Nice table lamp but...?

Table Lamp 2

Table Lamp 1

Just by looking at the image above, which of the table lamp could you quickly switch on?

If you think that both table lamps are equally quick for you to switch on, I could say that you are wrong because the table lamp 1 is not as simple as you see from the image.






When I wanted to use the table lamp 1, I just pressed on the button that I have circled in the image on the left, which most people will probably do as me, because the button was popped up, which usually indicates the action of pressing. However, pressing the button could not switch on the table lamp. Instead, I think that the button is actually a place to charge our device as you can see that there is a USB portal for us to plug in our charging cable. 






Then, I continuously looked at the table lamp to find if there was any button for me press after searching for a switch button on the cable line of the table lamp. I touched the table lamp while pressing as I could not see any visible cue to switch on the table lamp. Finally, I found that the top of the table lamp could be pressed (refer to image below). It was a bit ridiculous because I have used about 3 minutes to find the right button just to switch on a table lamp. 3 minutes does seem fast for us, but when it comes to a table lamp 3 minutes is perceived as long because usually for a table lamp that I have used the switch button can be visibly seen, and it will just take about 5 seconds to switch on a table lamp whereby I just need to see and click on the switch button. 

According to Natoli (2014), it is important to help people easily understand that the interaction with the product is available and that they should easily predict the result of interaction as a product will be perceived as easy to use when a visible cue is obviously present (Norman, 2013). Hence, the cue of a product that is designed to interact with the product should be obvious. For example, a table lamp that has a visible switch button can easily help users to understand that the button is to switch on the lamp and when they see the button they will immediately know that after pressing the button the lamp will be turned on or off. 

In conclusion, even if this table lamp is nice in term of perceived appearances, the actual ease of use is low because even if you have already know that the top of the table lamp is to switch on the button you have to stop in front of the table lamp and use one hand to hold the top of the lamp and another hand to press the button at the top of the lamp; using one hand to hold the top of the lamp is to prevent that the top of the lamp will drop off because a little bit of strength was used to push the button down. However, if a visible switch button is visibly present, I could just click the button while passing by the lamp, and no purposeful effort should be done.

References:

Natoli, J. (2014). Tips and advice, UI design. Retrieved from http://www.givegoodux.com/visibility-5-principles-interaction-design-supercharge-ui-2-5/

Norman, D. (2013). The design of everyday things: revise and expanded edition. Available from http://cc.droolcup.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/The-Design-of-Everyday-Things-Revised-and-Expanded-Edition.pdf