
Do not confuse your users: Good labels are important for a better user performance and to increase usability.

Do not confuse your users: Good labels are important for a better user performance and to increase usability.

While some displays stop working with a small hit or fall, this poor Nokia cellphone display continues working perfectly.

Probably there was no diversion sign with a right arrow =P
I know diversion signs are quite self explanatory, but that was funny.

Aboard a meticulously restored 1920′s biplane. San Diego, CA.

Warnings are one of the common strategies for incorporating forgiveness in design.
Forgiveness in design helps prevent errors before they occur, and minimize the negative consequences of errors when they do occur.
Road signs make roads more forgiving by warning drivers of impending hazards.
(From Universal Principles of Design book)

Trying to keep the feet away from a flooded street in Recife.

I don’t even know how to use a parking meter, let alone a phone box.
Princess Diana
I was observing the low-usability of the buttons on the elevator of my building…
To choose a floor you must slide your finger on the button or simply touch it. The feedback of this action is a sound and a light, but there is no indication of where the finger should be slid.
The sensor is not in the full extent of the button, just in the middle and in one side. The other side has an indication of the floor in Braille. The fact of having information in Braille is another curious fact … because the elevator doesn´t indicate (with non-visual information) on which floor it is… how blind people will know on which floor they are?
And you may notice that the buttons don’t have a standard position. The buttons on the right are a reflection of the buttons on the left side… Null accessibility.
I really like pushing buttons and I think I’m not alone. Several times I saw broken buttons and nervous people trying to push this piece of hard plastic with a sensor inside it. Many people do not understand how this “modern” button works, so they try to push it stronger.
Apparently it’s obvious that there is no sensor in the Braille’s place (how blind people could read without selecting many floors) but a logical thing isn’t necessarily easy and intuitive.
It’s not intuitive thinking about a button that cannot be pushed….