However, many brands (such as Apple) have built entire product ranges on making devices that are more usable than their competitors even though their usefulness is actually identical. Poor usability is often a minor inconvenience (you may mutter about how stupid that door is but you’ll probably do very little to change the door – it’s too much effort for too little reward) rather than a deal breaker. This is evidence by the number of doors out there in the world today with “push” or “pull” signs on them. It’s worth noting that usability failures are often less catastrophic to a product than a failure to provide something useful. It should be obvious from a user’s point of view which action is required when they see the door – if it’s not and it requires a sign to explain it that’s a failure of usability. And so on…īut how usable is a door that needs instructions? Really there are only two states of using a door – pushing or pulling. It provides a “noise breaker” between environments. It allows for the efficient use of air conditioning and heating. A door is definitely a useful product – it keeps inside and outside separate.
Think of a door with a handle on the outside with the instruction “push only” on it. Many “useful” products fail to be “usable”. It recognizes that humans are lazy, get emotional, are not interested in putting a lot of effort into, say, getting a credit card and generally prefer things that are easy to do vs.
#Usable linkedin backgrounds Offline#
It is more than “useful” it examines the way that the product will be used and whether it enables the user to do so in a pleasurable, simple (or as simple as possible) and effective manner.ĭavid McQuillen in his article in Darwin Magazine – Taking Usability Offline says “"Usability is about human behavior. Usable refers to the usability of a given product. Copyright terms and licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 Usable Something that is not useful is unlikely to be accepted by any user.Īuthor/Copyright holder: Alastair Cook. (From a commercial perspective this must be at least enough users to make the product profitable). Whichever form of useful is alluded to, however, it is important that there are a number of potential users that find a product useful. There is a subjective quality to art that means the task of “brightening up the work space” may require very different products to satisfy the criteria of “useful”. On the other hand a piece of art may be “useful” to one person as a way of brightening up their work space, for example, but may not be “useful” to another. This is true for anyone who wants to use a word-processing package. Can I write a letter using this tool? Yes, you can. but the task is explicit and the outcome measurable. These may be letters, reports, whole books, etc. While in many contexts these tasks or objectives are explicit and measurable in other contexts they may not be.įor example a word-processing package such as Microsoft Word or Writer in LibreOffice will enable the production of written documents.
Copyright terms and licence: CC BY 2.0 UsefulĪ product which is useful is one that allows a user to accomplish a task or objective. Yet, as we’ll come to see it may be the most important of the three terms to designers and businesses alike.Īuthor/Copyright holder: MsSaraKelly. The first two terms, useful and usable, are bandied around a lot in terms of user experience and design while the third term, used, barely gets a mention. Today, we’re going to take a look at three contexts of the concept of use: useful, usable and used. Therefore, the specific criteria that determine an object’s usefulness remain elusive and relative. Something that may be "useful" to you may not be perceived as such by somebody else. Interestingly enough, usefulness depends upon subjective taste and personal goals. Many designers maintain that the most important dimension of usability is usefulness.
#Usable linkedin backgrounds how to#
Designers are likely to want to examine how to transition from useful and usable in order for their work to succeed. If a design is not used, it doesn't matter how useful and usable it is. Used, however, is the most important of these three concepts.
Usable, on the other hand, refers to the ease of use for a particular product and the more usable a product is the more likely it is that it will be used. Designers will, generally, aim to deliver useful products. If something is useful, it can be used to achieve a particular objective. Usefulness is one of the many dimensions that influences and contributes to a product’s usability. Usefulness describes anything that helps you get closer to or meet your goals.
0 kommentar(er)
