30 September 2009
User Experience – The Kettle.
How many kettles have you owned over the years? is it more than one? has it always been the same one?
It’s a pretty straight forward device, you fill it up with water, it heats up and then you tip the contents out into a container.
Why then are there so many varieties of Kettles? Why are there constantly new ranges or approaches to the Kettle that come out each year?
The answer lies in the fact that end users are like Kettle owners, each has a unique preference and taste towards something we often take for granted each day.
Each time a kettle is designed, it’s done so typically with an idea of who the end user is and how it could blend in with the rest of the owners kitchen style.
Software is no different to the kettle in many ways, its job is to blend in with the end users desktop, compliment their confidence level and ensure it upholds the core functionality required in order to carry out the task.
I all too often see folks go off the deep end with the User Experience in their RIA solution, and I often ask if they’ve stopped boiling water and are doing everything but that simple task.
Keep it simple; keep it fashionable and always think about User-Centric Design first, engineering second. You’ll find life gets easier that way.
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Scott Barnes currently is a Rich Platform Product Manager (WPF & Silverlight). He has been working with Adobe/Macromedia technology for the past 10 years with a main focus specifically on Internet Applications (aka. RIA, Rich Client Technology etc).
Scott first started out as a graphic designer in the late 90’s and over the years developed a passion for programmatic art (Designer + Developer mind). He recently has branched out further into 3D modelling and animation making full use of both his designer + developer mindset.
"..The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man..." - George Bernard Shaw
