João Rufino's Blog

When I wrote my first post about this back in February I mentioned that I would get back to this and here I am.

Back in 1994 Rubin* identified many many reasons why so many products and systems are difficult and frustrating to use. According to his handbook:

• A broader user base with greater discrepancy between user and designer in terms of skills & expectations
• System components related to usability are developed independently by specialized teams
• Product development emphasis on machine or system, not on the person who is the ultimate end user
• Design of usable systems is a difficult endeavor, yet many organizations treat it as if it were just common sense.

Although these conclusions were applied to the ‘offline’ business they also can be extrapolated to the online one. When developing a product or a system that it is intended to be used by a Human we should focus on:

• Focus on User/client – He has an ideia of what he want and what he needs. You and your product should focus on the best match between what you have and what they need to fulfil their dreams

• “Latency – Every millisecond counts”. Yes! That is what the Internet is all about. People do not have time to wait “X” minutes to load a magnificent presentation that ou have prepared when they reach your site wait even more to load our Internet product. Regarding the presentation, have it if you must, but not present it right away. Let people investigate your site and search for it. If you have a product that takes ages to load… My word of advise is.. re-think it!

• Keep it Simple. Users/clients want a simple product. A huge percentage of the Internet users are not savvy and you can’t expect everyone to have the same knowledge. A good FAQ is not enough. People need to fall in love with your product after a few seconds of using it.

• Think globally. That is the beauty about Internet. You can plan at home and develop for the world. Try to address everyone or, if you decide to start targeting a small set of users/clients don’t forget that it can/should scale to a larger audience.

• Creativity. I always point this as one of the most important areas you should focus on. You should build basing yourself on the future needs of your audience. You should never forget what people demand today.

• Appealing: As I mentioned before you want your potential user to fall in Love with what you have to offer.

I’m sorry for the time I was “away”. Things are finally falling into place

Posted by João Rufino under Business & Internet & Marketing | 3 Comments »