50 Ways to Fool Your User: How to Make Everyday Products and Systems Work for Us

by Peter Vink, Alan Hedge

Overview

From the way we interact with our workspaces to the simple act of changing a duvet cover, the world around us is shaped by design, and not always for the better. This book offers an engaging look at how everyday objects and systems can confuse, frustrate or even hinder us, yet also explores how a better understanding of human behavior can lead to improvements.

Written with humor and professional insight, 50 Ways to Fool Your User: How to Make Everyday Products and Systems Work for Us invites readers to question the quirks of modern life while imagining how things could work better for everyone. Across 50 chapters, scientific explanations are paired with snappy anecdotes. Each chapter concludes with actionable takeaways. Whether it’s struggling with unwieldy packaging, enduring the infamous middle seat on an airplane or navigating the frustrations of an AI call center, these relatable scenarios highlight the oftenoverlooked aspects of design that impact our daily lives. In the final chapter, the ideas are summarized into a neat practical ethos, offering ergonomic principles to inspire smarter, more thoughtful solutions in everything from technology to office furniture. Through reading this book, the reader will gather a view of what good and bad design looks like and how these examples can inform their work in designing better products, systems and services.

This book is for professionals and academics interested in human factors, ergonomics and designing with the human in mind, but it is also interesting for every layman. It will appeal to designers, engineers and systems operators.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781041067832
Publisher:	CRC Press
Publication date:	07/28/2025
Pages:	120
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Peter Vink is a Professor at TU Delft’s Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, the Netherlands, specializing in environmental design. From 2015 to 2021, he led the Sustainable Design Engineering department, overseeing 110 researchers and educators. He has written over 250 publications on comfort, performance and interior design. He is ranked as the second most-published author in Applied Ergonomics, the most important journal in his field, and he has guided over 28 PhD students and delivered 50+ global keynotes. He is a past President of Humanfactors . nl and received the Hal W. Hendrick Award for outstanding contributions to the human factors and ergonomics field.

Alan Hedge is an Emeritus Professor at Cornell University, Human Centered Design Department, USA. His work focuses on workplace ergonomics, addressing health, comfort, and productivity through research on workstation design, computer ergonomics, and environmental stressors like indoor air quality and lighting. He has authored or co-edited four books, Advances in Ergonomics Modeling and Usability Evaluation, Ergonomic Workplace Design for Health, Wellness, and Productivity, Keeping buildings healthy: How to monitor and prevent indoor environmental problems and Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics Methods. He has authored 41 chapters and over 270 journal articles and conference publications. He chaired the National Ergonomics Conference for 14 years. He is a US-Certified Professional Ergonomist and a UK Chartered Ergonomist. He is a Fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, the International Ergonomics Association and the UK Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors. Alan has received prestigious awards, including the Oliver K. Hansen Outreach Award and the Alexander J. Williams Jr. Award from the HFES for his impactful contributions to ergonomics and human-centered design

Table of Contents

Section I The best working place in the world.  1.1. Toilet paper.  1.2. First create a call.  1.3. Working from a distance.  1.4. Color, plants, light and productivity.  1.5. Control.  1.6. Meeting misery.  1.7. Managers are paid to support.  1.8. A place of my own with smart environments.  1.9. The static chair.  1.1. Office or gym.  1.11. Waiting time at work.  1.12. Open plan office disturbances.  1.13. Adjusting the office chair.  1.14. Stop the meetings.  Section II Where am I?.  2.1. Comfort is relative.  2.2. It speaks for itself.  2.3. Boredom doesn't work.  2.4. People accept misery.  2.5. Experts van have value.  2.6. Saving energy.  2.7. Reward.  2.8. In line in the supermarket.  Section III Is your home your castle?.  3.1. Look before you leap (or sleep).  3.2. Replacing the duvet cover.  3.3. Opening food packaging.  3.4. Remote control.  3.5. The knife with jam.  3.6. Replacing the door handle.  3.7. The rear light of the bicycle.  3.8. The rain shower.  Section IV Do you really love your computer?.  4.1. Login.  4.2. Software just does what it wants.  4.3. The AI call centre.  4.4. The automatic update.  4.5. Too much data.  Section V Ouch, why does it hurt?. .  5.1. Sit and stand with the right controls.  5.2. Neck pain caused by noise.  Section VI Do you really like travelling?.  6.1. Online ticket for public transport.  6.2. The middle seat on the plane.  6.3. Opening the sink drain.  6.4. The controls.  6.5. Check-in at the hotel.  6.6. Starting the car engine.  6.7. The smart environment.  6.8. Transportation delay.  6.9. Stuck in the aircraft seat.  6.1. Consistency.  6.11. The sleeper train.  6.12. Hand luggage.  Section VII Lessons learned.  7. How not to fool a user.  Epilogue.