The Perils of Poor Design: The Oven Chronicles
INTRODUCTION
Several months ago, my household underwent an abrupt culinary disruption when our stovetop oven stopped working. This happened right before Thanksgiving—when our kitchen usually transforms into a hive of activity, filled with laughter, good music, delicious aromas, and my favorite chaos of multiple family cooks navigating around each other. The appliance technician's dire warning about my stovetop oven being a fire hazard meant we had to unplug it until a new one could be installed, leading to a disappointing holiday meal!
Once the new stovetop oven was in place, I was excited to get back to cooking. However, it didn't take long for me to notice a critical flaw in the new stovetop oven’s design. I found myself repeatedly leaving the new oven on! This frustrating and potentially dangerous experience made me reflect on user errors and design solutions.
IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT, IT IS BAD DESIGN
In his seminal book The Design of Everyday Things, Don Norman discusses the concept of human error. When users make errors, this should be a signpost for designers to dig deep into why those users are making the error versus blaming the user as the endpoint of the investigation.
“If the system lets you make the error, it is badly designed. And if the system induces you to make the error, then it is really badly designed.”
Users often take the blame for these system errors. Poor design can make users feel ashamed of their mistakes. Norman illustrates this with the example of stoves, where users commonly turn on the wrong burner due to unclear controls (p. 167). I know I have often turned on the wrong eye of the stove!
As a UX researcher, I conduct usability tests with users. It saddens me when my users apologize for not understanding how to do something. They often believe they are not intelligent or skilled enough, when in reality, the design has let them down, not their abilities. It is the user feedback that drives better, authentic designs.
With my new stovetop oven, I have repeatedly blamed myself for forgetting to turn the oven off. I feel ashamed that I cannot remember a simple but vital task. But is it all my fault?
LIFE IS STRESSFUL
Susan Weinschenk has a chapter in her informative book 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People titled “People Make Mistakes.” It is a great chapter that analyzes “the why” behind the errors that people make.
One example is that systems are created in a stress-free, unrealistic environment. Weinschenk writes, "Don't assume that people will use your product in a stress-free environment. Things that may not seem stressful to you as a designer might be very stressful to the person using your product in the real world" (p. 194). Users make mistakes when they are stressed (Weinschenk, 192).
Think of the following examples: you have a family of young children needing your attention as you prepare a meal; you just worked an exhausting 12-hour shift and now you're cooking; or you were sick all night and you stumbled into the kitchen to find sustenance. Imagine dogs barking, babies crying, solicitors knocking, phones ringing, and texts dinging. The kitchen, although the heart of the home, is not a stress-free environment. It is often a place of multitasking and many interruptions.
UNDERSTANDING THE ERROS WE MAKE
Norman defines the type of error I was making as a “slip,” and more specifically, a “memory-lapse slip.” He writes, "Memory fails, so the intended action is not done" (p. 171). Also, because an oven is not a new thing to me, my attention to turning it off was lower. If I had never owned an oven, I would marvel at this technological innovation with precision. Norman writes, "Skilled people—experts—tend to perform tasks automatically, under subconscious control" (p. 173).
I know that in my household, the kitchen is alive and bustling. I need the oven to provide cues and alerts to help me remember to complete important tasks, like turning the oven off. I am often stressed, multitasking, and interrupted while there.
MY OVEN DISPLAY
I have been talking about my oven. Let’s look at several photos. The first photo, above, shows “bake” and the current temperature of 425 degrees.
At certain times (I have yet to figure out why), the oven no longer shows the temperature but the time and the active state. Here you see “bake” and the current time of 1:24.
Imagine this: I am busy in the kitchen and I glance at the display from across the room, the small font of the active state (e.g., bake) and the correlating monochromatic color that displays are hard to see. If the temperature is replaced with the time and I glance, I think the oven is off. My brain moves on to the next task to be done.
THE NEED FOR CLEAR CUES
Users need clear cues that indicate how they should interact with an object. This is especially important in scenarios involving potential danger, like leaving the oven on! For example, if my stove is hot, a red light shines brightly to alert me that the stovetop is hot. If a burner is on, a red light shines to alert me that the burner is still on. My oven has no such cues. See the photo, below, of my stovetop and the alerts to tell me to be careful.
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN INTERACTIONS
In the case of my oven, several design improvements could greatly improve the user experience. A visible indication that the oven is on, such as a prominent red light in the display panel. The state of the oven (e.g., “bake”) could be in another color and a larger font. The clock would not display if the oven is on, and the temperature would always be displayed while the oven is on. If the oven has been left on at a certain temperature (especially a high temperature or broil), an audible alert would sound. When someone in my home leaves the refrigerator door open, a loud beep alerts (and continues to alert) us until the door is closed. Norman describes these improvements as affordances, signifiers, mappings, constraints, and feedback (p. 10). Often, a little design edit can make a huge impact.
CONCLUSION: GOOD DESIGN MATTERS
The experience with my new oven has reinforced the importance of a clear, user-friendly design. When users make mistakes due to poor design, it is not their fault but a failure of the design to communicate effectively. Users will makes mistakes. As designers, we must ensure that our products not only meet functional requirements but also align with the users' reality. We must always strive to create designs that are safe, intuitive, and empower users to accomplish their goals without unnecessary frustration or error. As Norman writes, “Great designers produce pleasurable experiences” (p. 10).
RESOURCES
Norman, D. (2013). The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition. Basic Books.
Weinschenk, S. (2020). 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about People (2nd ed.). Pearson Education.