People enjoy their freedom-especially when it comes to making decisions. There are no flashing banners, sponsored posts, or giant calls to action to persuade users to take a particular path. Craigslist’s user interface is a quintessential example of a credible user experience.
Rather, it bleeds functionality, oozing its pure purpose with little cosmetic distraction. It makes little effort to be anything other than what it is. In that regard, Craigslist’s UX strategy is a success. In a transaction-based market such as that of Craigslist, it is very important to design a user experience that minimizes any potential for triggering the user’s doubting Craigslist’s authenticity.Įstablishing relatable qualities for your target audience is one of the biggest relationship-building hacks for a service. The importance of minimizing such knee-jerk reactions to perfection depends on what you are trying to accomplish with a given product. It just isn’t natural to be flawless-and we tend to shy away from the unnatural. This is the reason we tend to like people who present themselves in a real, authentic way and dislike those who appear to be masking their true self with a facade of perfection. There are many theories on how we actually make such evaluations, but popular belief is that these primal skills let us instantly assess our ability to relate to someone or something. When we face a situation that requires our trust-one about which we may feel some uncertainty-we often rely on our gut feelings-primal responses that help us to evaluate the unknown. When someone or something presents itself as perfectly put together, that triggers feelings that force us to question that entity’s authenticity and believability.
So, naturally, when relating to our environment-whether the people or the user interfaces with which we interact-we feel more at home with imperfection. We all have flaws, quirks, and idiosyncrasies. When user experiences ask for trust-particularly experiences that facilitate financial transactions-a lot of folks are naturally hesitant about engaging with overly polished, perfectly crafted experiences for one simple reason: they can lack relatable qualities. I’ll be leading you on a journey that will take us off the beaten path-one on which the only constant is change. Join me, as I explore such topics as why ugly products sometimes succeed, how some companies can dictate rather than accommodate usability patterns, and the hidden value of a user experience with a tinge of dishonesty.
Worst ux apps of 2017 series#
With this premise in mind, my goal for this column is to write a series of articles that challenge traditional experience-design principles in a way that explores next-generation-and forgotten, last-generation-experience-design strategies. However, a challenge for UX designers is this: mental models represent collections of knowledge-and knowledge is never static. A design should accommodate the well-defined mental model of those engaging with an experience. But he’s wrong.ĭesign should always accomplish one key thing: demonstrate a thorough understanding of the people who will engage with a solution. Massimo is a very well-known, well-respected Italian designer who has impressed the world by successfully innovating products in a variety of disparate product spaces.
“If you do it right, it will last forever.”-Massimo Vignelli I’m going to open my new column Evolution of XD Principles with a quotation that actually contradicts my position:
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