human factors

interaction designhuman factors

Google Pay Taught a Country a Gesture. I Borrowed It.

The best way to teach a new action is not to teach it. Borrow one people already know in their fingers, and point it somewhere new.

human factorsinteraction design

My Friend's Guruji Said No. I Shipped Anyway.

I turned a MacBook into a harmonium with an AI's help. The master's ear said no. Mine couldn't tell the difference. So I shipped it anyway.

human factorssystems design

The Game Was a Disguise

A protest campaign for Afghanistan's banned women cricketers, and the lesson that design's first job is to protect the people in it.

interaction designhuman factors

Trust Is Built With Copy, Not Code

In a scary crypto app, what made people feel safe wasn't the technology. It was plain words and small honest moments.

human factorssystems design

We Made Them Better Traders. They Still Lost.

I designed a crypto app that made trading simple, fun, and better. People still lost money — because the real game was never about skill.

systems designerror preventionhuman factors

The $125 Million Unit Label

The Mars Climate Orbiter was lost at the boundary between two teams—and that boundary is where many systems actually fail.

information designhuman factorsusability

When Every Alarm Is Urgent, None Is

Three Mile Island showed that displaying information is not the same as helping somebody understand a crisis.

human factorserror preventionsystems design

The Word “Takeoff” Had Two Meanings

The Tenerife airport disaster shows why critical systems cannot rely on language that merely sounds understood.

usabilityinteraction designhuman factors

The Door That Blames You

Norman doors reveal why repeated human error is often an object communicating badly.