4 ms·

Subsets of Design: Logic behind Voodoo

33 points by kingsidharth 15y ago

notatoad 15y ago
Like every other ux article I've read lately, this is all conjecture and no numbers. "do it this way. This is the right way" "why?" "because it is. Just look at it. It makes sense" I'd love to see some articles (or books) on ux design with actual stats, numbers on how long users took to figure out certain UI patters over other patterns, real usability studies, which patterns increased conversions or sales or even user satisfaction, backed up by real stats and not a bloggers conjecture. Anybody know of any resources like this?
- acgourley 15y ago
  You seem to be complaining about a lack of objective measurement from the author in terms of what is a "good" or "bad" design. This confuses me because the point of the article was to talk about differences of 5 different kinds of design discipline. It's more of a dictionary of terms. And it's a helpful one.
  - kingsidharth 15y ago
    I get what you mean. I plan to write more detailed analysis, theory essays and case studies. But needed to write a reference article that just helps you understand subsets of design and their actual meaning. If you know what I mean. Thanks a ton for feedback :)
    - mattslight 15y ago
      Can you do one on using social media and the modern world of engagement? ;) M
      - kingsidharth 15y ago
        Sorry did not get you. You mean design analysis of social media sites?
  - notatoad 15y ago
    It's not specifically a complaint about this article, more just a general complaint about the state of UI blogging. The headline led me to believe that this article would break the mold, but it didn't.
- kingsidharth 15y ago
  37 Siginal's design posts have real case studies: http://37signals.com/svn/design http://37signals.com/svn/design http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2991-behind-the-scenes-ab-testing-part-3-final http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2991-behind-the-scenes-ab-tes... I plan to publish mine soon. THanks for feedback.
- rohitarondekar 15y ago
  Articles by Luke Wroblewski are pretty good in this regard: http://www.lukew.com/ff/ http://www.lukew.com/ff/
- rubinelli 15y ago
  When I think of usability as an exact science, the name that comes to mind is Jakob Nielsen. He's been writing his Alertbox bi-weekly articles since 1995. http://useit.com/ http://useit.com/
- paraschopra 15y ago
  You can read a lot of A/B testing case studies on our website: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/case-studies.php http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/case-studies.php
- paraschopra 15y ago
  You can read a lot of A/B testing case studies on our website: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/case-studies.php http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/case-studies.php
ThomPete 15y ago
(owner of http://finaltouchapp.com http://finaltouchapp.com here) I am all for critique and there are plenty of things to critique on that site. But the support button critique is a pseudo problem up there on the line with the line spacing. There are several ways to contact me and most people still know what an email is. Could it be further from the logo, sure. Is it a real problem, no.
- kingsidharth 15y ago
  1. That's the point of the article: spacing is not just spacing it can break UX to the point that things become unusable. 2. Intention was not to contact anyone. 3. "Is it a real problem, no." Maybe not for you. As a potential user I was confused at your site. That's when I bookmarked it for example. And as a designer I could understand where the problem is. But then everything is an opinion. < Oh well, this too.
  - ThomPete 15y ago
    I know this is going to come off as defending. But I know my numbers so I'll bite. 1. But see thats the problem with your claim. It's not breaking the UX to the point of becoming unusable. I have more people click on those links than on the buy button and my conversion is not bad. (You can read about my first month here http://www.000fff.org/incomereport/ http://www.000fff.org/incomereport/) Even if it was an actual problem you can't make any general rules based on it. "Too close" is contextual. What if the logo was smaller? If the colors where different etc. So it's not really useful. And again my numbers show no problems with it. 2. But given what you are critiquing that's the point. 3. You were confused about what? If you really wanted to critique the UX you should critique the copy, the application on the right, the ugly logo (which kills some conversion) etc.
    - kingsidharth 15y ago
      1. I like people who bite, with numbers. :D So they clicked the Support Updates Twitter link? tl,dr; what section presents number of clicks on those menu items? 2. I don't get it. So my aim was to give some example of how a part of design neglected can cause confusion. Where does contacting you come in between? Are you saying that I should have told you when I was using your site as an example? 3. I thought "Support Updates Twitter" was your tagline. I was like shouldn't it be Supports Twitter Updates? But why will it? And so on. Then tested same on some friends. But after thoughts, my critique was specific to some parts. Should've kept it to there instead of presenting as if the whole site is unusable. If that is what you mean.
bankerrahul 15y ago
very nice!

