Almost every company today has some sort of proprietary software that it uses to track customer data (names, addresses, buying history, etc.), shipping and receiving, opening and closing of work orders, and other such things that need to be carefully monitored and recorded. At my job, most of the paperwork focuses on documenting what's wrong with something, the way in which that something will be fixed, the fixing of that something, and the return of that something to the customer. At every step of this process, data needs to be entered into an unbelievable number of god-forsaken, ill-designed programs. While I understand that many people consider design unneccessary, a fancy veneer applied to an underlying structure that would work just fine with a natural finish, I would argue that good, thoughtful design almost always benefits all those who encounter it. This is certainly the case in this situation of poorly designed forms. [more...]