I thought the Instructor Blog this week had some very interesting content about designs affecting the usability of the product. As the blog said, “Notice the objections really don’t have to do with how pretty the designs are, the comments have to do with how design actually facilitates or hinders access to the product.” I didn’t really understand what was meant by this until I read the post from the kottke.org website about how difficult the new design makes distinguishing the different Tropicana juices apart. While some consumers had a special place in their heart for the age old straw stuck into an orange, most were complaining about how hard it was to find their juice with the new labeling system and generic looking packaging. For example, a user commented the following: “As a loyal Tropicana buyer, I don't love the straw-punctured fruit or the old logo at all. What I love is Tropicana juice. And the new packaging made it hard for me to buy it. My preference was hidden in small type; the cartons no longer differentiated on the shelves. It took me longer to shop, and twice this winter I went home with the wrong juice.” Thinking about my personal shopping experiences, I can really see where this guy is coming from because I like my brand and type to be different from all the others so I can grab it and get through that store as quickly as possible.
Similarly, in the textbook readings this week, I had to laugh at the section discussing good designs being invisible. Now that I look back on reading newspapers or websites, and product containers, the idea that I would only notice the designs if they were bad, really holds true. If I see a website that I think might be interesting, my second hope is that it will be credible. The first thing I look for when visiting a website or blog is spelling and grammar. How can I take information from someone who doesn’t even care enough to spell correctly and have proper use of words like ‘their, too, and you’re’?
The next three qualities of design, which are guiding the eye, incorporating white space, and requiring careful attention are definitely noticed in everyday life from business logos to newspaper advertisements and will be seen in greater depth as the Instructions project proceeds. In the past, I’m sure I have annoyed some of my group members during projects requiring presentations because my past teachers have always stressed paying careful attention to a final product. Before I can turn any paper in, I have to print it out and read over it carefully because I have found that these things look much different on actual paper than on a computer screen. This is one method I will use to critique my design on the instructions project.
Invisible?
I had the same reaction when I read the section about good designs being invisible. At first I thought it was just some b/s the writer made up. But then I realized that it was true because I never do notice good design. I definitely notice bad design, which usually causes me to stop reading, but I have never looked at something and thought "that design is amazing." This kind of sucks being on the writing end of it. No matter how hard we try, the best our instructions will likely ever become is "invisibly good." But I suppose this is still better than having poor design and no one wanting to read them at all. This relates back to our resumes; where all that time and effort gets very little consideration from the reader.
In some cases it is better to be invisible
Good designs are truly invisible. It is really easy to spot bad designs, just look at the Thomson Handbook. The book is too cluttered to read without being distracted by something else written on the page. All it is we are doing is tearing apart and bringing down the works of others when it comes to bad design. It is much harder to find good designs. Like it was mentioned in Ben’s blog, a really good design was from a set of Lego instructions. As they are marketed to children they show that images are the best design choice. So when writing your instructions being invisible is better than being yelled at by other users.
Where Art Thou Tropicana
A funny thing happened Friday after I posted my response to this week’s readings. I had begun feeling ill the middle half of last week so I went to Walmart to stock up on some OJ for the first time in over a year. While I was there I thought about the Tropicana juice article and searched for their new design. I have to agree fully with the individual that you quoted saying “What I love is Tropicana juice. And the new packaging made it hard for me to buy it.” It definitely proved to hide itself amongst the other juices.
Regarding yours and Bill D’s review of “invisible design,” I disagree. Perhaps it is the web designer in me, but when I reference a document, or any media, that possesses an impressive and effective design schema, it pops out at me. For instance, when I went to skip songs in Pandora yesterday, I immediately noticed one ad on the page, due to its appealing design. The ad, for SearchMe showed a quick overview of the website and how it uses a technology similar to Apple’s CoverFlow to display search results. This enables the users to preview the pages before navigating to them. After visiting the website, I am both aware of and thoroughly impressed by the layout and design. However, I would have to agree that bad design does stick out more.
Bad Design... Bad Source
I would have to say that I also had the same reaction when I read about good designs being invisible. After I thought about it for a while, I realized that I never really notice good designs, but a bad design is apparent to me right away. I used the example about searching Google for homework answers earlier and about how I would always discard the ones with poor designs and take my answers from the ones with good designs. In my eyes, having a bad design is almost the same as having a bad source, and a bad source could always give the wrong information.
Good planning all around
I really think one of the reasons we don't notice good design is because it's part of a well-planned process. Document creaters that do a good job of taking design into account tend to do well in other areas, too, because good design requires good planning. A well-planned design usually doesn't stand alone because it's supported by well-planned content. I would offer this as a reason for Instructor Blog #5's contention that it's a mistake to think you can create something and think you can go back an add good design later: It's all part of the planning process.
One psychological explanation for why we don't notice good design is that when we see a well-designed document, we misplace our emotions of comfort onto the document itself. Think about it. You might not have noticed a good design in particular, but you probably have picked up a document and thought, "I knew this was going to be good before I even read it." That's a trick you'll want to cash in on if you are the one writing the documents.