At this point, we’ve all been barraged by Krug’s “don’t make me think” mantra a nearly infinite amount of times. I remember the first time I heard this phrase: sitting in Web 1 class, learning how to code html the “right” way. Our instructor was raging on about standard web design conventions, how one should be careful not to stray too far outside of the box, but rather tiptoe around its perimeter so as to not confuse the average internet user. “Don’t make me think,” he said. Now, don’t get me wrong, I completely agree with the fact that the user interface and information architecture shouldn’t get in the way of what you are trying to do on any given web site, but sorry, I rather like thinking. Not necessarily hardcore problem solving when I am trying to find an address on a site, or how to get to one page or another, but perusing the internet shouldn’t necessarily be a passive activity either. As with most anything, I find stasis rather tedious, so the fresh little nuances—and even new approaches to old tricks—are super exciting to stumble upon on any given site. Of course, with any new technology—or content presentation technique, etc—there is a slight learning curve. These new approaches require at least a small amount of learning, and last time I checked, learning required a small amount of thinking; so, maybe this thinking thing isn’t so bad after all, as it puts you into contact with new and potentially more efficient ways of doing things. Given the rapid pace of technology, if we had listened to this propaganda about not thinking, the world would be very different from its current state, and I’d likely be out of a job. Rather than “don’t make me think,” might I suggest the more appropriate “don’t get in my way”? This statement seems to harbor more of the true intent behind what Krug meant, and does not subject us to the stasis of blissful ignorance.
I also like the idea of “communicate with me”, or “tell me what is going on here”. This seems like a more personal connection between designer and audience—or product and user—and maybe it’s just me, but I actually really appreciate it when someone teaches me something new.
Enter the idea of communicating in plain English. Wow, I know, what a concept! If I’ve learned anything in my time at White Whale, it is that clear and effective communication is the key to successful sites and applications—be it through the interface, the content, etcetera (though hopefully all of the above). Take the first time I used LiveWhale (our fancy new approach to content management) for example. We had all been fairly busy with client work through a bulk of its development, so outside of a few glances-over-the-shoulder and catching snippets of development conversation here and there, I was basically ignorant of how the thing even worked until it was in beta form. Rather than walking me through the basics of the app, the LW developers just gave me a login and told me to poke around. This of course is a form of user testing—albeit on a subject with a more critical eye and ellevated skill level. Fascinatingly enough, the system was really intuitive, and required no real explanation at all. This is a product of good interface design and clear communication—every button tells you what it is going to do, every input field is clearly marked, and things are laid out in a logical fashion. Obviously, I was thinking throughout the entirety of my perusal of the app—as I was learning a new method of doing something—and it was easy to figure out the LW way of content management due to its level of explicit communication. This follows the principles of “don’t get in my way”, “communicating in plain English”, and “tell me what is going on here”, but never “don’t make me think”.
On the topic of communicating in plain English, I ran across some amazingly easy to understand explanatory videos this past weekend during my usual relaxing passtime of internet perusal. Stumbling upon these videos is what really sparked this tangent, as I found them so clear and effective that virtually anyone above the age of ten with at least a tiny bit of internet familiarity should be able to understand them without fail—and what is more, rather than being intimidating explanations that answer questions with questions, they are actually really entertaining and straight forward. No one likes to feel ignorant, or left out because they can’t understand how to operate something that thousands of other people have no problem with. It would be difficult at this point for someone to step forward and say like, “Hey man, what is this crazy WordPress thing I keep hearing about?” Or, “What the hell is MySpace, and why is everyone of all shapes and sizes freaking out about it?” Sure, you can get all of that from Google—or Wikipedia or something—but there is still a certain entry level base of knowledge required for even those explanations, and before you know it, you are left with tons of other questions that need answering—such as “what is a blog?”, or “rss?” Right, it gets overwhelming when you get your questions answered with more questions, and pretty soon you’ve dropped an hour just trying to figure out what WordPress even does, let alone learning how to set it up and all of that. Obviously, we are all well ahead of the curve here—and are pretty technically-minded—but I could just imagine my poor mom (an ex-computer programmer mind you, but not so internet savvy) trying to figure all of this out, getting intimidated and frustrated with the whole thing, and eventually resigning to be left in the dark. Enter Common Craft and their awesome The Common Craft Show video series that even my dear mother could understand (they don’t just focus on web technologies either, there are also videos on how the Presidential Election process works, how to fight off zombies, etc—you know, important stuff).
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