Journal Entry 12: Design Symposium Lecture 1

This presentation was on April 7 and was entitled "Essential Elements of Great Web App Design". The presenter lectured on 7 key points of good web design:

1. Understand Users, then ignore them.
   
   • Understand what the consumer actually needs, then read between the lines.
     
2. Build only what's absolutely necessary.
   
   • Messy, unnecessary design confuses users and makes them leave.
3. Support the user's mental model.
   
   • Mental models help us to assimilate ourselves to new ideas.
     
4. Turn beginners into intermediates immediately.
   
   • Most users are intermediate users, do not build above that level.
   • Design step by step to help the user navigate the app.
     
5. Handle errors.
   
   • Always underestimate the usability of your designs, not the users.
   • Think of web apps as humans- is it friendly, welcoming, and easy to understand?
     
6. Design for uniformity, consistency, and meaning.
   
   • This is a self-explanatory point: build your app to house the ultimate functionality.
     
7. Reduce and refine
   
   • This ties in to rule number 2: build only what's necessary.
     
   • MUST HAVES, then begin eliminating.
   • Always spend time making what you already have better.

I feel that this is a lot of stuff that should already be second nature to web designers, or designers in general. Unfortunately, a lot of this stuff isn't something that we would think about or consider on a daily basis. I think a lot of people might get a little too attached to their projects and get offended when people criticize its usability. It's important to remember that as designers, our work is for the use of others, not for our own enjoyment. We also need to remember that we are never perfect, mistakes can be made, and there is always a lot of room for improvement. Even with that in mind, an excellent, functional web app is always within our reach. Here are a few websites/apps that this presenter talked about.

Myspace.com- It was important for him to talk about this because he is working on it personally, and wanted some...urm...feedback to take back to work with him. A lot has been said about MS, and a lot of it negative. A lot of people have stopped using this application in order to go to Facebook. MS has started becoming a clone of Facebook, which is weird, but also has a very difficult to use interface and way too many options for content, customization, and a very weird news feed. Personally, I rarely log into my MySpace anymore because it's just too much. Aside from that, where is the fun if everyone I know is using Facebook anyway? This website supports the lecture topic, if only to provide an example of how not to mess up.

Facebook.com- If we talked about MySpace, then Facebook definitely had to be in there as well. So here is the big question: why is FB so much more successful than MS? FB has a bit of a better appearance. The colors are more uniform, which helps the ability to navigate around the site. It also offers an IM system that works (most of the time...) and a lot of apps that can be bookmarked for easy/frequent use. FB also makes relevent suggestions for pages, friends, and fan pages; however, this can be really annoying with the sheer volume of suggestions. FB also changes their layout/home page all the time, which is very annoying for the user. I am on the fence about this one. I think they are headed in the right direction according to the 7 steps, but might not be right on target yet.

Amazon.com- This was an example of what NOT to do, says presenter. He claimed to not like Amazon because of the numerous lists, tabs, pay phrases, and what have you. I agree that this can become too cluttered and too time-consuming, but for over all use Amazon is simple to use. The problem is, I get in, get out, and get on with my day. An online store probably wants users to stick around and shop all day, but with all that stuff blaring on the sides it is difficult to do that. Either way, they are making money, so something is working correctly.

I think the biggest problem with a lot of websites and apps these days is that everyone wants to be the best and have/do it all. The problem is, you can have one or the other. If you have it all, no one is going to want to be on your website because there is too much crap. If you are the best, people like your app and are going to come back a lot, but are going to make suggestions to give it more "usability". It seems like a really vicious cycle. I think the best thing that any web designer can do is keep a certain goal and do step number 7 all the time while honoring the needs of the audience. Unfortunately, the audience is never happy and always wants to keep adding, so it looks like the designer's job is never ending. I guess that's a good thing in this really poor economy? :)