Fun was never a requirement

Once in a life before Mzinga I heard those exact words in a meeting when I asked why the user interface and experience of an application was so boring and uninspired. I was told this is a real business application – fun was never a requirement.

Then I wondered – why did people feel fun and work had to be mutually exclusive? They don't have to be! Having some fun at work doesn't make people less productive; in fact, I would argue it does just the opposite. To me great user experiences are: Fun, Simple, Easy and Relevant.

Several years ago I designed the UI to a web application – I had used color (not like a circus, but I had a liberal use of color) and icons to give visual cues to the user what was going on. I thought it looked pretty slick (design is always subjective though) and had a rich enough feature set that the geeks were happy too. To me, it was kind of like a pair of Cole Haan heels with Nike Air – sure it's a slick and stylish patent leather heel, but it functions well too.

I showed some folks the mockups I had made in addition to the detailed functional specification I wrote to back up the pretty face. Many thought it was great and ready to move forward, but then there were others that were hesitant. They said it had too much color and too many icons. That it looked great for a consumer product, but for a business product... well to be taken seriously there I was told, I needed to have an all gray color scheme and text only menus. No one would take an application seriously with a menu of icons. No business would buy that kind of application. I said but it has all the functionality one would want, why wouldn't they buy it?! I can understand that argument if it looked really slick, but then didn't have any decent functionality – but that wasn't the case here at all – it was packed with great functionality. Wasn't it an added bonus that it looked nice too? It didn't matter. Nor did it matter that it was PEOPLE not businesses that used this software, and at the end of the day all people are consumers. I lost the argument and we ended up with a colorless, boring UI with text only menus. *sigh*

When was it decided business applications had to suck to be taken seriously? Can't something look fantastic AND function? Anyone who still believes it can't hasn't walked into an apple store lately. They are proving users can really have their cake and eat it too. And with social media tools proliferating into businesses it's happening to web applications too – people want tools that are easy and fun to use, can be configured to how they work, have slick user interfaces, and function well. And contrary to some folk's beliefs – you can really have that!

Wow

I'm *slightly* impressed. The USPS seems to have gotten at least one thing right (well usability wise). Shocking - I know.

Yesterday I went to their website to set up an address forward. Oh yea.. moving in with bf at the end of July. YEY!! :D Sooooo.... I have to forward my mail among many other things. I went onto the USPS site to see if they have ability on their website to forward mail so I don't have to actually go down to the post office and stand in a 2 hour line while all the folks at the post office take breaks and have one person behind the counter. Well turns out you can do it online. AND the form is really user friendly to boot. Who would've thunk it? I like the conversational prompts and simple pages/steps.

I meant to

post my shoe of the day yesterday and forgot to take the pics off my camera (which of course is no small task with vista), so I will have to do that tomorrow.

Spent an entire day at a Usability Conference @ Bentley with the UPA of Boston today. Lots of good info, some not so good info (perhaps not good isn't right, just not info I was particularly interested in - I felt there are some newer technologies out there than were presented in some of the talks), and good conversation.

I think I need a day to really digest all I've heard today.....

When less is more

Not my usual topic on this blog... but it's been on my mind at work.

When dealing with a User Interface sometimes less is truly more. Just because you can give your users 100 different options doesn't mean you should. Perhaps you have the ability on the back end but you don’t expose all 100 options to the user. It’s up to us as user interface designers to try to make a best guess at how many options are enough to give users some flexibility, without overwhelming them.

What prompted me to think about this recently were of all random things: my allergies. I went to the doctor about my allergies – she gave me a prescription and told me to also pick up Claritin. Simple enough I thought.

I went to my local pharmacy and attempted to pick up Claritin (which is now behind the counter and you have to provide ID to buy) and the clerk said which one? I said Claritin. She said yes- which Claritin do you want. Well I don’t know. My doctor said Claritin - she didn’t specify which one of the 20 choices behind the counter. Why are there so many choices? There were 3 rows of choices at CVS!! They had 12 hour, 24 hour, allergy, allergy and congestion (how is this really different?), allergy reditabs. And all of these came in a myriad of sizes: 5, 10, 15, and 30 tablets. I can see why the sizes are helpful, but the other choices are just too much and add confusion (to me anyway). Why would I buy 12 hour and have to take the pill twice in a day instead of the 24 hour one? What’s the advantage? I looked at both boxes and there was no clear reason why one was better than the other. In this case I’d really be happy with less choice. And it got me thinking about usability.

Users definitely want choices and flexibility, but they don’t want so many choices they get overwhelmed and can’t use a product (or buy one). I like having the most simple options in the UI – basic ones that will be used frequently. Then have a way to get to some more advanced options – this way users can choose to go to there or not. And if they do go there, they know they clicked on advanced so it may be complicated - if it's too much the user can cancel out of them and be on their way. If they never click on the advanced options, the user is none the wiser. Ultimately doing some usability tests with average users can help determine what is an acceptable amount of options and which ones are the most important to have.

