Sometimes when something on a website or app is apparently hard to use, clients, developers and designers will suggest that we need to provide instructions or help. I would almost always argue that this is wrong. If you have to supply instructions, then the design is wrong.
A few months ago, I came across this situation in the toilets of Winchester’s funky new redesigned library (called a ‘discovery centre’). Apologies for the poor pic, but I don’t really like hanging around taking pictures in public toilets. Presumably what had happened was this: they fitted the toilets with funky minimalist stainless steel fittings only to find out that people were emerging from the toilets shaking their hands and complaining that there was no way to dry them.
Of course the solution was not to provide a new hand dryer which although still funky and stainless steel and minimalist had some visible cue that you should stick your hands under it. Just a simple (albeit funky and minimalist) picture would do. The solution was to stick a shabby printed sign above it with sellotape (other sticky tapes are available). Presumably over time the sign will turn yellow, peel at the edges and probably get graffitied on. My guess is that this was not part of the ‘vision’ that the designers had.
So, my message to hand dryer designers is: by all means go funky and modern and minimal but not at the expense of usability, people need to know how and where to dry their hands. My message to web designers and developers is basically the same (apart from the bit about drying hands). And adding instructions is not the answer.
2 Comments
Dear Dan,
I liked your observation on our ‘Discovery Centre.’ Your observation applies to the whole building. The building used to be called Winchester Public Library, and you went in knowing exactly what to expect. It was a nice, quiet place where you could go and borrow and read books, and, yes, some people went in to use the computers. The very name ‘Discovery Centre’ now serves only to confuse. Many people wander in, gawp around, and after it becomes apparent that it is a public library rather than a theme park, walk away. However, it is now unsuitable as a quiet place to read. Computers almost outnumber books, and make all sorts of silly noises, and there is the constant clatter of a cafe… oh, and the age-old very sensible tradition of stamping your books to remind you when to return them has also gone. They issue you with a separate piece of paper, which you invariably lose. So, there you go. The hand driers merely reflect the wider pretentious misinformation and over-design.
Hand dryers are a good example of how even simple products can go badly wrong when they are poorly designed. I wrote about this in my post, The Hand-Dryer’s Secret Handshake.
http://jeffreyjmorgan.com/wp/2008/05/the-hand-dryers-secret-handshake/