Week 3: Information-Loss Through UX

While reading Wallack and Srinivasan’s piece on information miscommunication, I was reminded of miscommunications that happen in a website-user interaction. The website should be made for the person using it, but often the website’s structure and content are the only focus and the user is left unconsidered.

A local community can’t fully control their problems or resulting data, so it is up to the state to help, document, and guide in a way that makes sense to the community. Since administration is in a position of power, it is responsible for its people and for using its power in a helpful, accessible way. Similarly, it is not the user’s responsibility to adapt to a way of learning different websites. User experience should be designed in a way that takes into consideration who needs to use the website, for what purposes, and in what context.

An example I thought of was elderly people on the web. User research points out that seniors are slower and less comfortable using the web than the average user, therefore relevant websites need to be designed in a way accessible to seniors  to not exclude them. Priceline.com is an example of a relevant website. Data shows that travel websites have significant traffic from older users, so accommodating them on Priceline through ux is important. Older users need larger font sizes, fast response time, less actions per page, and ample white space between clickable objects. They mainly use tablet and desktop, so using a horizontal scroll feels natural. They prefer to read information, so limiting video content is optimal. They are uncomfortable trying new things for fear of failure, so making tasks straightforward with on-boarding guidance will encourage them. Seniors often blame themselves if they can’t figure out how to use a website. However, when designing, the user is always right. It is important to design with the specific user in mind, in this case including senior citizens, because if the user can’t use your website, it is useless and poor design.

A designer has power over the usability of their product, and they have the responsibility of making relevant websites easier and faster for, in this case, older people to use. Similarly, if administrative power was used in ontologies to tailor to specific community needs, less information would be lost along the way. People in a position of power have the responsibility of considering who, why, and in what context their services are needed in order to achieve efficient and accurate communication.

http://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-for-senior-citizens/

http://www.priceline.com/