What makes some designs good and others bad? Why do some designs work while others don’t? Posts in this category offer thoughtful design critiques of modern digital interfaces, with commentary inspired by Don Norman’s “The Design of Everyday Things.”
Introduction Subway Time is a mobile app that uses data from the MTA to predict the arrival times for subways in NYC. It has over 14,000 reviews on the App Store, making it one of the most popular transit apps used in the city. The app is designed for simplicity so that users can focus
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Envision Glasses are AI-powered smart glasses designed for individuals who are blind or have low vision. With an integrated camera and built-in speakers, they articulate everyday visual information into speech by “speaking out” the visual world to wearers. The lightweight wearable offers an array of features designed for accessibility including real-time text and object recognition,
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Otter.ai As Assistive Technology Otter.ai is an AI-powered live transcription and note-taking tool developed in 2016 and is now widely available on as a desktop app, iOS app, Android app, and a Chrome extension. It offers a robust free option with all of the base features, and affordable paid subscriptions as well to access more
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Canva is a mobile design application that enables users to create visual content such as social media posts, presentations, posters, and videos using templates and direct manipulation tools. While Canva makes design accessible, its mobile editing experience reveals usability trade-offs when complex design tasks are attempted on a small, touch-based interface. Entering the Editor and
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The Nike Go FlyEase is a sneaker designed to be put on and taken off hands-free. Features including a hinged sole, tension band, and kickstand heel affords putting on and removing the shoe without the user bending over or using their hands The sneaker was created to address a need for fashion/athletic sneakers that are
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Introduction I got my first pair of Apple AirPods about a week ago and while exploring its features, I was surprised to learn that they can also function as hearing aids for people with hearing disabilities, something that was also discussed on the first day of our digital accessibility class. This discovery was particularly intriguing
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Design Critique: Too Good To Go (iOS App) By Annie Huang / February 9, 2026 / Design Critique Too Good To Go is a mobile app designed to reduce food waste by connecting users with surplus food from local vendors at discounted prices, and has become a widely adopted platform for everyday sustainable consumption. This
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OpenTable is a dining reservation app that allows users to explore local restaurants and make reservations with ease and better communication. It provides both diners and restaurants with an open communication platform that replaces the traditional, messy reservation process with a streamlined, informative network. Signing-in: Onboarding The sign-in pages (figure 1-3) utilized the classic phone
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Reduce Motion is an accessibility setting in Apple’s operating systems that limits screen animations such as zoom effects, parallax movement, and large transitions. It doesn’t remove features or content, but it changes how movement is used so the interface feels more stable and less physically overwhelming.
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The grabber tool, also known as a reacher or reach extender. It is a widely used assistive technology designed to support people with limited mobility, reduced grip strength, chronic pain, or balance impairments.
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