Good Design Ideas Gone Bad: Lessons Learned when System Designs do Not Work as Planned

Abstract

If at first you don't succeed, try again. Often the first or second design alternatives are modified or discarded based on preliminary evaluation. However, there is much to be learned from design ideas that did not work as planned. Unfortunately, the lessons learned from these inadequate designs are not always shared within the human factors community. This panel provides a forum to share the lessons learned by panelists who are actually creating and evaluating designs in the field. The panelists represent a balance of perspectives from academia, industry, and government. Attendees should come away from the session with concrete examples of inadequate interface designs, how they were improved, and an understanding of why the design did not work for a particular application. A successful panel will create a forum to share lessons learned and perhaps prevent practitioners from repeating work that has already been done.