I’ve noticed recently a much more friendly, informal tone in the error messages being used online. “Proceed anyway” and “back to safety” from firefox… Hotmail, junk mail… Chrome, this might hurt… The style of language being adopted in online messaging recently has become a lot more friendly, and less formal. The firefox and Chromes messages… Continue reading Tone of voice in warning messages
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Pet hate. Being asked for information that could be found by another mean
I’ve written about this before, I vaguely remember it, but I’ll write about it again, as its so important. There are many ways of wasting users time online, some of them completely avoidable, with a little thought. Below is an example from a survey that I had started to fill in. To be honest I… Continue reading Pet hate. Being asked for information that could be found by another mean
Inspiration – week 50
A nice example of a payment page with good use of straightforward language
Pet peeve. Asking for my DOB on registration unnecessarily
As the post title suggests I’ve got a pet peeve in being requested to enter my date of birth on registration for a random website. Some sites could legitimately need my date of birth. Like my bank for example. Many more sites don’t require it, but ask anyway. Its often written that the more you ask… Continue reading Pet peeve. Asking for my DOB on registration unnecessarily
Inspiration – week 49
Smoke alarms re-imagined Smoke alarms cry wolf so often that they’re not doing their jobs anymore. When it goes off, we’re not scared, we’re annoyed. And we take the batteries out. Its always great to see design innovation for something that has existed for a long time, unchallenged. This week, I saw an advert for… Continue reading Inspiration – week 49
Losing out on the best deal. Coupon codes on checkout and other such places
I’m used to seeing coupon codes online, but don’t see it so often in stores. where online can take the lead from bricks and mortars stores. Image © ambernectar In physical stores they will only display discounts and coupons that everyone can claim. e.g. 20% off everything in store. whereas online there is quite frequently… Continue reading Losing out on the best deal. Coupon codes on checkout and other such places
Keeping you informed of where you are in a process
I recently received an email from Barclays/ING Direct informing me where they were in the process of switching over from one to the other. Their email did a very good job of informing me in a visual way what was happening to my account and where in the process they were. They didn’t just send me… Continue reading Keeping you informed of where you are in a process
Lessons learnt from Microsoft design principles
Show pride in craftsmanship Be fast and fluid Be authentically digital connect to the cloud so that users can stay connected to each other be dynamic and alive with communication use typography beautifully use bold, vibrant colours use motion meaningfully Do more with less reduce design to its essence solve for distractions, not discoverability be… Continue reading Lessons learnt from Microsoft design principles
Password recovery UX
Imagine this scenario: You’ve entered your password incorrectly several times. If you continue to enter the password unsuccessfully then your account will be blocked. If you don’t remember, or recover your password, then you’ll give up and never use the site again, or register for a new account unnecessarily. I remember Blackberry phones would show… Continue reading Password recovery UX
My pet hate when filling in forms – dissallowing ‘special characters’
As a freelance UX and service design consultant, I spend a lot of time thinking about user experience, not just for clients, but in my everyday life too. One of my biggest frustrations? Forms that disallow special characters. My first name is Anna-Kay. It is spelt that way on my passport and all legal documents.… Continue reading My pet hate when filling in forms – dissallowing ‘special characters’