Exercise Four- Kaitlynd

Love:  An object I love is my iHome.  This object is a docking station for my iPod to charge, has speakers so I can play music through it, a radio, and an alarm clock.  The affordances are easy to use and well labeled.  All of the function buttons light up so they are visible in the dark.  The iPod, radio, alarm, and snooze buttons are located in the middle of the iHome, and the volume and tuning dials are located on either side.  The mapping is very straight forward and simple to comprehend.  The dials located on the left and right are a constraint to the product.  Since the dials are a circular shape, you never know what point they are sitting at.  The volume dial is a perfect example of this constraint because before you turn on the system, you have no idea what level the volume is at.   Audible feedback is present when you press down the on buttons and hear a click sound, also when you press the alarm button it beeps. 

Hate: An object I hate is my CONAIR Ion Shine 1875 

hair dryer.  The affordances are located on the handle of the dryer with two press switches and one button design.  They are labeled, except for the blue button which has no label for its function.  The on/off function shares a switch with the high and low function which I find ridiculous.  It is very easy to accidentally turn off or change settings while in use which is frustrating when you are actually using the dryer.  Audible feedback is present by hearing a click sound when you press any of the affordances.  This hair dryer has a constraint with the poorly designed affordances and its overall function as a hair dryer.  A spark goes off behind the on/off switch when you go to turn on the object, weak airflow on an occasional basis, and an undesirable burning smell occurs if it is used for too long. I hate it...