The last of three posts on the themes of clarity, simplicity and focus – here’s Steve Krug from his incredibly helpful and practical Don’t Make Me Think:
“Don’t make me think!”
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been telling people that this is my first law of usability.
It’s the overriding principle – the ultimate tie breaker when deciding whether a design works or or it doesn’t. If you have room in your head for only one usability rule, make it this one.
For instance, it means that as far as is humanly possible, when I look at a Web page it should be self-evident. Obvious. Self-explanatory.
I should be able to “get it” – what it is and how to use it – without expending any effort thinking about it.
…
Think of it this way:
When I’m looking at a page that doesn’t make me think, all the thought balloons over my head say things like “OK, there’s the _____. And that’s a ____. And there’s the thing I want.”
But when I’m looking at a page that makes me think, all the thought balloons over my head have question marks in them.
When you’re creating a site, your job is to get rid of the question marks.
It comes back to clarity: to achieve what Krug describes you need to have absolute clarity about what your site is supposed to do, which is inseparable from who the user is and what they are looking for, as well as what you think they need .
Krug is particularly good at encouraging empathy with our users – we’re sunk without it. And without it, what would be the point?
It’s the same thing Zinsser says about writing, and the Heath Brothers about communication in general. And it’s true of any product or service.
Clarity. Simplicity. Focus.
Don’t make me think. Everything that could be easy, should be easy. So that I can spend my attention on the things that matter.