Exploring the Concept of User-Friendly Design
In the digital age, usability has become a crucial factor in the success of any product. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines usability as the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction in a specific context of use [2][4][5].
Effectiveness refers to how well users can accomplish their goals using the product. It involves the accuracy and completeness with which users can achieve their objectives. Efficiency, on the other hand, measures how quickly users can achieve their goals. It involves the resources (such as time) expended by the user to reach their objectives. User satisfaction, meanwhile, refers to the degree to which users feel pleased with the product, including their comfort and attitudes towards using it.
Whitney Quesenbery, a renowned UX and usability expert, emphasizes the importance of understanding the user's experience and context. While specific details about her definition of a usable product are not provided, her work generally focuses on practical usability testing and user-centered design principles. Key elements she might emphasize include user-centered design, usability testing, and accessibility.
In addition to these core elements, Whitney Quesenbery offers five criteria for a product to be usable: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Engagingness, Error Tolerance, and Ease of Learning [6]. Error tolerance is crucial in digital products to minimize errors and ensure easy recovery from them. Techniques for promoting error tolerance include restricting opportunities for errors, offering the opportunity to "redo", and assuming unpredictable user actions.
Engagement refers to the level of enjoyment a user experiences while interacting with a product. A 2015 study showed that poor design or navigation was a significant reason (37%) why users leave a website [7]. Usability, therefore, involves more than just ease of use; it also deals with user satisfaction, engagement, and aesthetics.
The takeaway is that designs should be efficient, effective, engaging, easy to learn, and error-tolerant to succeed. For instance, Dropbox has an undo function to recover from accidentally deleted items, demonstrating a commitment to error tolerance [1].
Moreover, usability is about making functions easy and pleasant to use, while utility is about providing functions that users need. The success of Wikipedia, for example, is not dependent on aesthetics, with the focus being on the ability to find information and the structure of information presentation for efficient reading [8].
In conclusion, a user-centered design process, which examines how and why a user will adopt a product and seeks to evaluate that use, is essential for achieving usability [9]. By prioritizing usability when there is no conflict with economic viability, products can be designed to meet the needs and expectations of their users, leading to increased user satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty.
References: [1] Dropbox (n.d.). Undo. Retrieved from https://www.dropbox.com/undo [2] ISO (n.d.). ISO 9241-11: Ergonomics of human-system interaction - Part 11: Guidance on usability. Retrieved from https://www.iso.org/standard/40644.html [3] Nielsen, J. (2010). Usability 101. Retrieved from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-101/ [4] Usability.gov. (n.d.). What is usability? Retrieved from https://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/what-usability.html [5] Usability First. (n.d.). What is usability? Retrieved from https://www.usabilityfirst.com/what-is-usability/ [6] Quesenbery, W., & Sonne, A. (2015). A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences. New Riders. [7] Statista. (2015). Most common reasons for leaving a website. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/260100/most-common-reasons-for-leaving-a-website/ [8] Wikipedia (n.d.). About Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About [9] Nielsen, J. (2010). The User-Centered Design Process. Retrieved from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/user-centered-design-process/
A user-centered design process, prioritizing understanding the user's experience and context, is crucial in ensuring a product's usability. Whitney Quesenbery, a UX and usability expert, advocates for this approach, emphasizing user-centered design, usability testing, and accessibility, among other key elements. Additionally, a usable product should not only be efficient and effective but also engaging, easy to learn, and error-tolerant, incorporating principles of UI design, graphic design, and technology for an optimal user experience.
