Usability Tradeoff

Example: 5 in 1 Highligher

Photo source: Own highlighter

Figure 8.4.1 shows a multi-coloured highlighter.

Figure 8.4.2 shows normal highlighters.

     Usability tradeoff is decreasing a product's usability in exchange for another benefit. Such example is to trade the product's usability for better flexibility.

     The multi-coloured highlighter in Figure 8.4.1 is flexible because it is mobile and has a lot of colours attached to just one highlighter. However, the usability of the highlighter is less when compared to an individual highlighter (Figure 8.4.2) because of its shape. It is more difficult for a user to grip the highlighter due to it's bulky shape than compared to an individual highlighter. Besides that, the ink on the multi-coloured highlighter tends to run out easily as it has smaller ink pad whereas an individual highlighter has a larger ink pad. Therefore its usability has been traded off for the sake of flexibility in terms of having more choice of colours.