A guest post from Fearless Director of Design, Jordan Watts. Jordan sets the vision for the design practice at Fearless and works closely with our programs department.
There are two main issues I see when people are talking about User Interfaces:
- Describing User Interface as interchangeable with User Experience
- Critiquing UI solely on aesthetic value/taste
What is User Interface (UI)
A way for people to interact with a product or service
What is User Experience (UX)
All aspects of the end-user’s interaction with a service.
The user interface may be a part of the user experience, but the user experience goes beyond the user interface. The applications our users are interacting with might be part of a larger user experience journey. A user is utilizing an application to try and receive a service. They might receive the service directly through the user interface or the user interface of an application might be one step of their journey to their final end goal. One example would be a person wanting to get their car registration in Maryland. A person might Google, “Where to get a car registered in Maryland?” and they experience Google’s User Interface, which takes them to the Maryland MVA website. Then they utilize the MVA website’s user interface, and maybe the resolution or end of the journey is making a phone call to the MVA. The user interacted with multiple User Interfaces while on their User Experience journey to achieve their goal.
Another common thing I hear when people are describing UI is surface-level descriptions.
Words I often hear when people describe UI that are not the best choice:
These terms are not bad in the right context, but they are only significant if they are coming from the user. What a designer might think is beautiful might differ from the average small business owner, and if the small business owner is the user then their interpretation of beauty is what’s important.
- Beautiful
- Fresh
- Modern
- Pop
Terms like beauty and modern are very subjective. When understanding subjectivity, you need to understand the relationship between the subject and the object. Multiple people can look at a user interface and they will all have a different interpretation or its so-called beauty but the most important opinion is that of the user.
Sometimes the thoughts and opinions of the team get pulled into the mix and their interpretation of the beauty or intuitiveness takes over. It’s important for us to remember at the end of the day we’re not the end-user. While we want our users to see our user interface as beautiful or intuitive, ultimately we’re not them.
New terms to use when talking about user interfaces:
These ideas and terms provide more value than subjective descriptors. These terms are measurable:
- Goal-oriented
- Inclusive
- Accessible
Goal-Oriented:
- Can a user receive the service they want?
- Can users complete necessary tasks?
Typically when people are interacting with a service or interface, they have a primary goal. The UI they’re interacting with, the screen or the product, might be one step in reaching the overall goal, so ask yourself if someone can complete the task to get them to the next product or person they ended to talk to to receive the service or end goal.
Inclusive:
- Do users see or recognize themselves in the service?
- Do users understand and relate to the content?
- Can users use their own technology?
Accessible
- Can users use it on their own?
- Can users receive the service they want?
Often when we talk about accessibility, we think of folks who maybe use assistive technology or have a disability. It’s important to note accessibility is really usability. The really core question: Can people receive the service they want how they want to?
How to grow your user-centered vocabulary when talking about products and features:
- Use person + verb + noun sentences
- Whenever you talk about design concepts or decisions, speak in sentences that include people and put the focus on the user.
- An example if you were developing a tool around medical records: An insurer(person) requests(verb) health records(noun),
- By creating a user-centered scenario you can ask yourself questions that will help you think about the future and the goals of people.
- Speak to users, not for them
- Be mindful of your role. It’s great to be a fan of the user and want to create great things for them but you’re not your user.
- Get the data and perspective from them instead of speaking authoritatively about what you think.
Utilize resources and experts
- About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design by Alan Cooper
- Good Services by Lou Downe
- accessibility.digital.gov
- plainlanguage.gov
- Inclusive Design Principles
