Ergonomics

Ergonomics is the science of designing things to be easy and comfortable for human operators to use.

Bad Ergonomic designs

In science fiction, some things have bad ergonomic designs that make them awkward to handle and severely decrease their effectiveness. Usually this is because someone who designed them placed aesthetics as a higher priority than functionality in design. Specific examples include the following:

• TNG-era hand phasers
• Bat'leths
• Staff weapon