If the User Ain't happy, Ain't Nobody Happy!

Well folks, I think that the title of this post just about sums it up. User experience is everything- to the user and to the company. 

In the book, The Elements of User Experience, User-Centered Design for the Web and Beyond, Jesse James Garrett discusses the idea behind user experience- the experience that user gets from utilizing a certain product. 

Design
There are three types of approaches to design:

• Aesthetic design
• Functional design
• User Experience design

Most companies definitely focus on the first two types of design. Hey, if it's pretty- people will buy it. Hey,- if it works- people will buy it. However, often user experience design gets forgotten, and this is the most important consideration. If the user has a good experience with a product, they will keep coming back. If a product is pretty but doesn't meet a users needs, then they probably will not come back. Also, if a product doesn't work correctly, then they also probably won't come back again. However, if a product meets these needs, but also does so in the most efficient way possible, then the company has gained a customer. So in this way, user experience builds customer loyalty, which every company wants. Seems simple right? User experience is so much more though. Consider the following pictures. Which would you be most likely to use? And why?

Source

Source

I would personally use the bottom one. I mean- it's got words and step-by-step pictures. The top one? I have no idea what is going on.

Source

Source

So, once again, I think that when choosing between products most people would buy the Keurig. Who doesn't need coffee? If anyone figures out what that watermelon stroller actually does- please let me know. 

User Experience

So what makes up the user experience on the Web? 

• Functionality
• Aesthetic appeal
• Usability in context
• Efficiency 
• Navigability
• Intuitive design
• Working links
• Ability to accomplish a task

Those were just a few things that popped into my mind. 

Planes

When designers think about these things they must consider different usability planes. I've laid them out with a brief description below.

• Surface plane- simply the things you see such as illustrations and linked images
• Skeleton plane- design of the site such as where buttons are placed, logos are positioned; the most efficient and effective organizational layout
• Structure plane- more abstract idea of the skeleton plane; what is available, how users got to the site, how users leave the site, options that the user has
• Scope plane- the availability of certain features on a site such as saving previous shipping information, storing items in a shopping cart, etc
• Strategy Plane- Encompasses the site's sponsor's goals along with the goals of those that visit the website

All in all, a lot goes into designing a website. One of the interesting things Garrett said was that when a user can't a site correctly- they feel stupid. Not that they blame the site, but they blame themselves. And, as he points out, this is very effective at keeping users from coming back. So question: Does anyone else's grandparents have difficulty using the Internet? If so, why do you think this is true? I'm going somewhere with this. My thought is, in order to most effectively test the usability of a site- why not use the elderly crowd? If it's intuitive enough for them to navigate successfully, then I'd say you've got a pretty good setup.