Have you ever been lost in an application? Or frustrated because you are unable to find what is required from you within an application? How many times have you been scrutinizing the screen to find the ‘missing’ item resulting in conflicting feelings between relief and foolishness because the placement of the missing item was just not that apparent.
The communication between humans and computers has evolved tremendously from the old text DOS commands to today’s more graphical user interface.
This showcases how we have shifted our focus to simplifying interactions by using an application. The importance of a good user interface cannot be underestimated. I am sure that you will agree that the following benefits are achievable with an engaging interface:
Users are not interested in communicating with computers in ‘computer language’. They don’t want to feel inadequate when using an application. In fact, they want to feel empowered when completing a task within the least amount of time, or investigating requirements requested by the application, and resolving error messages.
There is a lot more to designing the look of an application than meets the eye. ‘Designing with the mind in mind’ written by Jeff Johnson, discusses the effects of perceptual and cognitive psychology. He explains how the user interface design guidelines need to make intuitive sense rather than being a list of rules. Could it be that, when the user is feeling ‘lost’, the application is not making intuitive sense?
We are slowly evolving from ‘filling out a form’ to interacting with an application. This evolution is opening up a whole new world of possibilities where voice interaction will probably be the next step towards bringing communication with a computer a little closer to a human interactive experience. Digital business transformation, including the use of AI, machine learning and Bots, will also enable a more effective and engaging business landscape for your customers.
A lot of work goes into every screen of every application developed. Starting at wireframes, continuing to rough designs, endless discussions, countless changes in design and many hours of testing to ensure the application is user friendly, simplified and designed to satisfy all of your business needs.
