Assignment 0: Bad Design

This is a picture of my parents’ dressing table. There is a mirror and a cupboard behind it.

dressing table with cupboard door slightly open

The idea of having a cupboard so near the dressing table sounds good as people can store and hide their stuff in it!

But there is a problem in the design! Opening the cupboard is a problem, especially if there are a lot of things on the table.   

half opened cupboard door

cupboard door fully opened

Users’ feelings towards the product

My parents feel that it is very troublesome to open the cupboard to take things. The cupboard door is quite big and opening the cupboard will sweep all the stuff on the table away.

Actually, I don’t even see my parents making much use of the cupboard. When I check out the cupboard to do this assignment, I saw a few items in the cupboard, which are seldom used. Opening the cupboard at even a small angle would be “sweeping” some of the things on the table. This means that to use the cupboard, one must constantly keep the table clear of items.

Since it is a dressing table, users should not be constrained to keep the table clear for the easy of accessing the cupboard. Eventually, my parents kind of forgot abt the existance of that cupboard because of its inconvenience. This defeats the purpose of having a cupboard behind the mirror in the first place.

Lesson learnt from interaction

From interaction with the cupboard, my parents learnt that it is important to check for details before buying furniture or other things. Simple things like opening a cupboard may reveal bad design in that aspect. However, when buying, it may be hard to visualise the usability of the cupboard(or other products) in the actual environment.

For example, when buying the furniture, the cupboard looks fine and one may not think about the suitation where there are some items on the table which may obstruct the opening of the cupboard door.  

This is an “either or” design. The user can choose to put things in the cupboard and keep the table clear so that the things can be easily accessed. Alternatively, the user can arrange the things along inner edge of the table. This will not block the mirror. However, in this case, the cupboard shouldn’t be used that often because of the extra effort needed to shift all the items away, which may be troublesome in the long run.

Users’ impression on brand

Actually my parents no longer remember the brand/company that made this furniture. They feel that this brand/company may overlook usability concerns in certain areas. The product probably needs more user testing. They dun really have a very bad impression on the brand/company but more checking will be made if another furniture comes from the same brand again.

My reflection on the product and user reaction

If I were a user using the dressing table and cupboard, I would feel the same as my parents! There is certainly room for improvement in such a design. The idea of the big cupboard door which comprises of the mirror in front is probably not  good idea as the door is so big that it can sweep through the entire dressing table.

Furthermore, the door is very close to the table itself. This means that an object on the dressing table with even a small height may need to be shifted to open the cupoard.

cupboard door very close to the table

To preserve the idea of the cupboard, probably the door with the mirror can be made as a sliding door. Or that the door can be a little higher up, so that small items can be put on the table without getting swept away by the opening of the cupboard door.