Designed without users in mind?

general Jun 15, 2005

Funny how working on IT projects makes you appreciate how important design is in the real world.
Take today. We’ve got a new supermarket, just opened over the last few weeks.
They, like most, are really pushing the No Plastic Bags line. And more power to them too. It’s a good thing.
But there’s a small hiccup. For the person serving you – and packing the bags – at the Express counter, they have a metal frame to hold the plastic bag whilst it’s being packed.
For the canvas reusable bags, there’s no such device. So the attendant is forced to use the nearest flat area, right beside the cash register thing.
Unfortunately, that flat area also has the outlet hole for the printed sales dockets! So bang, the dockets get mangled up and may even cause a stoppage of the register. Oops.
Maybe it’s a bit harsh to say it was designed without talking to end users. But it seems clear they didn’t take into account such ‘obvious’ usage patterns as re-usable bags. Which they themselves sell and encourage us to use.
I don’t suffer fools. I am a surgeon of cynics. I cut dumb DNA.

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