A client recently voiced the opinion that a software solution was not intuitive and therefore needed more on-screen help text. Now of course "the client is always right," so more help text they shall have! But something about the exchange stuck in my brain.
First, I would argue that if something is not intuitive - that is, it's not obvious at first glance what you're supposed to do - the problem does not lie in the help text, it lies in the design.
If users stare uncomprehending at the screen, there are some foundational issues we need to revisit. And while more help text might make it better and more usable, I would argue that more help text can NEVER make it "more intuitive" - but definition. Right?
Second, I have to ask if intuitive is the appropriate yardstick for successful business solutions.
We live in a iPad world, I suppose, and everything is judge against Apple's ability to ship products with a single, tiny 2"x2" card that tells you how to "get started." The pinnacle of intuitivity (yeah, that's not a word). Or is it?... Are iPads intuitive or are users who just shelled out several hundred smackers just really curious and clever? Left to our own devices by Apple's cleverness, apathy, or hubris - do we just figure it out?
Having just gotten my own iPad out of it's shipping box this week, I'm thinking the latter.
I wanted to figure it out. And there was trial and error -- let's be frank, there is still a lot of trial and error -- but I kept trying until I got the result I wanted, because I wanted the result I got! (stitch that on a pillow, I dare you.)
In a business context, when folks bemoan, "It's not intuitive" -- I think the subtext might be: "I didn't get it on the first bounce, and I didn't care to work it out. It's new. It's hard. My to-do list is long. I'm done."
So I'm not saying "intuitive" isn't a great goal -- but truly elegant design notwithstanding, I think there's more to successful intuitive products than the design work. I think desire is the ingredient that takes it over the edge. When we want to master something new, we do. Then we forget the "labor pains" and relish in the joy of our new "intuitive" skills.
First, I would argue that if something is not intuitive - that is, it's not obvious at first glance what you're supposed to do - the problem does not lie in the help text, it lies in the design.
If users stare uncomprehending at the screen, there are some foundational issues we need to revisit. And while more help text might make it better and more usable, I would argue that more help text can NEVER make it "more intuitive" - but definition. Right?
Second, I have to ask if intuitive is the appropriate yardstick for successful business solutions.
We live in a iPad world, I suppose, and everything is judge against Apple's ability to ship products with a single, tiny 2"x2" card that tells you how to "get started." The pinnacle of intuitivity (yeah, that's not a word). Or is it?... Are iPads intuitive or are users who just shelled out several hundred smackers just really curious and clever? Left to our own devices by Apple's cleverness, apathy, or hubris - do we just figure it out?
Having just gotten my own iPad out of it's shipping box this week, I'm thinking the latter.
I wanted to figure it out. And there was trial and error -- let's be frank, there is still a lot of trial and error -- but I kept trying until I got the result I wanted, because I wanted the result I got! (stitch that on a pillow, I dare you.)
In a business context, when folks bemoan, "It's not intuitive" -- I think the subtext might be: "I didn't get it on the first bounce, and I didn't care to work it out. It's new. It's hard. My to-do list is long. I'm done."
So I'm not saying "intuitive" isn't a great goal -- but truly elegant design notwithstanding, I think there's more to successful intuitive products than the design work. I think desire is the ingredient that takes it over the edge. When we want to master something new, we do. Then we forget the "labor pains" and relish in the joy of our new "intuitive" skills.
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