Signs and labels of all kinds are a source of unending fascination for me. Today, I'd like to talk about two of them that I recently saw. You've probably heard about Helvetica Man (a term coined by Ellen Lupten). Even if the name doesn't ring a bell, I'm sure you've

You might remember my earlier post on car temperature controls. Back when I wrote it, I thought those controls were the worst thing about cars. Enter my new arch-nemesis: Fiat 500. To cut the long story shot, somebody hit my car while it was parked, and it took over a

When two different designs or products look too similar, they invariably end up confusing users. Sometimes, it could be two different brands. Or two devices that have different purposes. Or walls that look too much like whiteboards. My example today will be of the two boxes of cereal. They are

Last time I stayed at a hotel, I noticed that the clock on the iHome device on the bedside cabinet was showing the wrong time. It wasn't just off by a couple minutes: it said "12:31 PM" when in reality it was 9:53 PM. Just like any other

I have driven quite a few different cars, mostly rentals, and on many occasions I found myself frustrated with the temperature controls. Until very recently, almost all cars had the same type of temperature controls, as illustrated below with the 2013 Toyota Corolla: There is a knob that controls the