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.”
Conditions like strokes or arthritis can make applying lipstick challenging. Lancôme’s Hapta, designed for people with limited hand, wrist and arm mobility, is a computerized lipstick holder that compensates for disabled users’ dexterity.
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Siri is Apple’s AI-powered virtual assistant, integrated into the company’s devices like iPhones, iPads, and Macs. It enables hands-free interaction through voice commands, assisting users with tasks like messaging, navigation, and scheduling. As an assistive technology, Siri enhances accessibility by enabling hands-free control, voice dictation, and screen reading, supporting users with disabilities and making technology
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Apple’s VoiceOver is a built-in screen reader that provides spoken feedback and gesture-based navigation for users with visual impairments. It improves accessibility (social model) and usability (functional solutions model) but has challenges like affordability (economic model) and gesture limitations (medical model). Developers and policymakers must enhance accessibility for a more inclusive digital experience.
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The Ulta Beauty app makes shopping enjoyable by enabling users to book salon services, earn and redeem points through the Ultamate Rewards program, and explore and buy beauty products. It has a barcode scanner for in-store discounts, order monitoring, and personalized product recommendations. Beauty shopping is made more convenient and fulfilling by providing users with
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Weee! is an app that sells Asian groceries and products that are unavailable on many American online shopping platforms. Unlike grocery shopping apps such as Amazon Fresh and Instcart, Weee! focuses on providing products for Asian communities within the US and seeks to make Asian food and goods accessible and affordable. Explore products in various
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The IRCTC website, India’s primary platform for train ticket booking, serves a massive user base daily. However, its complexity often leads to a frustrating user experience. This critique examines the IRCTC desktop website, focusing on usability principles to identify areas of strength and weakness in its design and functionality, ultimately aiming to suggest improvements for
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iOS Live Captions is an assistive technology available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac that provides real-time spoken audio transcriptions across various digital and in-person communication formats. Live Captions converts spoken audio into on-screen text, enabling people to follow conversations, phone calls, online videos, and streaming services without relying on interpreters. This feature is particularly beneficial
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ReBokeh is a low-vision application for enhancing the visual experience of people with vision impairments. “Re-Bokeh” means to re-clarify what is out of focus. Inspired by RUBY, a traditional portable video magnifier, founder Rebecca Rosenberg, diagnosed with Oculocutaneous Albinism, struggled to use outdated, costly, and difficult-to-use assistive technology and set out to create a tool
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Despite the well-known benefits of earplugs, their use is still stigmatized. This post explores how Loop, a Belgian earplug company, is reshaping earplug aesthetics to break down the social stigma against their use.
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Pratt Institute Cannoneers is the official athletics website of Pratt Institute, primarily providing information about school teams, including game schedules, highlights, and team rosters. This article critiques will focus on the homepage of the website using terms and concepts from Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things. The homepage consists of three main sections: a
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