Big Buttons. Wet Gloves. Respect The User.
Tiny dropdowns are not a design choice; they are a safety hazard. Respect the worker in the rain. Design for the glove.
The 4:00 PM Winter Test
It is November. It is 4:00 PM. The sun is setting. It is freezing rain.
A field technician stands on a scaffolding. They are wearing heavy thermal gloves. Their hands are cold. The tablet screen is wet.
They need to report a defect.
The app asks for “Defect Type.” It presents a dropdown menu. The font is size 10. The arrow to open the menu is 4 pixels wide.
The technician taps. Misses. Taps again. The menu opens. It has 50 options. They try to scroll. The wet screen misinterprets the touch. It selects “Option A” by mistake. They have to delete. Try again.
They take off a glove to use their bare finger. Now their hand is freezing. They are frustrated. They are looking at the screen, not the slippery surface they are standing on.
This is not just bad design. This is dangerous.
Designers in warm offices love clean interfaces. They love white space. They love tiny text. They are designing for eyes. They should be designing for thumbs. Wrapped in Kevlar.
The Waste: Friction is Theft
Every time a worker has to correct a typo, we steal seconds. Every time they have to squint, we steal energy.
Small touch targets are friction. Friction accumulates.
If a form takes two minutes to fill out in the office, it takes ten minutes in the rain. That is eight minutes of waste per form. Multiply that by fifty workers. Multiply that by two hundred days.
We are losing thousands of hours to bad UI.
We also lose data quality. If the form is hard to use, the worker will choose the easiest path. They will select “Other” for every category. They will type ”.” in the description field. They will do the bare minimum to make the app go away so they can get back to real work.
We get garbage data because we gave them a garbage tool.
The Flow: Big, Ugly, and Fast
We need “Sturdy Design.” It does not win design awards. It wins on the job site.
1. Ban the Dropdown. Dropdowns hide the truth. They require two taps (Open, Select). Use “Radio Buttons” or “Cards.” Lay the options out. If there are three choices, show three big buttons.
2. The Thumb Zone. Put the actions at the bottom of the screen. Users hold tablets on the sides or the bottom. Do not put the “Save” button in the top right corner. That requires a grip change. Grip changes drop tablets.
3. Scan, Do Not Type. Typing on glass is awful. Typing on wet glass is impossible. If you need a Serial Number, do not ask them to type “SN-492-BX.” Give them a barcode scanner. If you need a location, do not ask for an address. Use the GPS. If you need a description, use Speech-to-Text.
4. Contrast is Key. Grey text on a white background looks modern. It is invisible in bright sunlight. Use black on white. Use high contrast.
5. Hit Targets. Buttons must be large. 44 pixels is the minimum standard. For gloves, we want 60 pixels. We want massive targets. The user should be able to hit the button while walking.
This is about respect. We respect the conditions the team works in. We acknowledge that their job is physical.
When we build big buttons, we tell them: “We know this is hard. We made it easier.”
Stop designing for the iPhone commercial. Design for the job.
FAQs
Why does button size matter for operations?
Because precision takes time. Gloves reduce precision. Big targets cut errors, speed up work, and lower frustration.
Are dropdown menus bad?
In the field, yes. They hide options and demand fine motor control. We prefer big radio choices, cards, or scan inputs.
How does UX impact safety?
Bad UX steals attention. If someone is fighting the screen, they are not watching the crane, the edge, or the load.