Consistency: The Silent UX Champion
To many designers, consistency doesn’t scream sexy. But to anyone with an understanding of user experience, there couldn’t be a bigger turn on.
Consistency is the Tim Duncan of design. It shows up every day and performs in silence, only getting attention when it smiles :)
Every new site someone visits is a new experience. You can make the experience look and feel the same as others but, ultimately, it’s different because the core product is (hopefully) different. However, while I don’t believe in walking through the motions, the less a user has to learn during a new experience, the better. We should design with this in mind.
Consistency makes users feel comfortable
Anyone that tells you their product was a success because of the intuitive design they created is overselling their skills. There’s no such thing as intuitive design. We are socialized to understand our experiences. Any “intuitive” design is simply a combination of signifiers and affordances we’ve come to understand from previous experiences.
