By Makena Haroldson 2/23/2020
<img src="../assets/journal1/Shredder_zoom.jpg" alt="Up Close View" width="200"/>
At my job's breakroom, we have a paper shredder. I needed to use it because I had to shred a 3 in. x 3 in. Post-it Note as it had confidential information on it. When I went to go shred it I was stumped a little. First, I had to figure out how to start the shredding. In the zoomed-in view, there are three buttons, even though the machine's company but much emphasis on the first button I was hesitant as it did not look right to me, instead of "I" why not "O" for On or "S" for Start. Later when thinking over it, I acknowledged "I" is for In, "O" mean Out, but I still do not know what "R" stands for. This confusion of the buttons and their purpose is an example of how poor the machine's visibility is. Visibility is the principle that correct parts must be visible, and they must convey the correct message. For the buttons, they did somewhat have the right message but they were not naturally interpretive, and so I was conscious of my actions when using the shredder.
After deciding to push the "I" button nothing happened. I went to push the other buttons - nothing happened. I realized, the machine itself was not on. The switch to the top right corner showed me how to turn it on but there was no feedback, or a useful message saying an event has occurred, that the machine is on. On the other, this is another reason why the lacked in visibility, the button was behind the shredder pressed against the wall. To fix both of these problems, the shredder's company can move the switch to the top of the machine so it will be visible to the user and show that the machine is on.
On the positive side, the shredder had proper affordances as it showed where on the machine a user can insert an item. Affordances are the fundamental properties that determine how something can be used. The shredder had two thin slots, one for bigger objects and another for smaller ones. If it had bigger slots, one could not easily tell the machine is mainly for paper, disc, credit cards, etc. - thin objects.