This week’s content was supported by a few key suggested readings, most notably Don’t Make Me Think. The core message from this book came up repeatedly throughout the lecture: if a user has to stop and think about how to use something, the design has already failed. We also touched on Design Think Make Break Repeat and Tragic Design, both of which reinforced how design decisions can have very real consequences when usability is ignored.
These help to frame usability not as a nice to have, but as a responsibility designers have towards users.
We discussed what usability actually means and broke it down into five key components:
Learnability – how easy it is for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they use a product
Efficiency – how quickly users can perform tasks once they are familiar with the design
Memorability – how easily users can re-establish proficiency after time away
Errors – how many errors users make, how serious they are, and how easily they can recover
Satisfaction – how pleasant the product is to use
One important distinction that stood out was between utility and usability. Utility refers to whether the product actually does what users need it to do, while usability focuses on how easy it is to use. A product can be usable but useless, or useful but unusable. Good design needs both.
The importance of usability was illustrated through some pretty sobering real world examples. One story involved chemotherapy software where alerts were not obvious enough, resulting in a fatal dosage error. Another example focused on the monostable gear shifter used in certain cars, which led to crashes and deaths due to poor feedback and non intuitive design. This was later addressed by adding warning sounds and automatically putting the car into park when doors were opened.
These examples really hammered home the ethical responsibility designers have. Poor usability isn’t just frustrating, it can be dangerous. The takeaway here was simple but powerful: be ethical and be helpful.