Users to Blame for Bad Experience?
28 May 2007 – Bad design has been a lifelong pet peeve of mine, and I’m usually quick to blame industrial designers, software programmers, and marketing mavens for making life unnecessarily irksome for consumers. But, just as TV viewers’ tastes encourage network execs to greenlight stupid shows, it may be that consumers, by demanding products with ever more features, are ensuring that those products will be difficult – often impossible – to use.
James Surowieki, in the 28 May 2007 New Yorker, says that companies are struggling with the conflicting demands of consumers, who, as shoppers, prefer feature-heavy, complicated products, and then, as users, require simplicity.
“It seems odd that we don’t anticipate feature fatigue and thus avoid it. But, as numerous studies have shown, people are not, in general, good at predicting what will make them happy in the future. As a result, we will pay more for more features because we systematically overestimate how often we’ll use them.”
Seamlessly integrating power with ease of use requires the kind of savvy that is all too rare; only a few names, like Apple, come to mind. Surowieki believes there’s a good chance that Apple’s highly anticipated iPhone will be another grand slam, packing tons of tech into a sleek product with a zen-like interface. But he wouldn’t be surprised if, this time, Apple drops the ball.
“The strange truth about feature creep is that even when you give consumers what they want they can still end up hating you for it.”
I saw a you tube video for the iPhone, and if the comments are any indication of the phone’s success — consumers will hate the phone. But people have a passion to criticize - even the good things. But maybe the phone is trying to be too much.
SusieJ said this on June 4th, 2007 at 8:36 am
Yeah, my first reaction was, ‘great, another thing for people to do when they should be driving!’
I still assume that Apple will deliver an awesome interface that ties together the best technology out there: iPod, cellphone, PDA, email, mapping… etc.
But first and foremost I want a great phone, with clear sound, no dropped calls, and an all-day battery. And until they solve that battery problem, all those other features are just draining power…
MJ said this on June 6th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
I’m sure there are more 8 things you know — so you’ve been tagged for a meme. Participation is optional — but google likes links.
SusieJ said this on June 12th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
A wise designer will make a product that will, with ease, do what most want it to do, while offering the potential to do a lot more. Having just finished a course on Word 2003, I would say it fits that bill. If you just want to write a document and print it out, you can do it, but that same software allows businesses to do essentially anything they need to, albeit with a lot more difficulty!
My digital camera, on the other hand, forces me to get involved in an awful lot of crap to to take and use decent photos.
Ruben Fowler said this on June 30th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Microsoft Word is quite often used as an example of “feature creep.” In order to keep selling upgrades the company keeps adding more arcane (and seldom-used) features. Menus get longer, with sub- and sub-sub menus hiding things you’ll never use. The real test of good software, in my opinion, is whether it can be learned and used without, taking a course. Really complicated processes should be explained by a good online help feature, or step-by-step wizard. Adobe has gotten pretty good at this lately in their design and photo editing software.
Your camera is a great example. Digital cameras are generally a pain in the ass to use, because in photography timing is everything. How can you capture the “decisive moment” when you’re burrowing through menus or holding down two buttons while turning a wheel to achieve manual focus?
In The Inmates are Running the Asylum Alan Cooper asks, “what do you get when you cross a camera with a computer?” Answer: “A computer.”
MJ said this on July 1st, 2007 at 11:53 pm