CDF Project One

Effective Communication Design

My example of effective communication design is the interface for the ride sharing app, Lyft. The screenshot shows the page shown after you’ve completed a ride, where the goal is to show you an overview of your trip and allow you to pay/tip your driver. I think these goals are communicated extremely clearly due to the simplistic design of the page. At first glance, I can tell exactly what I can/should do on the page. In addition, I like the bright and clean theme of the entire Lyft app, which makes it have a very streamlined and united feel. In addition, the buttons are large and clearly marked, which makes it easy to interact with the page. Lastly, the shapes and text on the page all work together well; they seem to pair well and the use of different simple shapes makes the page look clean and enjoyable to look at.

Ineffective Communication Design

My example of ineffective communication design is the interface for booking a flight on Southwest.com. This site is designed for customers of Southwest looking to book flights or other travel services. In particular, this page shows the search engine for searching for flights, where users should be able to look for the cheapest flights after giving time and place details. Although the page meets the goal in that it is usable, for me the page seems lacking in ease/enjoyability of use and clarity. This is due to both the layout of the page, as well as the content displayed. First, the layout of the page is confusing to look at, and the different sections are not clearly divided and presented. Looking at the page, I’m overwhelmed by different subtitles and small text boxes. Second, there seems to be a superfluous amount of information on the screen, much of which is not necessary to the primary goal of the page. The text is also very small and the sizing of the headers and text seem mismatched. All of these factors put together makes this page tedious and unfriendly for users.