Bad Designs - Stove top controls

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Stove top controls

This is the obligatory stove top control example that probably appears in every book on human factors design to illustrate bad design. The problem is that it is difficult to tell which control goes with which burner.

(picture of good range) Here is a picture of a good stove top control design following a solution that has been known for years. The solution is to arrange the controls in the same configuration as the burners. It is quite easy to tell which burner goes with which control. Why do you think all stove tops layouts aren't designed like this one?

Design suggestion

One way to make it easy to tell which control goes with which device is to arrange the controls in the same layout as the devices.

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