Tocquigny - A Measured Approach

The User Experience You Didn’t Notice

Posted 10.06.2010 by Shan Cleland

Most of us don’t think about user experience or the effectiveness of the countless user interfaces we experience on a daily basis. A user interface is any point at which you interact with a product or service while trying to complete a task — nearly everything around you has a user interface. It can be tactical like a button on a microwave or a mouse, or virtual like the navigation on this website or your browser. You are faced with dozens of interfaces every single day, both offline and online. And if you failed to notice them, that’s probably a good thing.
 
For instance, you stop by the ATM kiosk on the way to work. You slide in your card (following those tricky directions), select an option from the large, intuitive buttons on the screen, and follow language text prompts through a simple flow to accomplish your task, in this case, getting some cash to pay for parking.

You may check sports scores on an application you downloaded to your mobile phone. Ideally, you access the desired information with minimal keystrokes and text entry. Go Cowboys.

At work, you order office supplies from your favorite online office supply store. You select your items and check out quickly and easily. You use this online store frequently, not only because they give you a deal, but also because it’s easy to purchase online.
 
After work, you stop at Red Box to grab a movie. Do you want to sort alphabetically, by genre, or by date of release? You heard Ironman 2 was good, and decide to read the synopsis. After 10 seconds, the kiosk asks, “Do you need more time?”

The overall user experience should be transparent. A successfully designed interface, online or offline, should provide the user with seamless prompts to help them seamlessly accomplish desired tasks. Ideally, experience design, including the design of online products and services, should strive to take the burden off of the user, not add to it. In the above example, you wanted to buy office supplies, not spend half an hour trying to learn how to buy office supplies on the website. If the office supply website is difficult to use, you’ll take your valuable time and money elsewhere.
 
Bottom line: When the user experience is good, users don’t pay much attention to it. Instead, they are focused on the satisfying product or service you’re providing. When the experience is bad, users will certainly notice it, and associate that with your brand. They, like you, will take their valuable time and money elsewhere.

Most common mistakes in interactive user experience are avoidable. An effective user-centered design methodology integrated from the beginning of an interactive project and carefully considered throughout will ensure that the experience is seamless and that the user can easily accomplish their tasks. Careful monitoring of metrics and user feedback after launch provides room for even further improvement.
 
A well-designed interactive user experience, like the cable carrying your elevator up to work today, may not always be appreciated when functioning properly ­— but everyone will notice if its broken. If your cables need a quick inspection, or if the elevator has stopped accomplishing it's task altogether, give us a shout, we totally dig this stuff.

 

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