Have you ever left your card in a chip and pin, mistyped a phone number, left your petrol cap on the top of a car or, more worryingly, poured orange juice into your cornflakes? As somebody who recently misread a label and poured a carton of chickpeas (instead of custard) over a sticky toffee pudding, I’m particularly interested in how and why such errors can occur.

To mark World Usability Day (10 November), Professor Ann Blandford gave a clear and helpful lecture about how the design of technology can help make these errors less likely. While the mistakes made above do cause delays and aggravation, Professor Blandford began by highlighting how technology design can affect far more serious situations.

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