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