The saying “good design is design in which everything is obvious” is one hundred years old at lunchtime, and I am sure that it existed in some form in past centuries as applied to good food, music, architecture, clothing, philosophy and in general whatever
We forget that changes in human thinking are occurring extremely slowly, and that knowledge about the behavior of people that we have now will not become obsolete for another fifty years or so. To make it easier for everyone, we must consistently adhere to several principles that will remind us how to make products with good design. It would be nice to remind yourself of these principles at least once a month, until we begin to live and breathe.
The possibilities of the human brain do not change from year to year, so the results of studies of the behavior of people have a very long shelf life. What was difficult for the user twenty years ago remains difficult today.
- J. Nielsen
“Don't make me think: take two”
Back in 2000, after the dotcom boom, Steve Krug outlined some useful considerations that have not yet lost their value and relevance. Even for the time that has passed since the publication of the new edition, nothing, in fact, has changed. Yes, you can tell me that now everything looks modern, that websites are better structured and use advanced technologies (goodbye, flash!). But I'm talking about something else - people's behavior is no different. The principle “don't make me think” will always be useful for any product with which we interact, be it a microwave, TV, smartphone or car.
“Your goal is to make every page or every screen self-evident, so that the average user could say:“ Everything is clear ”at the first glance.” - Steve Krug1. People do not read, but run over their eyes.
The reason is simple: we have a mission and we are looking only for what interests us in connection with it. For example, I hardly remember the cases when I read the text on the product page from and to. Why? Because most users on the web are trying to do something concrete, and as soon as possible. We have no time to read more than is strictly necessary. And nevertheless, we continue to load pages with text - it seems to us that people need to know all this. Or, as some designers say, "it makes the experience richer."
What we do vs What the user needs- Insert more titles - they explain what the essence of each section is and whether this particular user needs it. Anyway, it helps to decide whether to look further or better to leave the page.
- Keep paragraphs short - in a long text fragment the reader is more likely to fail, besides, it is more difficult to run through their eyes than a series of small paragraphs. There is always some place where the text can be safely divided into two parts.
- Use lists - you can arrange almost anything in a list. Do you have a sentence where a lot of things are listed separated by commas? This is considered a ready list. Also, do not forget to leave some empty space between the list items - it is more convenient to read this way. For example, you can take the same Medium.
- Highlight key phrases - an essential part of browsing a page is to search for specific keywords and phrases. Highlighting them in bold, you ask the user a task. Just do not overdo it - if the discharge is too much, they lose their effectiveness.
2. Build an effective visual hierarchy.
Another important aspect that helps to run through the page with your eyes is the presence of the correct visual hierarchy. It should be made clear that the appearance of the page reflects the relationship between the elements. Here are a couple of rules to help achieve this:
- The more important the element, the more it should stand out. The most key information should be spelled out either larger or in bold and eye-catching color.
- If there is a logical connection between the elements, they must be connected visually. For example, similar elements can be arranged in the same style or made under one heading.
3. Do not reinvent the wheel
It seems to us that people want something new, something that they don’t yet have. But we forget that there are now a huge number of applications on the market and each of them claims to be our time. Each of them has its own set of interactions, and we have to master them. And sometimes our brain just explodes: “What, also understand this application?”.
When we are asked to design something from scratch, we, as designers, are tempted to reinvent the bicycle. After all, doing what everyone else does is seemingly wrong. We were hired to make us stand out. Yes, and awards with dithyrambs in our industry are usually obtained not by those who "best used standard practices" in their design.
Before you reinvent the wheel, you need to realize what amounts of values (time, strength, knowledge) were invested in what you are now trying to challenge and modernize.
4. Product instructions must be extinct.
Our task is to make everything transparent and obvious. Well, or if the obvious fails, then at least it speaks for itself. The main thing you need to know about the instructions - no one will read them. It is necessary to strive to remove them from the product altogether and make everything not needing explanations. But if without instructions in any way, trim them to the maximum. Though, seriously, nobody will read them anyway. Usually we just wade as we can.
