Human Factors 101: How About Just Trying Things Out?

While I was staring at my iMAC screen pondering options for this month's column, one of my favorite images, a self-portrait by Norman Rockwell, came to mind. In the portrait, we see Rockwell from behind, scratching his head and staring at a canvas that is blank, except for a Saturday Evening Post banner across the top. A clock, a calendar, a pinned-up note with the deadline for his cover, and assorted crumpled-up sketches make it clear that the artist (Rockwell preferred to call himself an illustrator) has little time and no ideas. In that mental state, I looked over at the iMAC mouse, a cute little thing that is an ergonomic nightmare. It's round, like a smallish and multicolored hockey puck, which means that it provides few tactual cues as to its orientation.