October 31, 2012

It’s Time to Put an End to Abusive Design

Ergoweb's Peter Budnick shares his anger with what he sees as "abusive design," using the incomprehensible interface of an AT&T telephone his aging parents purchased as an example. Quoting Jack Rebney, a man described as "The Angriest Man in the World," he launches his controlled tirade with the phrase "I wonder how you're going to feel about this when you're [swear word deleted] 80 years old." He describes the conditions under which abusive designs make it to market, as well as the conditions that lead to usable customer-centered designs by drawing parallels with Lean organizational methods, and closes with an open-ended call for change.