Design For Comprehension

Issue 26

Adventures in UX Design is a newsletter helping you navigate UX roadblocks

Virtually every day, we interact with applications that gather and replicate information that we depend upon, whether that information takes the form of a boarding pass to choosing a medical plan, deciphering medicine instructions to paying a bill.

Stephen Anderson has spent a lot of time researching how data can be designed to engage users and increase their comprehension for what they are looking at. He has identified seven areas of core comprehension where problems can arise. These are common problem areas, where the design and interface can muddle understanding.

By identifying these areas, says Stephen, we can understand the problem better, and the skills we need to correct it. Even the simplest changes can improve the interface and the user experience.

1. Problems of Comprehension

All of the information is provided, but it is presented in a way that is not easy to understand. Examples might be on medication labels, or airline boarding passes.

2. Problems of Comparison

There are a lot of options presented in the design, but they are not organized in a way that helps the customer make a decision. Examples might be comparing healthcare options, finding a doctor, or attending a conference.

3. Problems of Causal Relationships

This is an interaction that allows customers to work through simulations to show cause and effect over time that reveal patterns and help them make better decisions. Some loose examples include exploring the cost of shipping during a checkout process, cost of living or mortgage calculations.

4. Problems of Discovery

Often with data visualizations, people don’t know the question they want answered. You might have some ideas but you don’t know what you’ll learn. Analytics can fall into this category, as some users won’t know what they want to track.

5. Problems of Relationships

This is about getting oriented to a space and understanding the relationships between different topics. Whenever we enter a new space, we are trying to orient ourselves to it. This example could include visual models like sitemaps, concept models or mind maps.

6. Problem of Practice

In this example, we may understand the elements presented, but we really need to sit down and practice to get better at it.

7. Problem of Distributed Cognition

In this example, the knowledge you need for understanding a thing is distributed across people, projects, devices, and environments. This problem ties into service design, and could even extend to getting different devices to talk to one another.

LISTEN: Deciphering Data Through Design with Stephen Anderson