If the product is not all immediately obvious, then at least he should speak for himself.
For example, take IKEA. If you instruct the average person to assemble a wardrobe from IKEA, I am convinced that in most cases he will cope. Why? Because, again, in most cases, we understand how to collect it, if there is a picture in front of our eyes. But even in situations where a person has to look into the instructions, there are no words in it - only images.
5. No one is interested in how your product works.
The majority of people do not feel the need to know or understand how your product works. And the point here is not at all nonsense - it simply makes no difference to them. It is important for them to figure out how to use the product, and after that they will most likely not switch to something else.
Consider for example the Apple AirPods. Hardly anyone would disagree that in terms of sounding this is one of the worst options for such and such money. But watching how people work with them, I understand the real reason why they buy this product. They do not have to wrestle with why something is not working. You can not even notice that it uses new technologies.
I look at how my mother interacts with them: she never asked me what technologies they are based on and what the principle of work is. She only knows that if you open the case next to the device, the connection will be established automatically. It's simple.
6. People do not seek out "subtle hints" - they have no time
My most favorite. We, designers, love to add to the joy of users unobtrusive effects, beautiful little things that cause delight. Right? And what if I tell you that users are indifferent to them? No matter how much they assure you of the opposite, in fact, the way it is. For the very first time? May be. In the second? Well, all right. In the third? No, well, really, how many times do I still have to look at it, so that you have enough?
Why it happens? Because life is a much tougher and more stressful environment than
applications with their low-key effects and delights. Well, for example, you are a father, your child screams that he wants ice cream, the dog barks because someone rang the doorbell, and you are trying to book a ticket for a train that leaves in forty minutes. In such a situation, people wanted to spit on subtle hints. On the other hand, this does not mean that they cannot be used - it is possible, but in such a way that the user's journey does not leave the rails.
7. Focus groups and usability tests are two different things.
A focus group is a small group of people who sit at a table and discuss some problems. They express opinions about the product, talk about their past experiences, emotions and reactions that cause new concepts. Focus groups are a great way to determine what your audience wants.
The usability test is that you observe how the user, one per test, tries to work with something (in this case, with your product). At the same time, you ask him to perform certain operations in order to understand whether something needs to be corrected in the concept. Accordingly, when working with focus groups you listen, on usability tests - see.
8. We let the senses take over the work process.
All of us, people who are involved in product design, have moments when we say: “I am a user myself, I know what is good and what is bad.” And for this reason, we have rather strong emotions about our preferences. That is what we like, and this we consider a headache.
When working in a team it is difficult to leave it all behind the threshold. As a result, we have a whole room of people on emotions with categorical beliefs, what should be the design of a good product. We tend to think that all other users share our feelings.
9. We ask the wrong questions.
Asking questions like: “Do people like drop-down menus?” Is unproductive and will not bring any value. It is more correct to formulate the question like this: “Will this particular drop-down menu on this particular page contribute to the formation of a positive experience for people who are most likely to visit the site?”.
We need to be distracted from questions like “Do people like it? ..” and dive deeper into the strategic design context.
The reason is that by focusing on abstract preferences, we are wasting our strength and dissipating attention. Usability tests will check all these like-dislike and show you what really needs to be done.
10. We forget that, using the product, the user should not be asked such questions as ...
- Where am i
- Where do I begin?
- Damn, where did they put x?
- What is most important on this page?
- Why did they call it that?
- Is this an advertisement or part of a site?
The bottom line is that each question that arises in the user's thoughts when using the product increases the cognitive load. They divert attention from "why am I here" and "what do I need to do." As a rule, it is not fun for people to solve rebuses when they just want to understand whether a button is clickable.
And whenever you force a user to click on something that does not work, but looks like a link or button, this bunch of questions grows. And all this happens because the people who made the product didn't bother too much.
Share in the comments minor errors that we constantly make in the design of their products, so that everyone can learn from them. I wrote this article based on the new edition of Steve Krug’s book “
Don't make me think .”