Plan for the Extremes
December 6th, 2009 | Published in Design
What we need to do to design is to look at the extremes. The middle will take care of itself.
- Dan Formosa, Smart Design, from “Objectified” the movie
I loved Objectified, and this quote stuck out at me the most. This applies in UI design as well. I find that your best test user is the cranky, impatient one – the one who needs to have that project done two hours ago. If I can make them happy, then users with calmer temperaments will also have a better experience – often without noticing it. The angry users are merely drawing attention to the problems with your UI. When they’re stressed or in a hurry are the times when even the smallest bit of friction is magnified by a factor of ten. I find that I can even test my own UI designs on myself, when I’m home after a bad day and at my most stressed out. I test the UI, and notice things that I wouldn’t normally catch when I’m in my “builder” mode. I catch things like jQuery page load stalls or drag and drop quirks that are only “minor annoyances”. I’m not as forgiving, and after taking a ton of notes, I pass out on the sofa. But those notes are the most helpful in early design.