The Hawker Squawker

Here is an excellent article about how to design something. It could be anything from a computer program to a toaster oven to the cockpit of an airplane. The design principles discussed in the article are applicable across the board. Here are a few excerpts I thought were worth quoting:

The myth of discoverability, in concise form: The belief that all good user interfaces make all things in the website or product utterly and extremely discoverable, and any design that makes an element (button, link, etc.) less than extremely discoverable, can’t possibly be very good, and should be thrown away, to the embarrassment of the designer.Many mediocre designs are the result of the avoidance of tough decisions on the part of the designer, rather than an inability to design well.

Given that it’s impossible to click on something you can’t locate, discoverability is certainly important. … However, discoverability does not guarantee success. It’s entirely possible for a user to discover the correct item, but not know how to use it, or make it work.

You have to prioritize.

[View it from] the perspective of how most typical humans will consume what is being built.

Carefully choosing how and when to make commands or items discoverable could be described as designing for progressive discoverability. That you give users information on a need to know and useful to know basis, and disclose more depth as users progress deeper into your design, and can make use of those commands.

Simply making something discoverable, doesn’t guarantee it will be discovered. … you just can’t circumvent the limits of the species.

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