Sometimes it’s hard to convince developers that Design (and all the little details associated with Design) really matter in an application. Maybe the application you’re working on is focused on efficiency and someone on your team feels like visual design is just getting in the way. You’ll hear things like “We don’t need any colors” or “there’s no need to make it look friendly or fun”. The feeling is consumer applications should stay worlds apart from business applications.

Well, I obviously disagree and went searching for some quotes to support the importance of visual design in productivity applications:

“Sometimes, in web application design, it feels like every pixel matters. This isn’t just a question about the application’s aesthetics. Visual design can have a huge impact on how the application communicates its use.”

http://www.uie.com/articles/usability_challenges_of_web_apps/

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“…you can use visual design to communicate key concepts to your users. By addressing the question “What is this?” we communicate usefulness. By addressing “How do I use it?” we communicate usability. By addressing “Why should I care?” we communicate desirability. Clearly this communication goes beyond mere styling and “looking good”.”

http://www.guuui.com/posting.php?id=1799

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“It’s rare for software to win an industrial design award. But that’s just what happened this week when the Industrial Designers Society of America announced that Microsoft’s Center for Information Work has won a Gold 2003 Industrial Design Excellence Award (IDEA).”

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2003/jun03/06-27IDEAAward.mspx

“Is there a point at which productivity software won’t require further innovation?

I don’t believe there’s an end. Human ability and behavior will continue to adapt and transform, and we will invent entirely new and novel ways to accomplish unforeseen goals and missions. We believe software can inspire that change in people and the way they behave, and in turn software has to adapt to that change. So, just as there are no limits to human creativity, there really are no limits to productivity software. ”

Interview with Designer: http://blog.biznik.com/2006/01/25/why-design-matters-nadja-haldimann-on-beauty-identity-and-visual-language/

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“The visual design of a website bears the responsibility of communicating the possibilities, limitations, and state of interactions. It tells users what they are seeing, how it works, and why they should care. The better at communicating we are, the easier it is for our users to use and appreciate the websites we design.

However, the wrong message may be sent to users when visual elements are applied without an understanding of the underlying interactions they are meant to support. Visual styling that obscures or clouds crucial interaction options, barriers, or status messages can have a significantly negative impact on user experience.

You can think of visual design as the “voice” of interaction design and information architecture, and therefore directly responsible for the usability of a website.”

http://blog.sessions.edu/featured-interviews/luke-wroblewski-the-hardest-working-man-in-web-design/

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“46% of respondents said that design was the most important factor in establishing credibility.”

http://www.donloper.com/web_design/why_design_matters_on_the_web.html

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“Is Beauty the new usability attribute?”

http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/oct05.asp

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Any more good ones out there?

I had someone ask me if I had any advice about situations where clients were trying to ruin a project. I’ve had more then my fare share of these – as I’m sure many designers have. Maybe it’s something as simple as adding a ugly logo, or maybe it’s something more serious that hinders the usability or usefulness of the site. Whatever it is, maybe this list of ten ideas will help:

• Communicate your a highly skill professional and they are paying you for your skills as a designer and a consultant.
• Let them know you keep up on all trends and did competitive research – you know what you’re talking about
• Use the analogy of architect vs. bricklayer, you’re playing an architect role (you have the experience and skills) – if they want a bricklayer you’ll point them in the right direction
• Let them know you have many clients and don’t like to take work where you’re not taken seriously and maybe it’s time to help them find someone else (if you don’t need the money…)
• Request some “testing” on your design (this is a gamble) – enough good feedback will squash any “i’m not sure” feelings
• Ask them what they feel the current design is not communicating to the audience, take notes and revise the design (away from the client)
• Focus in on one of the changes they are requesting and try to fit it into the design, that may make them loose focus on the other changes (“This change was a good idea! the other did not really work in the design”)
• Let them know you’re into the whole experience of the site you’re creating, and you feel like these changes will hurt their business (or the usability of the site, the page load times, etc…)
• If you have a contract, talk about how the changes will effect the development and it’s adding more scope to the project.
• (Again) If you don’t need the money, walk away. Let them know you don’t like to work this way and you’ll be more then happy to try and find them someone else who could help – but not anyone you like

I thought I would start a series called makeover, where I will try to spend the least amount of time possible making-over a website or UI element. Why “least amount of time”? Because I want to show with just a little time, a designer/IA can greatly improve the usability and over all attractiveness.

Stats:

• makeover: Firefox Software Update Alert
• amount of time: 20 minutes
• tools: PhotoShop
• changes:visual, IA

Quick Notes:
When you first see the pop-up you’re not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. So I added a green “check” icon to indicate this is a positive thing. Next I put more emphasis on the version that is now released, when it was released and what version you are currently running. I also included the “What’s new?” section to give you an idea of why you should upgrade (instead of “we strongly recommend”). The disabling of extensions is a big deal for some users and should be called out more. By added a “alert” icon and adding a little red, you know this is something you should pay attention to. Finally I change the “Later” button to “Not Now” to match the “would you like to save this password” buttons elsewhere in Firefox.

The icons come from the free set at famfamfam (which i’m in love with…).

There are many places on the web that talk about good visual design vs. good content/function. While I agree it takes both to make a truly great website, visual design opens the door for the visitor to go in-depth and engage your site.

Nature.com has an article titled “Web users judge sites in the blink of an eye” – where they say:

Lindgaard and her team presented volunteers with the briefest glimpses of web pages previously rated as being either easy on the eye or particularly jarring, and asked them to rate the websites on a sliding scale of visual appeal. Even though the images flashed up for just 50 milliseconds, roughly the duration of a single frame of standard television footage, their verdicts tallied well with judgements made after a longer period of scrutiny.

In the crowded and competitive world of the web, companies hoping to make millions from e-commerce should take notice, the researchers say. “Unless the first impression is favourable, visitors will be out of your site before they even know that you might be offering more than your competitors,” Lindgaard warns.

They go on to say:

For a typical commercial website, 60% of traffic comes from search engines such as Google, says Marc Caudron of London web-design agency Pod1. This makes a user’s first impression even more critical, he explains. “You’ll get a list of sites, click the top one, and then either say ‘I’ve engaged’ and give it a few more seconds, or just go back to Google,” he says.

Link: Web users judge sites in the blink of an eye

You’ve probably heard by now, Firefox 1.5 is out. This is the first time i’ve seen icons explaining how to install the application on a mac, instead of the “Drag to your applications folder” text you usually see, they went the international route – visually showing dragging the icon to the applications folder. Great job Firefox team!