A Model of Usability

The plane arrives late. We wait 45 minutes for the baggage to arrive in the terminal. The airport staff try to place a living room table on the belt, and of course it jams up the whole thing. Ashtrays are logically installed under No-Smoking signs and everyone, even the airport staff, are smoking. (Rules in Spain, especially as regarding traffic, are to be interpreted as suggestions.)

And the final touch of the day, trying to figure out how to use the latest in industrial design and usability – the airport’s new and improved parking ticket machine. :-) Let’s have a look:

• The icon of the parking ticket is located below the credit-card slot (right and down from the middle step 2), not the ticket slot (under the video screen). You can imagine the confusion this causes.
• As my buddy Niall said, the layout was obviously designed by a lunatic on crack.
• Not a single color or font was excluded.
• There's not a single axis of alienation.
• There are three step 2s.

Welcome to Malaga, Spain! :-)

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