Idea #3 Consistency and simplicity make life easier

Dear all,

Today I want to speak about consistency and simplicity in words, and how it makes life easier.

The story begin when my brother-in-law came at home and tell me how he was happy to get his new mobile. Trust me or not, his last phone had big physical buttons, and his new one is a smartphone.

The moment came when he asked me how he can connect his smartphone to Internet.

I don’t want to write here how it was difficult to explain difference between WIFI, 3G, H+, Edge and H+ and so on… not so easy for non-geek people

So I wanted to explain him how to get the name of the network from the TV with “Free” (French provider name) asked by the phone,  with the remote access, because I thought it is easier…

The story

The training of the connection between @free provider and smartphone began like that…

Me : Take the remote access and click on the left button on the remote access

Me : Go to “Réglages” (parameters), “Système” and “Information server”

Me : Go on…hmmm…Oups !!!  No not here …please go back to the general “Menu”…

Him: There is no “Menu” button !

Me : What ?!!  No general “Menu” on a remote access ??? strange ?? Give me the remote access…

Free remote access device

Me : Ho yes, it is the Red “Free” label…agree it is actually not intuitive…- it is a #badUX

- Between you and me, it is “invisible interface”…it can be so beautiful and so unusable …probably another topic on my blog ;-)

Me : Ok and now have a look on the screen you can see the Network name…

- Difficulties began here…

Him: I don’t see text like “Network name” on the screen…

Him : The TV screen don’t speak the same language of my phone…

Me: Yes there is, look at the first line ! Open your EYES PLEASE !!!!*$=#!§

Him: the “SSID” information ????

Me: Oups …sorry you don’t know “SSID”, and there is no cue to help you to guess SSID is the Network name…

Let’s have a look on the screen of the TV ….hmmmm…

Free parameters page on TV

Between me and you, #UX Designers, be careful, my brother in law don’t know what is a “SSID”. This word is not is in dictionary.

And now have a look on the screen of the phone….hmmmm…

Wifi parameters page on Smartphone

ok “Less is more” is a good spirit, nonetheless, sometime Less is actually Less. How non geek user can know the first word “LiveBoxServer” is the name of the Network without “Network :” on the top or on the left ?

And by the way, UX Designer be careful  not putting the cart before the horse. How user can understand the input area is for Password with the label under the input area….not a standard…

And …please #UX Designer be consistent, and don’t speak the language of the users not the one of the machine...

Be aware of my sentence bellow, don’t hesitate to say it in your mind to hear it is not easy for out of digital people…

Me : Ok now, to have the “Password” requested by your phone, your just have to click on “Show the Key”…. (“Voir la clé” on the screen)

Password, Key…key…Password….key…Passord….. do you touch the issue…?

My Point of view

On the TV screen, add of the words “Network name” and keep SSID for expert and for other tools which

My proposal for router parameters page

My proposal for Wifi smartphone parameters

A good #UI design on poor #UX design is still poor design” (Steve Hickey Director of product Design & Strategy at East Coast Product)

So Don’t forget 

Users are humans like you and me,
users are not machines.