Designers ply their craft improving the aesthetic appeal and, to some extent, the functional performance of all manner of products ranging from automobiles to handbags to entire cities. Design is big business, with several million designers working worldwide in a staggering number of industry verticals. The impact that DESIGN has on business performance has been well-understood since the 1930s when Raymond Loewy worked his magic on the original Gestetner Duplication Machine and sales increased several hundred percent. Historically, DESIGN was understood to be of value in improving customer appeal, but not a primary factor in corporate performance. However, in recent years, DESIGN as a primary means of improving customer engagement has also been linked to the overall success of businesses who employ such expertise aggressively. Much of the support for increased impact on business success has come from less than rigorous studies and opinion-based research. But let’s be clear, aside from sketchy research, DESIGN is now perceived as having a major impact on corporate business success. There are designers in the C-Suite, and for truly talented industrial designers, entry-level salary now exceeds that of engineers with degrees in computer science. DESIGN is on a roll…but not so fast. The party is about to end in ways no one could have imagined. Enter the lawyers.
The Human Factors Science Behind Mail-In Voting…The Surprising Complexity Problems Impacting Voter Participation
Electronic Voting Machines, Mail-in Ballots vs. U.S. Democracy: There has been a lot of media buzz over the last few years about how voting tech will save democracy. In this misplaced view of the future, electronic voting systems were pushed and prodded into use across the country at precincts large and small. This was done in the interest of improving overall voting consistency and reliability. The ugly truth about this incursion of tech into the most fundamental aspect of our democracy is that almost none of these electronic voting systems have been developed based on even the most basic aspect of human factors science. They are, in ways large and small, far worse in terms of actual usability than the lever and crank systems of the past. That’s right – the new tech-based voting machines had no transfer of learning analysis, no cognitive task analysis, no interface modeling, no cognitive workload analysis, no human interaction use case analysis, no formative testing, no summative final user testing, no risk analysis, and no structured needs analysis. The human component of electronic voting was just not on the ballot.