"iPod-thumb"

A recent article on the ipodobserver shows that again that even very elegant designs can have their issues. The article reports about concerns about RSI (repetitive stress injuries) from using the iPod click wheel. Well, my first thought was just to laugh, but of course this concern does make a lot of sense if you really use the spin wheel a lot. Although I have a very long list of - say - artists on my own iPod I would probably very rarely spin the wheel so much that it becomes an issue, there are probably people who use the thing very differently than I do.

The lesson to take away from this is a reminder that you just have to observe users, not think what you believe users are doing. And I know I am occasionally guilty of that (aren't we all when there are close deadlines...)