This public utility company serves over 15-million customers. When technicians perform any installation, repair, or upkeep on gas lines serving residences, they are required to leave a hang tag in a conspicuous place so the resident knows there's been a status change on the gas service, and what, if any, steps to take.

The company came to us to conduct a human factors evaluation - also known as a heuristic review - on their current tag. This evaluation focused on two aspects of the hang tag: information format and physical properties. Based on this evaluation, two prototype tags, which incorporated national design standards for this type of notification label, were designed as improved alternatives to the current tag.

The prototypes and the current tag were then evaluated by a sample of residential gas service customers for information format and understandability. Based on this evaluation, additional design improvements were made to the prototype tags, and a second round of usability testing confirmed further advantages for the prototype tags relative to the current tag.

Human factors design guidelines and principles were used in conjunction with ANSI Z535 to identify shortcomings in two key aspects of the tags (a) information format and (b) physical properties (durability, mode of attachment, etc.).

Tag attributes evaluated included:

• Tag material
• Mode of attachment
• Size
• Conspicuity
• Understandability
• Professional appearance
• Eye catching appeal
• How well the user understands the tag’s message
• Ease of identifying contact information
• Ease of identifying source organization

Back