georgewiman

So I just did an Abbott BinaxNOW covid test (which was negative*, thankfully) and the instructions were a comical example of poor information design.

Before the instructions started, but not really, there was a small novel of meta-instructions in print only slightly larger than the lettering on a penny.

Also, how is “for in-vitro diagnosis” a “Precaution”? You’re shipping this thing to clinics and also normal people. Clinicians will know what’s what, and normal people just want to know what to do. Maybe have instructions on one side saying; “Clinical instructions on this side, household instructions on the other side” and so on.

Then it got to the graphical part of what you’re actually supposed to DO, only they also leaved in alternate graphics for other scenarios. And the actual instructions were not on the same side of the page. Also the procedure was quite fussy, in contrast to the iHealth test.

Abbott is a very diversified company. They made the stents in my heart, they make the baby formula that was in short supply a year ago; they make countless products in multiple divisions. But they need to hire some information designers.

* But the confirming test I took the next day was solid positive, damn. AND Mrs. Wiman as well.