These kinds of things assume critical importance in the design of an aircraft cockpit. For example, the lever that controls the landing gear has a little tire for the knob. The flap controls have a knob shaped like a flap. All so you know what the control is without needing to look (or the cockpit is filled with smoke). The common theme with all these designs is they are driven by accidents. For some strange reason,…
> humans are pretty bad at creating intuitive designs I've always assumed that is because so few people care about design who are in power of affecting design. This is partially because it takes effort to think about a problem, and it's much easier to not care, or assume someone else will fix it.
The results of bad design (i.e. takeoff power from grandparent) are much easier to quantify and therefore easier to use to catalyze improvement.
This is why Apple, under Jobs, was so unique. He helped rebuild the company around design despite the fact that their obsession with design cost them loads of money (in the short term). In the longer term, their products' success has spoken for itself but you can bet that past shareholders/board members were constantly asking "do we need this?"