It would have been so much easier and saved a bunch of time had Claritin come in one kind: 24 hour allergy and congestion - with two options: 15 or 30 tablet pack. I would only have had to make 1 choice 15 or 30, and not the plethora of choices I had to make to buy the medicine. All this when I already felt terrible with my allergies and just wanted relief!

how to make your product unusable

Arrange action icons by color coordination, rather than the action they perform. Ya good move. That's usable. Because color coordination should always trump usability. Because the sign out icon should appear before the search. I mean search isn't important right? YEAAAHHHH

Come up with a design that is so confusing - you can't even explain it to the people you are trying to get to approve the design. Ask the people you are explaining it to, what you meant. Cuz we know somehow.

Sweet New UI

So I was looking at some of the new web based products from Demo '08, and there is some cool new stuff out there in beta.

The product I liked the best (and I haven't even gotten to use it yet) is blist. I may change my mind once I use it, but right now I love it. They are in beta right now and I signed up to be part of their beta, why haven't they let me in yet?? Hurry up! LOL

I like it for a few reasons:

First, the product looks so much like a design I did for another web based product I designed the UI for. They (other product) utimately used the overall design of my ui, but changed from a black color scheme to gray. But I love the edginess of the black, and I'm so glad to see a product out there that isn't afraid to use it! WTG! And since it looks so similar to something I designed of course I'm partial to it.

Second, as a user interface designer we need to figure out how to make using things fun, easy, intuitive, and also look nice. But if it only looks nice and isn't easy or fun - well who wants to use it? And really who wants to use something ugly either? Sometimes it takes several interations to get it right, but I like to see web apps pushing the limits. And blist is a web database application (snooze right?), but wait there's more: it's so cool looking I actually want to use it. It appears (from the screenshot) that it makes using databases easy. DBs are difficult to use, and if these guys have figured out how to make it easy (and fun?!) - well then kudos to them.

Oh and love the logo - it's really cute and friendly. It makes databases seem less scary as well. So hurry up blist - send me an invite to beta!

USPS SUCKS

I really hate the post office. Of course, now that I say that my postal worker will stop delivering my mail. But I just don't get it.

There are many reasons I hate the post office. But here's the few I can think of off the top of my head:

1: Every time I go into the post office- there is one or *maybe* two people working behind the desk. The line is almost out the door. If I am lucky I only wait a half hour.

HOW IS THIS ACCEPTABLE?

Why aren't there more workers at the desk? I can hear people shuffling around in the back, can't they come up and help? When I worked at a grocery store in high school - if they got busy they called people from around the store to come up and help ring people in. Why the fuck can't the post office do this? If I was this unhelpful at my job I'd be fired! People were more helpful at a minimum wage supermarket job.

2: My old postal worker REFUSED to deliver any packages. I used to live in a condo in Brighton. My condo faced the back so I could never see when the postal worker was there. But they had a key to put packages inside the doors. I shop online a lot. I'm online for my job already and I love to shop, so it's just natural that I shop online frequently. I lived there for 5 years. I had the Brighton post office on speed dial because I had to call to complain so many times. This freaking guy REFUSED TO EVER EVER EVER ring the bell to give me the package, or leave it with the super, or leave it inside the locked doors.

I called and left instructions, complained, sent letters, went down to the post office - nothing changed. He would just leave the card "we tried to deliver this and you weren't here. Pick up your package at the post office." fuck you asshole - I WAS HOME RING THE BELL!! My Ex worked from home so there was NEVER a time he could have rang the bell and I "missed it". I told the manager at my local post office that if I sucked that bad and refused to ACTUALLY do my job (which his is to deliver the mail, not slips for me to go pick it up) that I would be FIRED! Why is there no accountability at the post office? I would then schedule a redelivery - once again another fucking "sorry me missed you card". It made me insane. I'm sure this guy did it to fuck with me. And I couldn't do anything. Unless I can force all businesses to ship via Fed Ex or UPS I have to use the stupid USPS.

A search on the Better Business Bureau on the post office turns up more than 200 results. All have "Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the BB due to failure to respond to a complaint". SHOCKING.

One time the bell rang. I couldn't believe it. I ran down to get the package and I said "so you finally started ringing them bell." He said "oh I'm not your regular postal guy, he's on vacation." So I got one package delivered once - by the guy filling in for my guy on vacation. UGH

3: The website is almost unusable. Links don't click to anything - like the "click here for live 24/7 support" nothing happens. That's cool. What's the #1 thing you probably want to do on the USPS website? Complain? Probably. But seriously, I would think it's to buy stamps. That’s on the second level of navigation, 3rd one in. I would think it would be on the top left the first place I look. It took me a minute to realize where it was.

4: When trying to track a package online I get 'sorry we don't know anymore info; please contact your local post office'. Why would my local office know more? Shouldn't the website be able to give me SOME info? I shipped something 19 days ago and it's STILL not there. I paid for insurance.

I called the 800 number. A woman answered and she knew NOTHING. She told me what the website said. UM if you work for the post office - can't you find out anything? How can this package be lost? There is a label number on it - why can't anymore info be found out about it!?

