From the category archives:

warnings

Exit Signs Across Cultures

by Anne McLaughlin
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Slate.com has a nice article on the difference between U.S. exit signs and the rest of the world, as well as a nice history of the evolution of the symbols.  Here is an excerpt to get you interested:
The text-based American exit sign has its origins in the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, a blaze in a downtown Manhattan garment factory that [...]

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Ahem…your heart has stopped

by Richard Pak
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Darin Ellis sends along this radio story about a woman’s robotic heart that has a malfunction warning system that literally breaks the textbook HF rules of alarm design.  I’ll let Darin explain the unfortunate issue:
This woman, who is living thanks to a robotic heart, related a story of the “heart” malfunctioning.  Apparently, although not prone to malfunction, there is a [...]

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Redesigning the Homeland Security Warnings

by Richard Pak

The NYTimes has an interesting OpEd where they asked various designers to re-imagine the homeland advisory system.  It’s a multimedia presentation with narration from the graphic designers.  Not much warnings research but interesting.  Here is what it looks like now:

and here is one proposed redesign that, according to the designer, takes advantage of our ability read emotions from eyes:

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HF/Usability Hodgepodge

by Richard Pak

Things too small for their own post but interesting nonetheless…it’s a hodgepodge, a mélange, a potpourri!

Stay in touch with those who don’t have or want a computer (via Gadgeteer)
“upgrading customer usability without breaking the bank” (via UXforward)
If Craigslist got a makeover, what might it look like? (Wired)
Men and women use car navigation systems differently (GPSworld)

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911: Trying to fight slips via warnings

by Anne McLaughlin

I got a newsletter in the mail today from the City of Raleigh. Here are some excerpts centering on the problems with our area code:
RALEIGH/WAKE 911 CENTER WANTS YOU TO KNOW THAT HANG UPS HURT
What do a child playing with a telephone, an unprotected non flip cell phone and someone dialing a ten-digit phone number in the 919 area code [...]

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Electric Scooters and their Warnings: A Guest Post by Kim Wolfinbarger

by Anne McLaughlin
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Electric shopping carts are common in large grocery stores. Essential for users with mobility impairments, they are also helpful for pregnant women, elderly shoppers, and other who have trouble walking long distances.
A few months ago, my grandfather overturned such a cart in a parking lot and broke his hip. Interested in what might have caused the accident, I examined a [...]

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Watch out for Un-Equalsteppings!

by Richard Pak

Reader Joe C. sent in this unusual warning on a door.
It was on the entry door to one of the screens at a local cinema. The un-equalsteppings just turned out to be a slope! Not sure why they couldn’t of just told me it was a slope.

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Rethinking the Hotel Closet

by Anne McLaughlin

Great picture from reader Kim Wolfinbarger, University of Oklahoma:

“Thought you might enjoy this example of an affordance gone wrong. I had never considered this use for a sprinkler head, but obviously some other hotel guests had.”

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1960’s Human Factors : The Titan II Missiles

by Anne McLaughlin
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I went on a trip to Tucson over the holidays and toured the last Titan II missile silo. A brief history: from 1963-1982 these missiles were part of the cold war “peace through deterrance” and “assured mutual destruction.” In essence, they provided one reason not to attack the US: even were we destroyed, these missiles would still launch to destroy [...]

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Terrifying Telephones

by Anne McLaughlin

I purchased a new phone and wanted to understand how to do 3-way calling on it (you can’t). But that’s not the point of today’s post. This is the first page of the manual.

Probably only an HF professional interested in warnings would actually turn to page 38, and I went there straight away.
Click the image for the actual page, or [...]

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Who Watches the Watchers?

by Anne McLaughlin

Testing products can be a dangerous job, even when you are well aware of the potential hazards. Thanks to The Consumerist for pointing me to this blog entry at Consumer Reports.
Believe us when we say we are unapologetic sticklers for safety here at Consumers Union. We think about it and talk about it all the time, but that doesn’t mean [...]

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Homeland security warnings

by Richard Pak

Found a link to this parody site of the homeland security symbols (via AskMetaFilter). This is my favorite symbol:

The images are real homeland security symbols.  In all seriousness, my friend Chris Mayhorn from North Carolina State University has researched these homeland security symbols and found that not everyone can interpret the real meaning of these warnings:
Mayhorn, C. B., Wogalter, [...]

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Parking garage ticket machine warning

by Richard Pak

I’m at the airport waiting to board a flight.  Here is a funny warning message that greeted me on the parking garage ticket-dispensing machine:

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More blurred lines between slaking and slaying

by Anne McLaughlin

Reader Kim Wolfinbarger sent me this picture of sport drinks looking enough like drain cleaner to make her do a double-take.

Just read your July post on poisons that look like sports drinks. An interesting twist is sports drinks that look like poisons. I did a double-take at the grocery store last weekend, thinking that drain cleaner had been shelved with [...]

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Live… from New York, it’s HFES!

by Anne McLaughlin

Richard and I are currently attending the Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. I thought I’d report on some of the interesting work we saw this week.
First, a shameless plug for research conducted at my own university. David Sharek and Mike Wogalter presented data on how clueless and careless the “wired” generation can be when it [...]

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Vigilante Warnings

by Anne McLaughlin

I snapped this picture near NCSU today. Looks like the garbage workers or apartment dwellers decided to take matters into their own hands.

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