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Critique of Everyday Thing: Three Armed Lamp

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Overview:

This lamp, which I have in my room, has several annoying shortcomings that I believe could have been easily remedied with a simple design style.

Norman Characteristics:

These characteristics laid out by Donald Norman help to describe an object in terms of standardized usability, helping to quickly show design, function, and even flaws that may arise with the object or system. This site will analyze those problems, as well as describe the general overview of the lamp.

• Affordances:
  - Chains afford pulling
  - Shades afford diffused light
  - Stand affords comfort (height of bulbs)
  - Plug affords gripping
  - Base affords stability
  
  
• Constraints:
  - Base also constrains falling
  - Chains constrain pull direction
  - Fixed arms constrain rotation
  - Sockets constrain bulb movement, and number of bulbs
  
  
• Visibility:
  - Weights at end of chain indicate where to grip / pull; cultural symbol
  - Lamp shades / sockets indicate where to put bulbs, again cultural
  - Base indicates how to stand lamp (i.e. it would fall over on its top)
  
  
• Mapping
  - Toggles for individual bulbs are placed near the bulbs
  - The shades are centered over the bulbs, also indicating placement
  - Three arms map to three bulbs, and three shades
  
  
• Feedback
  - There is a clicking sound when the chains are pulled in the right direction
  - Ideally a light will come on when the chain is pulled to the clicking sound
  - If there are bulbs in the lamp, they may turn on when it is plugged in
  - Pulling chains in other directions offers no feedback, possibly indicating the direction they should be pulled in
  
  
• Conceptual Model
  - Design Model: The designer of this lamp was most likely attempting to achieve form over function. It has a very simple, retro appearance which to the designer may seem simple and straightforward, but the user may see it differently (as shown by the user model). The designer was also most likely interested in simplicity in construction, and seeing the lamp made out of a conservative amount of cheap materials that fit the retro theme.

So What's Wrong? : The User Model

• Thanks to the assumedly cost-effective design, the lamp is flimsy. As shown in the picture, the right most arm doesn't have a bulb in it, nor does it have a chain on it. That is because the chain pulled right out one day due to frail construction
• One arm placed vertically above another with a large shade makes pulling the top chain awkward. Because the chain is pulled downward, it is clear to see that what is below is simply another shade to obstruct action. One has to angle one's arm at an awkward angle to actually achieve results.
• Similarly, one METAL chain right above a BULB is problematic. The user may become afraid of this lamp, when one day he or she uses a regular 40 watt bulb in the lower left arm, and after leaving it on all day and going to turn it off, discovering that the upper left chain has become unbearably hot.
• The cord (not pictured) is very short. The cord of this lamp is three feet long, which is barely enough to get to a wall socket in my already cramped room. For those of us who can't afford roomier placement, this can be very problematic, having to rely on strategically placed surge protectors or extension cords.

How Do We Fix This?

The four problems listed above have fairly easy fixes which could have easily been worked into the design phase, creating an overall better product.

The lamp could have easily been made of slightly sturdier materials concerning the chains and connections to the sockets. One day I pulled with regular force and it just popped out. Perhaps designing a securer connection, or using stronger materials, could have avoided this problem. As for the chain and arm, there are many easy solutions. As indicated by the picture on the right, the arms could have been placed into a equal level, or multi-leveled, triangular position which would separate the shades and the chains. This way, there are no shades on top of each other, and no chains hanging over hot bulbs. Alternatively, the three arms could have greater height separation, putting the top arm higher on the lamp and the bottom arm lower on the lamp, but still at a comfortable height. This would also eliminate both problems.

As for the cord solution, the obvious answer is simply to make the cord longer. Maybe it could even have a retractable cord roll into the base of the lamp if the designer was concerned with too long of a cord impeding on the visual appeal of the lamp. The latter design is conceptualized on the right.

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Website and Project by Andrew Ray, for HCI: Human Factors