ABSTRACT
Labels help users identify physical items such as displays, controls, and mechanisms. They also help users identify information that is presented on digital displays. In fact, one could argue that all physical items and onscreen content, perhaps except for items that serve intuitively obvious purposes, should be labeled to ensure correct identification and interpretation. Poor labeling and especially poor label placement can trigger harmful mistakes. Users can commit use errors such as basing decisions on the wrong information and activating or deactivating the wrong function. Poor label-control association in voting ballots can cause people to accidentally vote for unintended candidates. Labels can be visually grouped together to separate a functionally-related group of controls from other controls.
