean and wise design. However, many have tried to iterate on that design but few have succeeded. And this post is definitely not a successful story. I was attending a UX seminar (what an irony) when I stumbled upon this one:
On the left you can see the power socket in its normal state and on the right in its open state ready for use. How do I switch from the left to the right one though was a mystery when I saw it. I will describe my initial guess in terms of "The Seven Stages of Action" by Don Norman. My intention was obvious - I wanted to open the socket. The action was easily formulated as well since there was a button like control in front of it - I had to press the button. I executed my action, was able to perceive the button going down in its far end, but the socket did not show up and I obviously did not achieve my goal. Where was I wrong? Maybe I did not press hard enough? I tried a few more times but that was definitely not the missing piece of the puzzle. So I started guessing and in a few more attempts I realized that after pressing the button (labeled as step 1 on the image) I had to pull it while still pressing (labeled as step 2 on the image) to finally enjoy the slowly raising socket with my eyes. Later I thought that maybe the button labeling would give a hint but obviously it did not convey what the designer intended. In conclusion I would like to say that iterating over an existing product is always nice, maybe they tried to make this one safer. By making it harder to use they made it harder to use it unintentionally. However, the design failed to conduct how the product is supposed to be used.