CROWDCTRL

I got this nice looking coffee mug from a client of mine. He got it at your typical tech conference—shwag, as they call it. It’s got an attractive Windows Marketplace logo. Handy.

Well after a few times drinking from it I was getting more and more frustrated with the thing. It was hard to drink from. The spout certainly worked but every time I lifted the thermos to my mouth the liquid would spurt out and then stop. Huh?

Turns out, the dang thing has an air hole right where my nose hits when I turn the mug up to drink. My nose hits it every time, plugging the airflow and stopping the liquid, making it almost impossible to satisfy my thirst. What a key usability design flaw.

Another case for actually trying your product with real users before you release it. And for trying out your shwag before handing it out to everyone at the conference. Make sure whatever you have your logo on meets your own quality standards (in this case, Microsoft may have done so).