Paul Rouke and PRWD on User Centered Design

It’s easy to forget just how quickly Facebook has risen since bursting onto the British scene (as a measurable force) in the summer of 2006. It may now hold 45% share of the market but with its drastic overhaul of its user interface will it manage to maintain this share?

I’ve recently taken my first look at the new Facebook design and I’m instantly unsure.
Firstly the interface is much wider. Looking at the positioning of the columns on the homepage I can’t help but feel it’s unbalanced. I’m not sure I like not having a border to contain the news feed section in either. I like the changes to the navigation - I have to agree that it does offer an easier set of route options.

Moving to my profile page the first thing I notice is that all this new white space has been irritatingly filled with two sectioned off adverts on the right hand side. Their new prime position on the actual profile page simply means these ad’s really stick out - great for advertiser, really irritating to me (even though I admire the targeting intelligence).

One clear advantage I have found is when looking at ‘application addicts’ profile pages. These pages have resorted back to a loadable page, just like pre-application days. On saying this, to my dis-appointment they have removed the ability to write on your own wall, which was always fun to mock as newbie Facebooker’s learnt to use this feature.

I really don’t like the fact that they have combined news feed updates with ‘the wall’. I think this subtracts from their attempts to simplify the interface, and simply makes its look messy. I’m not really sure what advantage this gives, when the homepage is specifically for this purpose?
There are a few aspects of the new design that I think will really enhance the users experience of Facebook, but overall it’s too much too fast. Look out for petition groups and campaigns to restore it to the original design!

You don’t need to be a Wall Street trader to work out we’re going through a bit of an economic sticky patch. Businesses and consumers alike are finding it hard in the current climate. So how can you make your online business work as hard as it can in these times of woe?

Firstly, turn down the panic button; online spending is on the increase (sales in the first quarter of 2008 are up 50% on last year, NMA 15.05.08), so there’s currently a good opportunity to earn your keep, but you’re going to have to work extra hard for your share, as competition online is hotting up.

Here’s my 3 primers on how to do it

1. . Position your business for long term growth and opportunity. Many businesses go the wrong way by not taking advantage of opportunities they would have otherwise snapped up. Don’t forget things can only get better! You’ll need to be ready to swoop in and pick up all the business your competitors won’t be prepared for after this period by pushing forward with your business growth instead of shying away.
2. Invest but wisely. There’s no point simply having an e-commerce website unless it is efficiently converting your traffic. Ensuring the usability of the site is at its best so that consumers have a problem-free shopping journey is a must. But spending your pennies to make improvements can seem like a hard call in times like these. That why here at PRWD we drive cost savings by using the open source web frameworks built with PHP. Investing in web improvements using such technology will save you money whilst providing substantial return on your investment, if a User Centered Design approach is used.
3. Take advantage of marketing you business online for free by using social networking and blogs to stimulate interest in the online world. According to research by Hitwise (Hopkins, 2006), social networking site MySpace is responsible for more Traffic flow into the HMV.co.uk music portal than both the Yahoo and MSN UK search engines.

It was my 21st birthday the other day. As a July baby I was always blessed with the school year just finishing around my birthday so I didn’t have to go to school but I would have a chance to hand out my cartoon decorated invitations to all my friends. My birthday morning would always start with the frantic present opening with my family sat around half asleep. Then one by one the grandparents would stop by or call me up to wish me a happy birthday. My friends would all call at my house to personally wish me a happy birthday and treat me to the odd box of celebrations.
How things have changed.

I recently removed my birthday from Facebook (so that identity thieves couldn’t steal it) only to discover none of my friends were notified about my birthday. It meant that many of the people I would have expected to congratulate me, didn’t.

The fact of the matter is most of my friends and even some of my family members rely completely on web applications/networks to communicate with me and sometimes this can have pitfalls but all in all these are extremely powerful tools. Online retailers should be capitalising on the host of possibilities for strategically designed and placed selling applications which could transform the way we shop, communicate… and celebrate birthday’s!

I think many online retailers greatly underestimate the power and influence online operations can have to their business. Those who are profiting online, are those who not only have e-commerce stores that are user friendly, but intuitive and intelligent in equal measure.

Thinking back I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have an email account. Nor can I remember a time when I couldn’t get in touch with people from all over the world in a matter of seconds by simply opening up messenger or Facebook. I buy most of my electronic goods, books, and travel online and would never even dream about purchasing a product without reading reviews and checking out a few sites to gauge the sort of price I should be paying, whether I purchase online or not. Not mentioning the 30 plus sites I will check daily from news RSS feeds to bus timetables, cinema times, or downloading vouchers for the restaurant I’m going to that evening.

The extent to which this generation has grown alongside the internet means that not only are the consumers of today extremely internet savy but have very high expectations.

Many sites do not live up to consumers expectations

OK we’ve moved on a long way from the first generation of flat websites, but still some fundamental elements are being ignored by some of the major e-tailers:

• Getting the brand story from in-store experience to an online experience
• Technical issues such as slow loading page speeds or faulty links causing major dis-satisfaction and reduced conversation rates
• Poor navigation and lengthy purchasing process; consumers today will simply not tolerate this and leave your site and shop elsewhere
• Poor product images – there’s really no excuse
• Lack of innovation with available programs, applications and online communities such as 360 views, virtual tours, YouTube, Video Jug and social networking sites.

Finally and worst of all, I can still find some retailers who for reasons unknown to me have a complete lack of online presence. This can severely damage a brand and customer satisfaction.

With the fight for the consumers pound harder then ever and online spending on the increase (sales in the first quarter of 2008 are up 50% on last year, NMA 15.05.08) what better time than to address the usability and design of your website? Check out our website and range of usability services for more info

A very interesting article on Usability News has been published quite recently entitled Web 2.0 ‘distracts good design’ which raises a very interesting point:

As web 2.0 technologies become more mainstream, there is a clear risk that in turn this will result in poor usability practices and user experiences

A parallel that I can draw from this is based on my experience as lead user experience designer at Littlewoods Shop Direct. Having worked as an offline print designer for 3 years, when I started work in the e-commerce team in 2000, I was able to gain a solid understanding of the differences between offline and online design. During the next 6 years, as the web become more popular, more offline graphic designers and agencies made the move into the online arena, but in the rush to produce exceptional online design work, focused on highly visual and creative solutions rather than the user experience and whether the site is usable.

On the 1 hand there are lots of examples of how web 2.0 can be used to provide compelling, rich and user friendly solutions, a large selection which can be seen over at the SEO Mozs’ web 2.0 awards.

On the other hand I do agree with the Usability News article (and more specifically Jakob Nielsen) that we will see executions of web 2.0 functionality and interaction which unfortunately fails to provide good user experiences.

As yet the current wave of web 2.0 sites have been developed using highly talented user interface designers alongside strong technical developers, but I don’t think it will be too long that the same technical developers will be asked to develop solutions from less experienced ‘print-to-web’ designers who perhaps have less groundings in the principles of good usability and user experience.

Personally speaking (through PRWD) I am starting to work on projects which will benefit from web 2.0 developments and user interactions (with a complete focus on the user experience), and I look forward to sharing these on this blog.