Clarity before pixels

General musings when usability testing w/ random people

I quickly hopped onto the bus and rushed over to a coffee shop in the city. After doing usability tests for the past few days I knew something had to change, and so it began…

There were two things that were troubling. How users were perceiving the homepage could derail the in app experience and the in app experience was too reliant on the homepage. So naturally I started with the homepage, taking all the information from the previous days and using it to my advantage. My gut reaction was, people aren’t totally getting it, I need to explain how it works on the homepage. Then I remembered the different iterations we did where we explained it on the homepage, it created more noise. The user wasn’t ready for how it worked until they felt more comfortable with what it was.

I thought about the article I published yesterday, What & Why, Not How, and it kept me focused on what was important. Once I eliminated the “How” I zoned in on clarity around what and why. You’d be amazed how this focuses your copy and creativity since you can’t talk too much about how something works. If that’s not enough motivation, just wait until users tell you what they think it is.

After I finished the homepage, I headed to another place with a better internet connection to do some tests. People went through the homepage speaking their mind, a few mentioned that it felt plain, but they also had a much better idea of what the site was for. People care a lot more about clarity than they do pixels. They view software as something that helps them accomplish a goal or task, not as a place to live. As a young designer/technologist very rarely do your products or ideas face the music. That might be why there is more emphasis on pixels rather than clarity. So here’s to hopping on the bus and trying again tomorrow, but not with a new homepage.