Why does everything have to be so difficult?

– Robert Kruger 9 July 2010

I bought a Toyota Prius last year. It’s a well-designed car overall, except for one part. To put the car in gear you use a small shifter on the center console. To make the car go forward you pull the shifter backward. To move backward, push the shifter forward. The first few times I drove the car, I moved the shifter in the wrong direction.

Our office is on the fifth floor of an office building. We have three elevators. In one of these elevators, the “5” button is in the right column of buttons. On the other two elevators, the “5” button is in the left column of buttons. Of course this inconsistency is present for all tenants in our building. Every time anyone gets on an elevator, they have to search for their floor in the panel of buttons.

For us Mac users, Windows has a glaring flaw we like to pick on: to stop a PC, you click the “Start” button.

All of these examples have a flawed user interface (UI).

The primary difference between print design and web design is UI. Print designers have well-established UIs. The book UI - a cover wrapped around pages with content that flows from one page to the next - has been largely unchanged for millennia. Many print design projects use the book UI. Even projects that aren’t books are likely to follow other well-established UIs like gate fold, tri-fold, or poster. Very few print projects require the invention of a new UI. The biggest difference between print design and web design is that web design always requires layout design and UI design.

Awkward website UI can be caused by inconsistency.

• When a site visitor moves from one web page to another, the UI changes.
• One nav link has a page assigned to it while another nav link only has sub-pages.
• Some nav links move the site visitor to different content in the same window while other nav links open new windows.

Difficulty using a website can also be caused by unconventional UI techniques.

• The nav system is in an unusual location in the layout.
• The nav system isn’t easily recognized as nav.
• Content is displayed differently each time the page loads (through randomization or frequent design changes), which makes it difficult to return to specific content
• Invented words and jargon force site visitors to learn your terminology before they can comprehend you message.

When a site visitor first lands on a new website, they must learn the UI. The harder it is to learn the UI, the more likely it is that the site visitor will become frustrated and bounce away.

The term UI is most commonly applied to computer interaction, but the UI concept is part of everything we do. Imagine the frustration we would feel if every door had a unique mechanism for opening it. There are minimal variables with doorknobs - knob vs. handle (but both turn) and left vs. right (but both swing on hinges). There is even a standard height for doorknobs.

Standardization does not mean that design has to be compromised. An architect can create a memorable environment even if the doorknobs follow customary standards. Web design can still be creative even if the UI is familiar.

Part of our Dialogs Professional Services offering includes design consulting. We have seen a lot of UI design. We can help you create an intuitive UI. Take advantage of our experience on your next web design project.