Comments on: 3 Reasons You Shouldn’t Think Outside The Box

By: Glenn

Glenn — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:45:32 +0000

You wrote that people think rational, but I sorta not agree with you on that front.
You should definitly read a book about (ir)rational behavior by Dan Ariely. Alot of aspects that he mentions show that people are the complete opposite of rational.

Does familiartiy mean that people who are used to certain (crappy) interfaces ought to be fed up with crappy interfaces? As that is what they are used to work with..

Nice article btw ;)

By: Luc

Luc — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:32:08 +0000

Good read – I used to have a phrase burned into my email when asked to re-design navigation/layout again and again; “Familiarity breeds usability” – this was years ago though, it’s nice to see trends/articles that I can back it up with…

By: josh wu

josh wu — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:05:27 +0000

great idea~

By: The Backbone of Purposed Design | Fuel Your Interface

The Backbone of Purposed Design | Fuel Your Interface — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:25:54 +0000

[...] THE DECORATION Once the design has been created functionally, you now have the option of decorating it. You would never put a table blocking a hallway, would you? No, of course not. You still want the hallway to function as a hallway, and the kitchen to look like a kitchen. In the same way, you shouldn’t allow your artistic addition to a design stand in the way of its functionality. (For more on this, check out this post). [...]

By: Jonathan Cutrell

Jonathan Cutrell — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:53:28 +0000

Very good point! So, in the sense of having an alternative route available. Definitely seen this concept implemented many times – Apple’s shortcuts are perfect examples of this. There are many ways to trigger Exposé, or to switch between programs. Thanks Jeff!

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:55:44 +0000

I liked this post… A lot of good points, but I’d like to comment about number 3, “PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO LEARN”.

While I agree to some respect people are comfortable with what they know, I always find that it’s best to offer a method I call “alternative-discovery”. Almost trying to discover a new “out-of-the-box” method of accomplishing a familiar task without confusing the user. And allow them to “discover” a different way. For example: Give them their scroll bar, but if they happen to hit the up arrow and find that menu scrolls they will, if even for a second, have a feeling of accomplishment and give them that much better of an experience.

By: Jack

Jack — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:00:45 +0000

Framing interface design around the idea of user “economics” works well and resonated with me. I’d like to read more on this — can you recommend any more resources on this specific notion? Or write more on this idea? I’d love to dive into this and get my head wrapped around it a bit more.

Thanks!