I've written before about the importance of not assuming that your audience speaks the language of your interface design. This is a photo of my friend's Dutch washing machine. Knowing my interest in the design of everyday things my friend asked me to open the door. As you can see there is no physical door opening mechanism on or near the door itself. Look at the buttons on the control panel. They look the same and the labels are in Dutch. Which one opens the door? Ok I got it after a few minutes because 'duer' sounds like door in English. I got lucky but what if a person whose language bears no resemblance to Latin or Germanic languages was trying to operate this machine? A more straight forward solution would be to place a door icon below the label. An even simpler solution would be to put a door handle on the door itself.
2 Comments
Roger T
15/1/2013 15:18:25
don't you have Google translate on our phone!!
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uxafficionado
6/2/2013 06:01:17
This is an old BOSCH machine right?
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