Great design

Jere Vento
Aug 22, 2017 · 2 min read

Lately we have talked about features. Without the right features, your product is meaningless and ineffective. Then again, having too many options confuses and distracts users.

Our vision has been “less is more”, but maybe that isn’t the right perspective. Maybe the answer is the right number of features at the right time. This is where coding steps aside and design takes the lead.

Think about a grocery store that sells thousands of different items. No problem if the items are categorized clearly and navigating between lanes is easy. But, if apples are located with dog food and lemons are next to the shampoos, I might get confused. Grocery stores are all about categorizing and having general enough labels for each lane. In theory this is really easy, but still there are differences in grocery stores. If you appreciate the grocery store user experience, it most likely meets two requirements — intuitive categorization and adequate inventory.

Another way to achieve the same result is to create the golf course experience. There is a clear target to have a ball in the hole with a minimum number of strokes. The easiest way to do this is by design to stay on the fairway and not get stuck in woods, bunkers or water hazards. In every golf course, there is a default way to conclude your task with the best odds. But you can try shortcuts, customize your journey and achieve an even better score.

Gmail is like a golf course. It’s an email software, where checking your inbox is the landing page and sending email requires only a few clicks. There is the clear fairway that helps you achieve the average score. But there are lots of features hidden, which may eventually bring you more satisfaction. It might take some time to learn, adapt and customize. But for a first-time user the fairway creates the experience of a simple and intuitive product.

Great design is not just minimalism and less options, but more of a skill to create a feeling of intuitiveness and meaningfulness for different kinds of users. That’s one of the reasons, why business software developers and designers have so much to learn from the gaming industry. Super Mario can do many things in the final levels, but the first level enables you to only run and jump. That’s an intuitive way to start adapting.

SignHero Diaries

This is the story of SignHero. Choose lazy.

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Jere Vento

Written by

Idealist, Digital Services, Business Designer, Bass and Ukulele, No Bullshit, Coffee and Rock n` Roll

SignHero Diaries

This is the story of SignHero. Choose lazy.

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