33 points by kingsidharth 15y ago

Like every other ux article I've read lately, this is all conjecture and no numbers. "do it this way. This is the right way" "why?" "because it is. Just look at it. It makes sense" I'd love to see some articles (or books) on ux design with actual stats, numbers on how long users took to figure out certain UI patters over other patterns, real usability studies, which patterns increased conversions or sales or even user satisfaction, backed up by real stats and not a bloggers conjecture. Anybody know of any resources like this?

acgourley 15y ago
You seem to be complaining about a lack of objective measurement from the author in terms of what is a "good" or "bad" design. This confuses me because the point of the article was to talk about differences of 5 different kinds of design discipline. It's more of a dictionary of terms. And it's a helpful one.
- kingsidharth 15y ago
  I get what you mean. I plan to write more detailed analysis, theory essays and case studies. But needed to write a reference article that just helps you understand subsets of design and their actual meaning. If you know what I mean. Thanks a ton for feedback :)
  - mattslight 15y ago
    Can you do one on using social media and the modern world of engagement? ;) M
    - kingsidharth 15y ago
      Sorry did not get you. You mean design analysis of social media sites?
- notatoad 15y ago
  It's not specifically a complaint about this article, more just a general complaint about the state of UI blogging. The headline led me to believe that this article would break the mold, but it didn't.
kingsidharth 15y ago
37 Siginal's design posts have real case studies: http://37signals.com/svn/design http://37signals.com/svn/design http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2991-behind-the-scenes-ab-testing-part-3-final http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2991-behind-the-scenes-ab-tes... I plan to publish mine soon. THanks for feedback.
rohitarondekar 15y ago
Articles by Luke Wroblewski are pretty good in this regard: http://www.lukew.com/ff/ http://www.lukew.com/ff/
rubinelli 15y ago
When I think of usability as an exact science, the name that comes to mind is Jakob Nielsen. He's been writing his Alertbox bi-weekly articles since 1995. http://useit.com/ http://useit.com/
paraschopra 15y ago
You can read a lot of A/B testing case studies on our website: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/case-studies.php http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/case-studies.php
paraschopra 15y ago
You can read a lot of A/B testing case studies on our website: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/case-studies.php http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/case-studies.php

ThomPete 15y ago

(owner of http://finaltouchapp.com http://finaltouchapp.com here) I am all for critique and there are plenty of things to critique on that site. But the support button critique is a pseudo problem up there on the line with the line spacing. There are several ways to contact me and most people still know what an email is. Could it be further from the logo, sure. Is it a real problem, no.

kingsidharth 15y ago
1. That's the point of the article: spacing is not just spacing it can break UX to the point that things become unusable. 2. Intention was not to contact anyone. 3. "Is it a real problem, no." Maybe not for you. As a potential user I was confused at your site. That's when I bookmarked it for example. And as a designer I could understand where the problem is. But then everything is an opinion. < Oh well, this too.
- ThomPete 15y ago
  I know this is going to come off as defending. But I know my numbers so I'll bite. 1. But see thats the problem with your claim. It's not breaking the UX to the point of becoming unusable. I have more people click on those links than on the buy button and my conversion is not bad. (You can read about my first month here http://www.000fff.org/incomereport/ http://www.000fff.org/incomereport/) Even if it was an actual problem you can't make any general rules based on it. "Too close" is contextual. What if the logo was smaller? If the colors where different etc. So it's not really useful. And again my numbers show no problems with it. 2. But given what you are critiquing that's the point. 3. You were confused about what? If you really wanted to critique the UX you should critique the copy, the application on the right, the ugly logo (which kills some conversion) etc.
  - kingsidharth 15y ago
    1. I like people who bite, with numbers. :D So they clicked the Support Updates Twitter link? tl,dr; what section presents number of clicks on those menu items? 2. I don't get it. So my aim was to give some example of how a part of design neglected can cause confusion. Where does contacting you come in between? Are you saying that I should have told you when I was using your site as an example? 3. I thought "Support Updates Twitter" was your tagline. I was like shouldn't it be Supports Twitter Updates? But why will it? And so on. Then tested same on some friends. But after thoughts, my critique was specific to some parts. Should've kept it to there instead of presenting as if the whole site is unusable. If that is what you mean.

bankerrahul 15y ago

very nice!