Critical look
A free translation of the article by Aza Raskin How To Critique An Interface .
People far from the design are often asked to express their opinion about the interface. Perhaps you are the director of the company, and the performer asks to evaluate your new site. Or you are a project manager and look at your designer’s models in a puzzled way. How do you rate the design? What are you paying attention to? And how do you answer something more intelligible than “That looks cool!” Or “Take it out of sight!”.
It is difficult to answer these questions in such a short article, but I will give at least a few tips:
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The first factor by which comments should be determined is when do you give them? If you look at a product a couple of days before it is launched, developers and designers will have little time to react to them and fix them (before the deadline, they already work at nights). In this case, it is worth making only small sentences. Perhaps after the release of the project, you and your team will have time to correct more significant shortcomings. Therefore, the sooner you become familiar with the product, the more things your words will have an impact.
Look for something that makes users strain their brains. Your interface upsets them every time it makes you think about how to use it, distracting you from your tasks and responsibilities. It is necessary to get rid of everything that causes the user to be distracted from the performance of work - modal dialog boxes, confirmations, filling in unnecessary forms, etc.
The goal of interface design is to get rid of the interface. Yes, an interface with lots of controls can look gorgeous. But know that the less work the user needs to achieve the goal, the better.
Surely you have seen news sites, where articles are divided into several small pages, so that you look at more advertising. Most people fiercely hate such things, and many of them do not read it to the end. This is a good example of unnecessary interaction.
Think long and hard about every step a user must take to use a product. Describe all the steps. Even if you are tired, the interaction should be simplified.
Make sure the buttons, links and actions are logically grouped. I am sure you have often seen the “Save” and “Close” buttons next to each other. In such cases, even a small user error causes serious consequences.
Icons can be difficult to understand, even if they look beautifulwith Turbomilk . Users often have to hover over an incomprehensible icon to get a hint of what is behind it. Use text instead of esoteric hieroglyphs to show clearly what you mean.
The best interfaces are studied gradually: users do not have to think 15 minutes before solving the simplest task - they need to know at least what needs to be done to make it work. Does your product give a good idea of ​​where and how to start working with it? Does it provide the right direction for the user to learn in the process? The mechanics should be simple, and the metaphors consistent.
Try not to overload users with the choice of ways to perform an action. To offer a lot of options may seem like a good idea, but it’s not. In the end, it all ends up inflating the interface and the horror of users who are forced to make decisions that they should not take.
If you see more than one way to do something, ask the designer to make the only simple mechanism that the user can use to achieve all of their goals. Clogging the user's brain with garbage that does not solve his problem is a bad way.
The appearance of the product often gets much more attention than how the product works. Spending a lot of time on design is like a long selection of pianos for the Titanic. Handsomely? And what's the point? Appearance is much easier to change and finish. Teamwork is the heart of your product. So spend all your time doing it well. And leave the appearance for later.
People far from the design are often asked to express their opinion about the interface. Perhaps you are the director of the company, and the performer asks to evaluate your new site. Or you are a project manager and look at your designer’s models in a puzzled way. How do you rate the design? What are you paying attention to? And how do you answer something more intelligible than “That looks cool!” Or “Take it out of sight!”.
It is difficult to answer these questions in such a short article, but I will give at least a few tips:
')
Better before
The first factor by which comments should be determined is when do you give them? If you look at a product a couple of days before it is launched, developers and designers will have little time to react to them and fix them (before the deadline, they already work at nights). In this case, it is worth making only small sentences. Perhaps after the release of the project, you and your team will have time to correct more significant shortcomings. Therefore, the sooner you become familiar with the product, the more things your words will have an impact.
User Brain - Sacred
Look for something that makes users strain their brains. Your interface upsets them every time it makes you think about how to use it, distracting you from your tasks and responsibilities. It is necessary to get rid of everything that causes the user to be distracted from the performance of work - modal dialog boxes, confirmations, filling in unnecessary forms, etc.
Reduce interaction
The goal of interface design is to get rid of the interface. Yes, an interface with lots of controls can look gorgeous. But know that the less work the user needs to achieve the goal, the better.
Surely you have seen news sites, where articles are divided into several small pages, so that you look at more advertising. Most people fiercely hate such things, and many of them do not read it to the end. This is a good example of unnecessary interaction.
Think long and hard about every step a user must take to use a product. Describe all the steps. Even if you are tired, the interaction should be simplified.
The location of the elements is really important.
Make sure the buttons, links and actions are logically grouped. I am sure you have often seen the “Save” and “Close” buttons next to each other. In such cases, even a small user error causes serious consequences.
Beware of icons
Icons can be difficult to understand, even if they look beautiful
Give a starting point
The best interfaces are studied gradually: users do not have to think 15 minutes before solving the simplest task - they need to know at least what needs to be done to make it work. Does your product give a good idea of ​​where and how to start working with it? Does it provide the right direction for the user to learn in the process? The mechanics should be simple, and the metaphors consistent.
Less options - less worries
Try not to overload users with the choice of ways to perform an action. To offer a lot of options may seem like a good idea, but it’s not. In the end, it all ends up inflating the interface and the horror of users who are forced to make decisions that they should not take.
If you see more than one way to do something, ask the designer to make the only simple mechanism that the user can use to achieve all of their goals. Clogging the user's brain with garbage that does not solve his problem is a bad way.
Appearance is important, but user interaction is more important.
The appearance of the product often gets much more attention than how the product works. Spending a lot of time on design is like a long selection of pianos for the Titanic. Handsomely? And what's the point? Appearance is much easier to change and finish. Teamwork is the heart of your product. So spend all your time doing it well. And leave the appearance for later.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/94852/
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