She's said you have to go down to where you mailed it and ask them. Fucking great. I can't wait to sit in another 30 minute line at the post office. I said well if this is truly lost when do I get my few hundred dollars back that I insured it for? She said I can't try to claim it until Nov 3rd because that is still within a reasonable time it could be delivered. Ridiculous. 21+ days to deliver a package within the United States? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Are they using carrier pigeon to ship them?

5: I once sent back something I ordered online. It came with a return address label - so I used the one that came with the package. The To and From were both about the same font size. But I would think one could see the difference between the TO address and From address.

Weeks passed and the company hadn't got my return.

Finally one day the package came back to me!!! The fucking post office shipped it back to me!!!! To the FROM Address rather than the TO address. WTFG. So I had to go down to the Brighton post office AGAIN and tell them to ship to the TO address and REFUSED to pay for that again - it was their fault that it took them 3 weeks to ship the package back to the town I shipped it from. And where was it for 3 weeks? Did it even leave Boston? And WHY did that take 3 weeks? I could have walked to deliver it faster.

And Finally 6: Another time I ordered something online. When the package arrived it had been ripped open and was missing everything that was supposed to be in it. The package looked like it had survived a war. Wasn't the postal worker that delivered it embarrased that it was empty? didn't they notice there was NOTHING inside the package. Oh wait... Actually there WAS something in the almost empty box. OTHER PEOPLE'S MAIL!! Like 10 letters for random other people had fallen into the box - people that didn't live on my street, or my town. I had to put those back in the mailbox and hope they got delivered. I then had to call the company I placed the order with and tell them about the empty box. They re-shipped the package. This time via FedEx (got there fast and all in tact).

The Post office claims they have to raise the price of shipping, stamps, etc because other shippers are taking away their business and costs go up. Perhaps if they could ship packages properly we wouldn't be using other shippers. Now letters get sent fine - they seem to do that well. But I do everything online so I rarely actually send mail. It's the packages that always get screwed up.

Oh shit I thought of one other thing. several times - about 5 times my magazines haven't made it to me. Maybe they get stolen in the mail? Stolen by my neighbors? I don't know, but when I call the magazine companies won't send out another copy- they only extend the subscription. Fine but I wanted the magazine I missed! When I called the post office they knew nothing. I don't know who's fault this one is the magazine? thiefs? the post office? All I know is I didn't get my magazines!

Man I hate the post office they really piss me off!

Annoying Flash Sites

I love cool design. I do. I'm a UI Designer - I hope I like design.

I love excellent design of all kinds: Clothes, Shoes, Handbags, Houses, Cars, Buildings, Websites... you name it.

I think flash can do some really cool things, but most sites that are all flash just annoy me. Why you ask? Because I can't use the fucking back button.

My mental model is that the BACK button should take me BACK to the previous page, not kick me out to the homepage of the entire site. I HATE this about flash sites.

Uniqlo, the site I love to hate, does exactly that. And now I was just on Mazda's site trying to look at the CX-7. I looked at the exterior and wanted to go back to see the interior. What happens when I click back? Well I am back on the freaking homepage where I have to one AGAIN select which vehicle I want to look at. I already DID THAT. I shouldn't have to do that again!

If you want to use flash on your site - great. Find a way to have the back button still work!!

most. annoying. site. ever.

WTF is the deal with this site? How can anyone actually LOOK at the clothes they potentially want to buy??? Clicking anywhere seems to throw you back to the homepage, the back button totally doesnt work becuase it's all flash. ANNOYING! and then as if that wasn't bad enough.. the freaking clothes move back and forth in a dizzying way to show you the close up. Clicking (which I expected would STOP the MOVEMENT or "my mental model" if you will) just brought me to this insane mosiac view where I have to try to decide which item of clothing I want to view. From a mosiac!?? How do I even know where to look? I have to hover to actually have the little mosiac piece even make sense to see the item.

It could be a belt, hat, gloves, shirt, jeans, pants, spin the wheel who knows... wheeeeeeeeeee WTF! And you can't shop online - I guess it's to promote the store... but with this kind of user experience I think I'll skip it and go right on into Bloomies or Saks.

Let's see.. here's the "wicked useful" mosiac view. This is how I usually like to shop for clothes :S


If the site is this crazy - what does the store look like??? Clothes dancing on racks? Strobes lights and blaring club music? Moving shelves?

They seem to have some cute things, but who can tell with this crazy design? I don't even understand how the designer came up with this concept and how once they started building it - they were able to keep track of what they put where. I'd be totally lost. I mean it's pretty. But it's not useful.

Oh and wait... there's more! if you click on a category.. let's say women / shirt - you then see a SEA, and I mean a SEA of shirts scrolling non-stop on the page! 10 across and 8 down!!!! Who the hell can focus. I cannot scan fast enough to see them. And once again the "mental model" (to use the annoying buzz word people seem obsessed with at my company) is broken becuase hovering doesn't MAKE THEM STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they just keep right on moving! I am dizzy. I feel drunk and it's only 11 in the morning.

now picture this stupid thing scrolling vertically, or better yet go to their website and see it for yourself. It's like a slot machine...