It’s the little things…
User Experience matters, down to the minutest detail
One of my favourite places to eat is Chakra by Jaipur, an award-winning Indian restaurant located near where I live. Everything about this restaurant is fabulous, the food, service, ambiance — all top notch. I usually order a vegetarian starter, Aloo Mater Ki Tikki (crispy fried potato cakes with cumin scented peas, sweet & sour yoghurt & mint pesto). The presentation is magnificent; 3 or 4 delicious potato cakes surrounded by incredibly tasty decorative morsels with beautifully arranged swirls of piquant sauce served in a large deep wide-brimmed dish.
Now, every time I order this dish and usually before I start eating it, either the knife or the fork will slide out of my hand and into the bowl. You see, the cutlery has narrow shiny round handles, you know the ones that look great but swivel in your hand, and the dish has a wide smooth brim that slopes down towards the middle — like a porcelain skateboarding arena. This combined with the weight of the handle causes the piece of cutlery to slide into the bowl at enormous speed and send it swooshing up the far side and back down again the same way thus maximizing the amount of sauce that ends up on the handle. I am then forced to use the crisp white linen serviette to clean the handle before continuing my meal. The chances are that it will happen again at least once more before I’ve finished the dish, by which time I will be mildly irritated, blaming myself for allowing it to happen again, because I now have sticky hands and a grubby serviette. I have mentioned the problem to the waiter a couple of times, but in a jovial way because it seems so petty, as everything else about the experience is nothing short of perfect.
So you see what is happening here?
The overall user experience is great but the user interface is lacking. In a miniscule way, but lacking none-the-less. With any type of user experience it’s the little things that make all the difference. Your design and overall experience may be great, but one badly thought out interaction will annoy users and may spoil the entire experience for them.
Now, I’m not saying that my problem with sliding cutlery could actually spoil this amazing dining experience — we are inclined to be more tolerant in real life situations such as this one. But website users are less forgiving and will berate you if their experience on your website or web application causes them irritation.
User experience is important and it’s the little things that matter. If you can get those right, your business will reap the rewards.
