I post infrequently enough that you wouldn’t have noticed, but I’m on vacation. Maui, to be precise. It is lovely, and the Junetime habit of the islands (sun during the day, rain at night) makes for lovely slumbering.
It seems that I can’t take a vacation from usability critique, or more likely usability problems , try as I might.
- Shortly before leaving for Maui I purchased a pair of sandals at Nordstrom, the kind commonly known as flip-flops. After trying on several and noticing that most had poky seams right between the toes (a design mistake of staggering proportions), I settled on a very cushy, ventilated pair that felt more comfortable than most. But a few hours’ continuous wear revealed that they too had poky seams, near enough to the tender skin between the toes to be just as uncomfortable. And the first pair of el cheapo drugstore flip-flops I tried here on the island was twenty times more comfortable, and a fifth the price.
- I’ve barked my shin on the lower dash of our rental car six times already, and we’ve only been driving it a day and a half. It juts out at an aggressive angle, preventing me from putting my foot directly on the brake as I climb in. I suppose I’ll eventually learn to step into the car in a different way, but I don’t remember having this problem in any other car I’ve driven.
These are merely emblematic. It is lovely here, and charming, and comfortable. Quibbling about minor ills such as these seems petty, really. But it does remind me of a nearly forgotten old mantra of mine: Design Everything . One should strive to design everything that one has some measure of control over. Of course, everything is designed already anyhow, but adding your experience to the mix could well improve it, or yourself, or both.
Much here has the old, low-road charm of vernacular design, things built and genty refined and worn into the most efficient, useful, or usable forms possible. A hand tool is not really truly usable until it has been well-used and repeatedly sharpened, taking on the curvature of the user and the work being done. Buildings, especially dwellings, are the same way. Materials are expensive, so there is a lot of re-use, jury-rigging that becomes permanent, and evolving structures built on an original temporary or reappropriated core. It is not polished, modern, or minimal. But usable and useful? Yes.
