There's a book (The Design of Everyday Things) that discusses functional design of items we use everyday (door handles, faucets, etc.) A lot of these items frustrate us, and it's because they are poorly designed. (Ever get fooled by a push bar on a pull door?)
My brother, father, and I often mention the book when we talk about poorly designed items. It's a good read.
Anyhow, that's just background for me to say that my current pet peeve in the realm of (non)functional design is the diagrams that *explain* how to swipe your credit/debit cards.
The art is bad, so you can rarely tell what to do. Usually, figure out what you think it says and do the opposite.
Posted by JRC at March 4, 2004 09:11 PM