Jakob Nielsen is one of the best-known specialists in the field of utility, who in 1990, together with Ralf Molich, presented 10 heuristics. These principles were developed on the basis of many years of experience in the field of utility engineering and have become the basic principles of human-computer interaction.
They can help project teams save a significant amount of time in the early usability testing phase. In addition, it is also worth using them as a checklist when designing a new product or function.
Think about how you prefer to be served in a cafe. You have two options:
First: From the very entrance you are greeted by a smiling barista. In a nice voice, he asks what to serve, and when you are undecided, he asks about preferences and recommends coffee from the best roasters. It informs you of the waiting time, and then brings you the ordered coffee and a surprise cookie. When you request a bill, you get it instantly — and with a variety of payment options.
Second: You stand in a long line, and when you finally get to the counter, the barista pretends not to see you. You have to demand attention, and the one with a sour face asks what to serve. It turns out that half of the selected items are no longer available. In the end, you take the little black one and wait for her 15 minutes. At the very end, you pay the bill at the bar because you can't wait for the service at the table.
Let's not kid ourselves, we've all been to both places. With the Nielsen heuristics below, you'll learn how to make your customers feel like they're in their first coffee shop. Because good UX is a high level of user comfort. Simply!
1. Show system status
The system should always inform users about what is happening through appropriate feedback. Are you looking around and you don't know where you are or how to get to where you're going? Do you feel anxious? This is how the user may feel if they are not properly informed where they are in the system.
Where am I? First of all, you should always inform the user where he is. A good example is bread crumbs, breadcrumbs - that is, a clearly marked path of the process. The progress bar tells you where you are.
What's going on? Look at your smartphone. Icons on the screen tell you about battery status, Wi-Fi connection, received messages, missed calls, and much more. Imagine how insecure you would feel if you didn't have this information. Using signs, icons and indicators, the system communicates its status and helps the user make better, more informed decisions.
A satisfied customer is one whose questions you answer before they ask them. It is your responsibility to inform.
2. Keep the system consistent with reality
Follow real conventions, present information in a natural and logical order. People approach each new system with a mental model in mind. In other words, they assume how the system could work based on their previous experience.
First, natural language allows you to understand content and functions very quickly. Secondly, keep in mind that users do not read everything from cover to cover but only scan cursory for key information. The stronger the association, the simpler the description and the more adequate the graphics, the greater the chance of performing the action correctly. Therefore, the application for storing payment cards is called “Wallet”.
An extreme example is skeuomorphism, early in the deployment of the first computers and graphical interfaces, helped people learn how to use new features through objects and processes they knew before. The result is applications such as a compass, calculator, basket or design tools such as pencil, pen, ruler.
Although creativity and innovation are generally desirable skills, sometimes there is no need to reinvent the wheel. And although the temptation to create new things is great, it is worth refraining and relying on the well-known.
3. Give the user full control
Each of us at least once clicked the wrong place and a moment later thought: “Oh no! How can I undo it?!” Users sometimes get lost or go a step too far. Let's remember about the facilities that allow you to move freely between the different levels of the system. Users often choose functions by mistake, so they need a clearly marked “emergency exit”. Remember the “undo” and “redo” options.
Each system should have a clear direction to exit.
Ensuring complete freedom of movement around the site provides comfort to the user. If we make it easier for him to choose a product and put it in the basket, we must make sure that he can remove it just as easily from it. The last thing we want is for the user to solve this problem by closing the window.
A suitable emergency exit can be something as simple as the “back arrow” (for example, in the browser), the “Recycle Bin” folder, which gives the opportunity to recover the deleted file, or the “undo” button, which allows the user to undo the last action. A customer who feels anxious, procrastinates purchasing decisions, sniffs a trick, and feels the need to rethink the purchase. The effect of this is that we lose his trust and the chances of winning a loyal advocate.
4. Stick to standards and maintain internal consistency
Users should not wonder if different words, situations or actions mean the same thing. Follow the standards of your platform.
Let's say you come to a certain cafe day in and day out for a month. Every time you get a cookie for coffee. But the thirty-first you no longer receive it. We quickly get used to higher standards, so the change is perceived negatively. Even though the cake was a gift anyway.
Remember that users spend most of their time interacting with other systems.
When designing a new app, never forget that people spend most of their time interacting with other systems, so using proven schemes and common patterns will ultimately provide a much better experience.
Consistency is one of the strongest contributors to utility growth. For example, in the case of websites - the logo should be placed on the left side at the very top and be linked to the main page, the internal search engine is placed in the upper right corner, and the link to the terms and conditions can almost always be found at the bottom of the page. When it comes to mobile applications, you can see a clear trend of placing the search engine at the top, and the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen as a beam. There is a move away from placing the menu in the form of a hamburger due to the physical limitations of the hands.
Sistema de diseño
A good start to creating a coherent system is system design. It is a collection of components, used repeatedly and in various combinations. It is always used where scale is involved. A simple DS consists of defined colors, fonts (sizes, colors, use cases, etc.), components (buttons, forms, dropdowns) and of course the larger the system, the more elements the DS will have.
Examples are guidelines from Apple Human Interface Guidelines or Google Material Design.
Designing for resources leads to the methodology he described Brad Frost - Atomic Design. Where from small elements (atoms) we create ever larger components up to full screens. I recommend to get acquainted with Brad's concept, they will help anyone who is faced with the challenge of large format.
5. Prevent errors
Users are often distracted in the process of performing a task. Prevent unconscious mistakes by suggesting suggestions, applying constraints, and being flexible. Don Norman in his book “Everyday Design” describes the two most common mistakes that arise as a result of interaction with the interface are slips and mistakes.
• Slippage most often occurs when performing a well-known task but due to low attention, lack of focus or distraction (which is not difficult at today's pace) performs others.
Prevent slippage by guiding the user only through safe areas, use restrictions that do not allow you to set the wrong value (e.g. when you require a number, do not allow typing letters - display only the numeric keypad), suggest the most frequently selected options (e.g. when searching), or use dialog boxes (e.g. when attaching files to messages).
Mistakes are caused by an incorrect mental model of the user regarding the operation of the system. This means that the user understands the meaning of the message and consciously performs actions that lead to a different result than the intended one. Errors of this kind should be revealed already at the stage of usability testing.
The most prominent authors in the field of UX (especially Don Norman) point out that the person responsible for user errors is primarily the designer, who did not ensure the solution of all possible problems.
A clear error message is good, but designing with an eye to counteract the occurrence of an error is better.
This is the first part of the article. Welcome to Part Two.
