Your user-interface is a story

Here’s a simple story.

1. John left his front door open and his dog, Rex, got out.

2. Rex walked to the end of the street and straight into the junction.

3. An oncoming car swerved to avoid Rex and crashed into a tree.

4. With the noise from the crash, Rex got a fright and ran home.

5. John’s friend saw the whole thing.

6. Rex returned home. John wasn’t aware he had even left the house, let alone caused an accident.

7. John’s friend knocked on the door to tell him the news.

8. John called Rex a “bad dog”.

If you show the finished diagram to anybody, they may or may not be able to recount this story.

Your user-interface is a story. There’s a narrative that you’re hoping your users will follow, but they were not there when you wrote the story. What you see is not what they see. The only way you can be sure of what your users see is to ask them.

Test your user-interface, make sure your users know the story.