Exercise Five - Andrea

Object that you love, object that you hate
(better late than never)
Mug!
This mug is one of my favourite things that I don’t actually own. It’s my roommate’s and it’s really cute so I use it as much as I can. There is nothing wrong with this mug! The handle is so nicely mapped that you can grip it with either hand and avoid a burnt digit! (It’s perfectly sized so that three of my fingers can snuggle in like pigs in a blanket.)
Its affordances are pretty much a handle and an opening. It’s so simple to use – just pour tea or hot chocolate in the top and carry it with the handle. Everything’s very clearly laid out on this mug – and it even has an adorable monster on it.
Another plus is that the mug will tell you if it’s empty or full.
One thing that could be a constraint is the fact that there’s only one handle, and it might be heavy or awkward for some people to hold it in one hand. But not me, I’m a big girl and I love it. Plus, who’s seen a cup with two handles that’s not a baby drinky cup?

Stereo
I hate this stereo so much. It’s from the Brick and it is terrible because first of all, the wire that connects from the outlet to the actual machine doesn’t fit into the back of the stereo snugly so it sometimes falls out and you have to push it in really hard or jiggle it until you get the stereo’s ‘on’ light to glow. This can be a very frustrating and time-consuming process. It makes moving the stereo to different locations very annoying.

While the machine does have a nice plump yet compact appearance, and a volume control that is satisfyingly nice to twirl, this stereo has many more pitfalls, which constrain usability. The stop button often doesn’t work, so pause must be pushed instead. Also, when a cd is placed inside, the stereo sometimes spins it so hard that it makes a really loud noise and shakes violently – then when you open the lid the cd almost flies out! I don’t know why it does this.

The player itself isn’t even mapped out well. The controls for the cd player are close to the tape deck, and the tape’s play/stop/pause buttons are super close to where the cd lid is. I found that confusing at first. The number display is also pretty hard to read. If it were illuminated that would be nicer. I think the poor thing already has too many problems to fix!

One thing though, that’s good about it is that it plays music when it works! So that’s a good form of feedback.