Experts exhibited the importance of “usability” — or technology that improves devices and services to be more convenient and user friendly — at the Museum of Science yesterday, saying that manufacturers do not always consider common sense when designing products that people use daily.

Event presenters reiterated that product design must reflect human thought processes.

“We’re hoping to raise awareness of things to think about when you invite a product into your life,” said Chris Hass, president of the Boston Chapter of the Usability Professionals’ Association, adding that all devices should be tested for convenience and satisfaction to create better products.

According to Hass, usability technology can make everything from iPods to medical systems more convenient by examining the way they are manufactured and used.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Ted Selker presented ballot designs created by the CalTech-MIT Voting Technology Project, a group that was founded after the 2000 elections in order to make voting more accurate and accessible to voters, including those with reading disabilities.

Selker said under normal circumstances, one in every 30 selections made by voters is a mistake.

“We believe that ballot design problems are not diminished [since 2000],” Selker said.

He said 30 percent of America’s voting is done electronically, but existing voting laws and political practices — such as listing an incumbent first on a ballot — hinder the adoption of more effective electronic voting methods.

Bryn Dews, of the Mitre Corporation-a not-for-profit organization that focuses on industrial development and research, said people encounter ineffective designs every day. Her exhibition focused on the ineffective design of door handles, saying that a horizontal handle indicates that a person should push the door open while a vertical handle shows that users should pull. However, this is not always the case in practice.

“Don’t just assume it’s you,” Dews said of bad designs.

Hass said usability has grown over the past 30 years, saying that Bentley College offers a human factors program that specifically trains students evaluate usability. Other usability experts emerge from backgrounds in design, psychology, research, ergonomics and computer coding and programming.

He added that UPA Boston — with 400 members — is the second largest UPA chapter in the world, following only the chapter that includes all of Germany.

“Boston has thought leaders,” Hass said.