The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Bad design expo to expose just that

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 06, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version


=

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Bad design expo to expose just that

Staff Reporter

The annual Expo to mark the World Usability Day
Ten best design entries will be given Rs.3, 000 each

HYDERABAD: If one rode the CBZ bike in its earlier form with a hump of a petrol tank, one certainly knew the pain. Its panther-like design worked to negate the very essentials of machismo it seemed to ooze. Each time one had to apply brakes, one was to be prepared for the punch-- you-know-where.

Well, not anymore. The model went for a total re-do, but not before being bashed up by the usabilitymatters.org (UMO), the website with a mission of exposing bad designs.

Pioneering the democratisation of designs, the website has so far featured many ill-designed products such as the Automatic Teller Machines which left the user in utter confusion as to which side of the card has to be inserted, mosquito coils one ensconced in another, and silencers that burnt the legs.

At a press conference called on Friday to announce the UMO Bad Design Expo ’08, the Founder-Member of the website Kaladhar Bapu shared many such design gaffes.

The annual Expo to mark the World Usability Day features entries received for the Boycott Bad Designs Contest, and the International Cartoon Contest. This year, both the contests received over 600 entries, of which select few will be displayed at the expo to be conducted at State gallery of Art, Madhapur from December 9 to 14.

Entries came from over 60 countries for the 4th International Cartoon Contest, Mr.Bapu said. Theme for the year was ‘Transportation’. “User experience in almost all the travel sites is quite exasperating. Poor designing of the websites is driving away passengers from online bookings,” says Mr.Bapu. Next year, the theme would be government websites.

Ten best design entries will be given Rs.3, 000 each while the best cartoon will bag booty of Rs.25, 000. Two second prizes of Rs.10, 000 each and three third prizes of Rs.5, 000 each will be given apart from five Special Mention Awards for the cartoons.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh