(Click picture to see full-sized)
I saw this neat (but slightly flawed) UI on a water dispenser at Whole Foods yesterday. (Yes I know it’s shocking, but we do have them in Atlanta.) What’s good about this design? Well, by requiring that the user press two buttons simultaneously to dispense hot water, the designers have ensured that virtually no one will unintentionally get hot water. That’s a simple yet effective means to prevent an error of commission.
The design isn’t foolproof however. The original design relies on a single-word label (“Hot”) and a spare, minimalistic bracket graphic that visually connects the two red buttons with the label. Evidently this hasn’t been enough information for the average Whole Foods customer, because someone at Whole Foods decided that the unit needed a little more labelage. Note the sign at bottom.
Whoever made that sign took care to ensure that the user would make the connection between the sign and the panel – they replicated the hot buttons’ appearance, color, and orientation.
I can just picture the events that led the Whole Foods person to create the sign. They probably grew tired of being asked how to get hot water out of the dispenser, and decided it would be easier to make a little post-hoc design addition. Good call.
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