Design in the Real World
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Lightning Talk for ESRI User Conference 2016.
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Design in the Real World
- 1. Design in the Real World Erich Rainville User Experience Architect
- 2. Hand Lettering artwork by Sean McCabe | seanwes.com
- 13. “Design makes the simple things in life better.” - Aaron Draplin
- 14. “Design makes the simple things in life better.” - Aaron Draplin
- 15. Thank You! Erich Rainville User Experience Architect erainville@esri.com • @TheBlueDog
Editor's Notes
- Some time ago, I started “collecting” and studying user experiences to answer different questions. Trying to look beyond the industry or market space I was working in for inspiration. I want to quickly share just a couple of these with you. Can a bad UI be a good UX? I asked myself this question last year, just as a challenge to see if this exists. I put the question to my social network of designers and got some interesting responses back. One of the more intriguing responses led me to research the Bloomberg Terminal.
- If you’re not familiar, Bloomberg Terminal is a proprietary hardware/software platform made to provide financial professionals real-time data and new analytics. The proprietary keyboard comes with built-in biometric authentication and annual subscriptions costs start at $24,000/year for a single terminal. Aside from the old-school, outdated interface, it suffered from some basic UI design flaws such as blue, yellow, and orange text on black and blue backgrounds. Layout of information is overly complex and cluttered.
- In 2007, Condé Nast sent out a request to three design firms with the challenge to reimagine the Bloomberg Terminal. The design firm IDEO did a 3-week study of the terminal users. They set out to achieve a few goals. First was to avoid anything overly fancy or being “dumbed down.” Second was to minimize complexity. Third was to incorporate some sort of “badge of honor” elements inspired by expert users of the previous system.
- What they came up with was an interface that presented information in a logical progression. News and data flowed left to right in order of increasing specificity. As users drilled into areas on the left, more detailed information would appear in the panels on the right. They added some gaming aspects in response to user who prided themselves on being able to navigate the complex system, which would even track and display their levels to other users world-wide. The dual screens acted as one continuous monitor and an color palette designed to prevent eye fatigue was incorporated. So, what happened?
- After presenting their design, IDEO discovered the Terminal users were extremely attached to the poor usability of the existing user interface. Even simplifying the overly complex interface was not acceptable. Changing the whole experience was in a sense taking away the sense of pride these users felt in being able to master the complex system. Essentially, for these users, the more painful the UI is, the greater satisfaction they felt. So, what happened?
- This is the Bloomberg Terminal of today. As you can see, they’ve taken to adopting more modern flat panel monitor technology, thus giving them MORE screen area to add even MORE information to the interface. Lesson to be learned here? Well, sometimes despite doing your research and creating a great UI, the users experience is not always what you envision.
- Back in the early 1980s, General Motors had a problem on its hands. Import manufacturers like Honda and Toyota were dominating the small car market. GM tried to compete by simply rebadging Isuzu and Suzuki models as their own. Then GM president Roger Smith decided that if they were to truly compete, they needed a whole new car, designed on a clear sheet of paper from the ground up.
- In 1982, Project Saturn was born. Early in the planning process, it became clear that the only way to design a truly “clean sheet” automobile was to rethink EVERYTHING in the design, planning, manufacturing, sales and service process. Saturn was officially established as a stand-alone brand in January of 1985.
- On July 30, 1990, eight years after the project started, the first Saturn car to roll off the assembly line was completed. It was built in a new type of assembly plant, new method of casting engines, new management structure, and even a whole new contract with the auto union.
- Customer service was a big part of the experience redesign. When you visited a showroom, no longer would you be pounced on by sales people. There was no negotiation on the price. What you paid for the car is the same as anyone else, anywhere in the country would pay for the car. The car came with a 30-day/1,500 mile no questions asked money-back guarantee. The experience design even extended to the architectural and interior designs of the showrooms. Every dealership had to be built within a certain spec, so that when customers visited another dealership, it felt familiar and welcoming.
- Such outside-the-box thinking fostered rabid customer loyalty. Proof came in the form of the initial 1994 Spring Hill “Homecoming” for Saturn owners, which reportedly drew more than 45,000 attendees.
- Part of being a designer, whether its a user experience or user interface designer, is to be observant of the world around you and look at things as designed ‘experiences.’ Doing this, I’ve found that I often learn things from outside the software product world that influences my daily work. I want to quickly share just a couple of these with you.