UX in Daily Life

One of my favorite topics is "UX in daily life" – the experience of interacting with everyday objects. It is the quality of these interactions that makes us say things like “Too bad I have to work with this thing again!”

We can actually design websites and applications using ideas borrowed from the design of everyday objects. Here are a couple of simple, yet practical, ideas that I have ran into recently:

• A magnetic notepad on the fridge door, used for writing grocery lists or daily reminders
• Magnetic spice jars on the fridge door, used to free up space on kitchen countertops
• Pills made in small sizes geared specifically those who have difficulty swallowing pills
• Milk offered with varying degrees of fat content catered towards different dietary needs and personal preferences
• The placement of bar code readers on customers' side of the glass shield separating them and cashiers which eliminated the need to pass on purchased goods through a small hole to the cashiers