The TV crews turned up, the press photographers were rearing to go, but the wild weather in Wellington (New Zealand) had us all scrambling for cover on World Usability Day…

Pictured: Matthew Wright was blown away by World Usability Day in Wellington.

So we’ve decided to ‘award’ all our red baloons to humanity for effecting climate change in New Zealand - in the past week we’ve had icebergs floating off the coast of the South Island, mini-tornados, winds blowing down trees and major highways closed…

None of this is making life easy!

UPDATE
On Monday 20th November, Sam Ng and other UPA supporters gave it another go!

Mission complete. The remaining balloons are left at a usable playground for the usability experts of tomorrow.

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A nice “touch” for the visually impaired/iPod distracted pedestrians. Slightly spoiled by a distinct lack of bumps on the other side of the street. 

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“Yeah, but where is the entrance!?” 

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A payphone with mysterious lettered buttons. 

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The payphone denies our unlocking the secrets of the mysterious lettered buttons by denying my phone-card with an equally mysterious “(3)”. 

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A self-service library book check-out machine - generally good - but it also suffers from a touch of “selfish service”. This happens from time to time when the books displace the card during the bar-scanning check-out phase! (thus prematurely ending the transaction). 

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“Lifts do not stop”. Huh? Surely these lifts are not designed as the vertical equivalent of jumping in and out of a moving vehicle?