Let it be known that I’m a strong proponent of usability. I have run a good number of user-tests and card-sorts. I’ve watched countless videos and screen captures of user-sessions. I’ve read Jakob Nielson’s book (and am eagerly awaiting his latest Eye-Tracking book which keeps getting delayed *sigh*), as well as Steve Krug’s inspiring book, Don’t Make Me Think. I’ve preached the virtues of usability to all those that would listen, and I’ve bored my friends with endless ramblings of the heuristic analyses I performed on lack-lustre sites. Thus, it pains me to say that I missed the point. I missed the mark. I screwed up. I had it all wrong. In the end, usability is not always the be-all and end-all of web design. In fact, I’m actually convinced it’s not always as important as many UX designers say (I know, blasphemy!).

So, I’ll cut to the chase. Usability? Often, it’s useless. Read more…

User-Experience Information, Scent, Usability

I’d be lying if I said my life ran like clockwork, and I had every single one of my ducks in a row. The truth is, many aspects of my life resembles herding cats – no matter how hard I try to get them all organized a few of them squirt beyond my grasp and I end up neglecting them for far too long.

I started this blog a few weeks ago with the sole goal of fleshing out my thoughts on web and marketing subjects in a public forum for feedback and discussion. I used to, and continue to, use it to advance my thinking, and perhaps naively, with the hope of getting people to advance with me. I intended this space to be a wide open mental space, free from personal drama, or emotional blah blah. So, I find myself in an odd position today as I make a dramatic exception. Today, I take a break. I’ll put the projects aside, the studies away, and my chores on hold – at least for a bit, while I take care of some truly important business: Saying Thank You.

Read more…

Personal Thanks

The theory goes, the more in-tune with the potential customer’s frame of mind a product offering is, the higher the probability that the offering will result in a sale. It just makes common-sense; Give a thirsty man water; Give a hungry woman a snack.

Large strides have been already made in terms of personalization through customized content. Visit Amazon.com for example (my site is on page 24 of that book by the way). If you’ve been there before and sign in, Amazon welcomes you by name, and suggests items that it thinks you’d be interested in. In the case of a hotel, go to a hotel enough times and they’ll remember little details like the fact you enjoy an extra pillow, or what your favorite daily is and provide both of them for you before you enter your room. However, let’s look at this in a different way.

Are the potential gains of creating a positive, customized user-experience worth the risk of getting it wrong from time to time? Read more…

Critical eye, Marketing, User-Experience Customization, Privacy, UX