12th
January
2005
What Makes a Design Seem ‘Intuitive’?
“In a recent usability test, I once again witnessed something Iíve seen a hundred times before: a frustrated user claiming he knows exactly what is wrong with the interface he was fighting with. What was his suggestion? ‘These guys need to make this thing a lot more intuitive. The problem is that this program isnít intuitive enough. It needs to be more intuitive! ‘I think he used the I-Word no less than 25 times during the session. His frustration was real and his desire was great. So, why wasnít the interface ëintuitiveí? Well, itís probably because itís really, really hard to do.”