Good UX Designers know it when they see it

Thoughts on Jared Spool's WV Keynote "The Dawning of the Age of Experience" (podcast)

I was again delighted to hear Jared Spool speak at the WebVisions 2006 keynote on July 21. Like all good speakers, he spins a good yarn around an interesting theme...in this case, "usable design" and his premise that you either intuitively get good design or you don't.

Jared started with a number of examples of killer products; the iPod and NetFlix. In each case, competitors who had a better product or brand failed to make a dent in their market dominance. The iPod experience and culture, that go beyond just the device, has engrained it as a cultural icon. The NetFlix experience and social network has kept it on top with a miniscule advertising budget (1/20 of Blockbuster's).

Take home message 1: Good user experiences create the killer apps.

On the flip side were some examples of major corporations pouring huge sums of money down the Web drain. A large big box retailer spent $100M on a Web site redesign and saw a 20% drop in revenues. A 1700 employee law firm almost caused a mutiny when they switched their intranet to a CMS (Content Management System). A highly visited information site saw a 40% drop in Web activity and associated advertising revenue after a Web site redesign. All examples of how fouling up the user experience can be huge embarassment, not to mention a costly experience for the business!

Take home message 2: Bad user experiences create Web SNAFUs.

What was most interesting about Jared's talk was the fact that he seemed to be poking fun at himself during the talk. He recounted how he spent 2.5y doing extensive, and I daresay expensive, research for the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Web site. And then he went to the AIGA's conference in Santa Fe where one guy had overhauled the WSJ Web site as a 'pet project', and had nailed it with no research...intuitively. Apparently, he had just sat down and thought about it!!

There are a number of professions that are or have been very intuitive in nature. Jared's examples were chicken sexing (chick sexers), estimating baby weight (midwives), WWII enemy plane spotters (watching the English Channel) and sushi chefs. All these professionals cannot be taught or described, they have to be learned by watching "an expert" and "trial and error". In the same way, user experience (UX) designers cannot explain it. You just have to watch them to learn.

Take home message 3: Good UXD (user experience design) is an art, not a science.

NetFlix never talks about their technology, their Web site, but it is key to their UXD. A cool use of Ajax to provided more detailed movie information. A cool use of social networking, so built in you do not even notice you are using it. It's simply invisible. All they talk about is the movies (the content!)

Take home message 4: Good UXD is not noticed. When you see it, it is a problem!

Next Jared tackled the SEP (Somebody Else's Problem) effect in design. He encountered a problem trying to make a car rental reservation at Seattle airport. Hertz apparently serves 3 SeaTac locations: Western Australia, Wanganui and Seattle! Travelocity's flights to Spokane, WA gives two options, Spokane (GEG) (main airport) or Spokane (SFS) (private airfield). Unfortunately, some irrelevant data leaked into the user experience. The DBA probably has never heard of UXD, but his actions and responsibilities have a profound effect on it.

Making your own online flight reservations has become a pretty standard practice. Yet you would not think this looking at the fllight booking agreements offered up by USAir and United. Exhausting list of terms and conditions, written in CAPS and making absolutely no sense to anyone other than a travel agent. Fortunately SWAir figured it out offering T&Cs in a simple bullet layout and plain English. Not surprising really that SWAir has one of the highest customer service ratings of all US Airlines.

UXD involves information design, information architecture, usability practices. visual design, interaction design, editing, copy writing, fast iteration management, etc. With a small team of folks, you will need people with broad sets of experiences. It's not just about being a Web Wiz anymore.

Jared then went on to demonstrate the importance of an interdisciplinary approach with some examples of visual communication. An example of good visual communication design was an image of brain anurisym at Mayo Clinic (MayoClinic.org). The medical illustrator created a phenomenal image communicating a ton of stuff to a lay person better than any health care professional could hope to describe. They were not just good at drawing pictures, but good at visual information design.

Image from Presentation Zen (it has since been removed from the FEMA website!)

Conversely, an example of bad visual communication was brought to the attention of Jared on The Daily Show and concerned a diagram depicting how FEMA works.

"What should FEMA have done? Perhaps the answer can be found on their website. Well you'll find, we're not lying, this chart, clearly depicting the agencies responsibility in the event of a disaster. Notice, and this is their actual chart, it begins with their response to a disaster, leads to recovery, mitigation, risk reduction, prevention and preparedness and ends up... back in disaster. That is their chart. In truth, FEMA did exactly what they said they were going to do." — Jon Stewart


Take home message 5: Successful UXD involves everyone (it is multidisciplinary) and depends on everyone (it is interdisciplinary).

Last updated: 8/28/06