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> I want to show this to my <spouse/friend/child>. I've never accepted a graphic design proposal that I didn't run by someone outside of the company to be sure
by thorax 16y ago
> I want to show this to my <spouse/friend/child>.
I've never accepted a graphic design proposal that I didn't run by someone outside of the company to be sure, from a usability standpoint, we weren't taking a step backwards using symbolism, layouts, etc, that someone outside of the project would be confused by. Or where their initial reaction would be "that site reminds me of a spammer/virus/porn site". Such a "spammer" comment killed one design right away because until then I didn't realize it, but they were very much right.
Edit: I wanted to note that this applies to designs my teams make, the design that I make, or designs we get outside designers to make. I'm confident that it helped us make better products by getting external sanity checks on designs before rolling them out.
- ThomPete 16y agoWhy would you feel that someone from the outside would be a better judge?
- i80and 16y agoBecause graphics designers usually are not the target audience. Usability testing outside of a clique isn't always a bad idea.
- ThomPete 16y agoUsability testing on anything that is just design and not done yes is always a bad idea. Designers are trained for designing for other people. So unless you are only hiring shitty designers then I would say usability testing isn't bringing you any value what so ever. You are welcome to prove me wrong, but you will be hard pressed to find any evidence.
- feverishaaron 16y agoDesigners also are typically not around to feel the repercussions of their designs, so they may think they are designing for other people when they are really going off of their own intuition. And let's face it, even those with the best design/marketing/usability/branding etc. intuition are often wrong (eg Steve Jobs/The Cube). I tell my clients that results-oriented design is the way to go. Interfaces are never "done," and it pays to pay a designer to stick around and iterate after real-world testing is completed. Casual focus groups are a great way to start this process, often ensuring that you don't launch with a poor design out of the gate.
- chc 16y agoThe Cube was not a bad design. The problem with the Cube is that its features and price point didn't match up — even by Apple standards. It was priced like a pro computer but severely underpowered. The design was actually the only great thing about it. Personally, I think this lesson was how the conceptually similar but significantly cheaper Mac Mini was born.
- rimantas 16y agoIntuition is internalizes experience.
- jrwoodruff 16y agoNot at all true. I've sat through professional usability tests of things I have designed and have been amazed at the things people trip on that you wouldn't expect. There's great value in usability testing to find the flaws in your design (yes, your design can almost always be improved upon) as well as ammunition to defend the decisions you made against stupid requests from management.
- ThomPete 16y agoYou seem to be assuming that this matters? Of course your design can alway be improved. But the real question is whether those improvements are making you that much more successful. And that I don't believe is the case.
- jrwoodruff 16y agoThis is very interesting actually... I just checked your profile and realized that I have your latest post bookmarked, one that I agree with very much. I still say usability testing has value, but you have to make sure you're using it in the context of the test subjects experience, and as one of many inputs in the design process. Of course, I work in state government, so the process is a bit different than a startup. However, I still think there's a healthy amount of humility that is gained from watching customers use your design.
- ThomPete 16y agoI am not against testing. I am against testing on users in pseudo environments such as mockups, wireframes, designed but death screens and even most types of prototyping. Getting someone from the outsides opinion is nothing more than that. An opinion. But it is often taken as gospel and have way to large effect on the actual development of the product/service. And in my experience whether that is government, large and small organizations and startups. The problem persists. Don't test something that isn't real on end users. But ya my views are a little extreme.
- 16y ago
- feverishaaron 16y agoI encourage clients to show it around. That's free user/focus testing.