I recently gave a presentation at the South Florida User Experience Meetup on the top 10 design and layout principles you should know when designing your website. Below is a summary as well as the presentation with some screen shot examples for those who could not attend. (more…)

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First impressions are worth a lot on the web when competition is only a click away. So what first impression are you giving people when they come to your website? Does your site seem confusing, overwhelming, without focus? One of the most common mistakes people make when creating their homepages is forgetting about their users and first impressions. Many homepages are bogged down with useless text, a mess of links and images and no clear statement of what they do, or what their users can do on their site. It’s important that you’re clear and obvious on what you have to offer and the value you can provide.

The Test

Take the 5 second test to find out how you’re doing:

Take a screen shot of your website and print it in black and white. Show it to family and friends who may not be familiar with the site, but only let them look at it for 5 seconds. Can they tell you the company the website was for? What does the company do? What would they do next on the site? If they can’t figure this out, without your prompting, then your homepage could use some work. Keep in mind, people will give your site a lot less than 5 seconds time on the web.

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Do you ever obsess about the little details in your website, and then tell yourself “it’s not that big of a deal”. Well it just may be a big deal. Everything on your website has the potential to make a big impact and the text on your website plays a major role in this.

It’s important that what your users read and pay attention to align with your goals for the website. For example, let’s say your goal is to get people to sign up for your newsletter. How do you tell them to sign up? Are you explaining the product/service to your users including the benefit of signing up? Is it clear where to go to sign up and what information they might need? (more…)

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What does it really take to create something great? A product that inspires, delights, amuses and still and serves a purpose. It’s a tough question, and one that elicits many different responses. However some patterns continue to persist over and over again. Below I have listed 9 principles I believe are vital ingredients in the creation of a great product.

1. Innovation and invention. Contrary to the definition, most inventions are actually based on the inspiration of someone else’s design, or lack there of. It is important to remember to observe and brainstorm with out boundaries. Encourage your team to come up with impossible ideas, original ideas, goofy and wacky ideas. Sure, most will be ridiculous, but one, or two combined may make something no one would have ever considered before. Think about this, Thomas Edison didn’t actually “invent” the light bulb as much as he successfully modified an idea from 50 years earlier and found a way to make it practical.
2. Design for the future. When you limit your designs to fit within current technological constraints, then you’re doing just that. Limiting your designs. Think out side the box. What if it could do this? What if that existed? Let technology come to you and never take for granted what your developers can come up with. If you have an idea, odds are they can come up with some way to make it happen. Though most won’t admit it, developers can be amazingly creative with technology.
3. Fail. Fail and be proud of it. You just discovered a solution that doesn’t work, and that is a success. Learn from your mistakes and failure will lead you to a solution. Celebrate it. A culture that isn’t given the opportunity to fail successfully isn’t given the opportunity to succeed. (more…)

One of the core principles of good design is clarity. Interactions on the web shouldn’t make your users guess. As Steve Krug’s first law of usability states “Don’t Make Me Think!”. Anytime a “guess” is brought into the equation you are adding unnecessary thought bubbles above the users head. The more challenging a website is for a user to use, the less likely they will use it. 

This is such a core principle, that I am always completely and utterly amazed when I come across interactions like the one I outline below. 

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Simplicity vs. Features

Many of us have come across the KISS principle at some point in our lives. The KISS principle is basically an acronym for “Keep It Simple Stupid”. This principle goes hand and hand with Occam’s razor which is often summarized as “All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best”.

These ideas can be brought into usability and design in multiple facets, but are primarily valuable in the area of feature creep. Added features can become added complexities to a design. It is important to keep a solid focus on the end goal for what you are designing, to make sure that the bells and whistles or added features, don’t get in the way of the primary task.

Occam’s razor reminds us to introduce the least number of assumptions possible. It is important not to assume you know what the user wants and not to assume that they want every cool feature you can build. Instead choose a design that uses the fewest assumptions and take advantage of user research and usability testing when deciding on additional features to add if any.

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