On Aesthetics and Usability in Design

January 22nd, 2007 | Category: Kevin's Stuff,Recommendations
written by: Kevin Adams

I hope everyone enjoys this (in my opinion) very useful video podcast. The parent site WebProNews has an entire series of these (mostly dealing with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This one is less than ten minutes long, deals with usability issues, and is definitely worth watching.

WARNING! It might start automatically, and you'll by now have turned down your speakers; if it doesn't, and you have to "push play"... do yourself and everyone in your office a favor by turning down your speakers before firing this one up. The front-end promo is a bit loud.

Some of the things I found most useful for Case Web site maintainers is the concept of "don't do what YOU want, do what's best for the client [or in this example the university]!" Also, when she talks about friends who ask her to evaluate their Web sites, she comes out and says "What difference does it make what I think about their website?" Usability rules: The most important consideration for her is, "can I properly use the web site"?

Another thing I found particularly interesting was regarding her opinion on use of images in a website. The host asks her to comment on particular problem or issues with the use of images on a Web site, and she responds "One major problem would be, too many... the other is not enough". Timely, considering a recent post by Heidi that talked about the importance of using graphics to illustrate a point -- even if using merely a thumbnail. Check out THAT earlier post by the way, if you haven't already.

One key point, and in some ways the most important thing; making something visually compelling doesn't necessarily make it better. Sure, pretty is nice, but does it "convert"?

Stumble This! Save to Delicious Share/BookmarkEmail This Post Email This Post

    Share on Google Buzz

12 Comments »
  1. While a lot of what she says is common sense, it is common sense that is worth a reminder. (And it's only about 8 minutes long.) When it comes to usability we have to take a step back and ask ourselves:
    • What navigational arrangement makes sense to the user?
    • What graphics will add to the users experience and which are superfluous eye candy?
    • Which bells and whistles support my communications goals and which only showcase my skills at making bells and whistles?
    It's sometimes a challenge to keep our egos at bay, but if we consider the needs of our client (our department or organization at Case) as well as the end user and put those foremost in our thoughts, we'll generally produce more successful sites.

    Comment by Heidi Cool — January 22, 2007 @6:07 pm

  2. nice Video, do you guys have it on youtube ? I'd like to repost it if possible. cheers, will check back -Bs

    Comment by Brandon — April 6, 2007 @5:55 pm

  3. so, is it okay if I repost this video ? thanks

    Comment by Brandon — April 21, 2007 @10:49 pm

  4. Brandon, Kevin found this video at http://videos.webpronews.com/2007/01/09/on-aesthetics-and-usability-in-design/. If you visit that page they include instructions for including the video on your own page. They also offer their content in downloadable formats such as .mp4 and .mp3.

    Comment by Heidi Cool — April 23, 2007 @12:25 pm

  5. Very good comment about doing what is best for the client rather than best for the designer. I've added a link to this conversation (under Usability) in my wiki for Professional Web Developers - http://www.ryanj.org/wiki --ryanj

    Comment by Ryan Johnston — April 23, 2007 @3:39 pm

  6. Excellent video Ryan. Thanks for sharing that. I completely agree with Kim in that most webmasters spend their time and money making a site that "they" like, rather than doing what the visitor likes. I've found surveying our clients is a great way to better understand our target market. Doing that has increased our conversions to our call to action considerably.

    Comment by Brad — April 28, 2007 @6:28 pm

  7. To my opinion usability is a tricky word. The reason for that is that it is too general. I agree with Kim on being able "to use a web site properly", but does it always work? For example, MySpace design is awful, yet the project is extremely popular... I would also be very interesting to know what she, or maybe you, guys, think about Jacob Nielsen. He is another "usability guy", but if look on his website at http://www.useit.com, I doubt you'll approve it as capable of being used properly.

    Comment by Helen Walker — June 19, 2007 @8:38 am

  8. Helen, I agree that "usability" is tricky. It's such a broad topic, that it is hard to determine what one means. I suspect most people think mostly of navigational issues—how easily can users traverse the site—but it could also refer to content, colors, fonts, javascript, Flash, etc., not to mention specific accessibility issues. MySpace is successful despite its clunkiness. Perhaps users don't expect a lot. So many Web sites are poorly designed that users are used to having to work at getting around. If they value the content, they'll put up with some inconvenience. That said I think it behooves us all as designers to try to make sites that are easier to navigate, read, and use—whatever that may mean. For me that means menus that allow users to get around the site from any page, an uncluttered look, fewer but logical menu items—so users aren't confused with too many choices, meaningful word choices, and much more than I can address in one comment. I also agree with you re: http://www.useit.com. I've read some interesting articles there, but it is hard to navigate. While he strives for simplicity, the sheer number of items on the main page make it hard to decide where to go. There's also no introductory content to explain where one is and what the site is all about. It doesn't take much in the way of copy to do that—you accomplish that with your title and subhead—but it is important information to include. I'll try to delve into this more in a future blog post.

    Comment by Heidi Cool — June 20, 2007 @1:23 pm

  9. I agree... Following good usability “best practices” can go a long way towards improving conversion rates on your website. However, as actively involved as I am in usability testing and the usability community, I often find myself at odds with many of the usability “Gurus” recommendations. Particularly when these recommendations are aimed at encouraging ecommerce merchants to follow usability best practices simply for usability’s sake. When selling online the objective is not just maximizing usability, the objective is maximizing sales and profits. Eric

    Comment by Eric Graham — June 24, 2007 @11:30 pm

  10. I agree with what she is saying about using validated code and also that a site should be designed from the users point of view, after a website should not be a personal toy for the owner. About keeping the code validated; consider if you are using the Firefox browser and you change the view to "no style and you have a bit the start of a paragraph tag that you have not closed like this

    Teh bit of text wll not then be shown in the style less view as it will be seen as being part of the code in the

    tag so the text will not be shown to the viewer. Stupid and simple mistakes like this can kill a page off both to a search engine and to the person reading it on text only view.. She obviously knows her stuff but so should any one who is writing code for a website. I do try to validate all code on all the sites I make and I would say it is very good practice to validate and not to do it just as a badge to show off that you have taken time to write your website code. The client needing the site made is not always right( in fact they are usually dumb to what is really needed on a website)

    Comment by Web Design UK - Barry Mitchell — November 12, 2007 @10:06 am

  11. Thanks for sharing - great video! I would also like to add that I agree with the statement left by Eric "When selling online the objective is not just maximizing usability, the objective is maximizing sales and profits."

    Comment by Dollar Demon - Make money online — November 18, 2007 @4:59 am

  12. This is very useful, I based some of the techniques discussed here on a site I did for a client recently.

    Comment by Mp4 Rob — November 27, 2007 @4:49 pm

Leave a comment

RSS feed for comments on this post. | TrackBack URL