How Usable is YOUR World?

For the last post of 2009, I want to share 3 quotes that I really like!

Watch people in their own environments

— Peter Merholz, Founding partner of Adaptive Path

That’s so true, if you really want to improve a product, watch people using it in their own environment. That’s why, when we facilitate usability testing sessions, we should try to mimic their environment, or in an ideal situation, effectuate the testing in their environment. For example, remote usability testing, either moderated (e.g., Userview or a simply screen sharing application such as Adobe ConnectNow) or automated (e.g. Chalkmark) help you discover a lot of insights about how they use their devices (e.g., browsers and its number of toolbars).

On the other hand, before starting to develop a product, it’s always valuable to run a field observation which is basically watching people doing their tasks in their environment, taking notes and, sometimes if you can, ask them questions. For example, I have done some field observations of call center agents and I found out that agents were writing down, on a piece of paper, crucial information for the booking. By watching them doing so, I came up with ideas about how to design the new application that will lead them do their job better.

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‘Intuitive’ interfaces are easier to build when designers have a deep understanding of the users

— Jared M. Spool, Founder and principal of User Interface Engineering

This quote is a complement to the previous one. It’s easier to achieve intuitive interfaces when you know very well your users and how they will interact with your product / application. Having a deep understanding of the user means primarily knowing and understanding the impact of their goals, their values and their environment on your product. How they will (or why they won’t) use it will be defined by these characteristics.

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I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my telephone; my wish has come true because I can no longer figure out how to use my telephone

— Bjarne Stroustrup, Creator of C++

Bjarne said and thought that in 1990′s while attempting to use a “feature-rich” telephone. Mobiles and smart phones include more and more features and allow its owner to interact with the world in different ways; phone call, SMS, MMS, email, Facebook updates, etc. Sometimes, users get lost with this myriad of possibilities and accomplishing basic tasks such as adding a new contact becomes complex and unusable.

Don’t get me wrong, there are 3.1 billion unique mobile users around the world, which is a lot. Mobiles and smart phones are more and more used to access the web and might become the main primary device for accessing the web in 2020. It’s already influencing how we design web sites. But, we shouldn’t forget ease of use for primary tasks.

If you are interested in facts and trends about the media industry, I suggest you to watch the following video – Did You Know 4.0.

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UX Quote by Olivier Lorrain