Poor design of commonly used devices like automated towel dispensers may not prevent you from achieving the desired end, but it sure can cause confusion. WHEN I RECENTLY VISITED A LOCAL public building, I noticed that men's room users were having problems obtaining paper towels from the dispenser (see Photo 1). They recognized it as a paper towel dispenser but had trouble activating it, despite the fact that the manufacturer provided both written instructions ("Place hand over sensor to dispense towel") and a symbol of a hand in motion. The manufacturer used a large blue dot to indicate the location of the "No-Touch Sensor" and provided a label identifying it as a trademarked "No Touch Sensor." Providing a surface area that looks like a button encourages people to depress that area. However, the blue circle is not a push button but indicates a sensor area that responds to changes in moisture levels. The device dispenses a single pull-down towel when an individual moves his or her wet hand past the sensor, which was not designed to be touched. Despite the manufacturer's efforts, the dot (originally royal blue) indicating the sensor location was eroded through contact by multiple users (see Photo 2). It appears that the implied button activation convention led users to push the "button" despite the label around the No Touch Sensor. The erosion progression images in Photo 2 were gathered at different units and do not represent a chronology of single-site erosion, but all units initially looked like the unit shown in Photo 1. The restroom users were misled and frustrated. In the following sections, I discuss the erroneous user behavior and describe alternative interactive strategies and implications for design.
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