Using Wordpress via a browser and the new iPhone application really illustrates the importance of usability in software applications in today’s hectic world where time is at a premium and patience is in short supply.

Wordpress is well designed, easy to understand and most importantly easy for non-technical people to use. It can be learnt in a few minutes. For a free application I think that is remarkable.

If you contrast this with some open source software (and many, many paid applications), which are difficult to install, let alone use there is perhaps a valuable lesson to be learnt - more design, fewer features.

So many websites, software applications and products today are packed with features that do not get used because they can’t be found, they are too complex which in the end puts users off.

Perhaps the solution for websites / web applications (and products) is to focus on a few well-executed features in terms of their design and usability.

There are some recent precedents for this.

iPhone.
Lambasted by Windows / Symbian die-hards for not containing certain features phones using these operating systems have contained for years, the iPhone has changed the whole experience of using a phone. Instead of including everything and the kitchen sink and burying features deep in menus the iPhone concentrates on doing what it does really well. Some recent figures I came across in Stephen Fry’s blog make this clear.

“An incredible three-quarters of all mobile web browsing is now done on the iPhone, despite its market share being far smaller than that of either Windows Mobile, BlackBerry/Java or Nokia/Symbian devices. iPhone users report an unprecedented level of customer satisfaction (between 82% and 90%, compared with the second placed BlackBerry at 50%).”

Flip video camera.
Flip is video camera by Pure Digital launched last year - you can read a review here. The product has achieved considerable sales success against established brands in this market because the design focuses on making it easy to use the basic features needed to shoot video (e.g. no complicated menus on the device) and then allowing people to do things with the video content afterwards (e.g. share it on the web via You Tube). For specifics see a good article from Jared Spool

Concentrating on doing a few things really well seems to pay dividends.

This presents an interesting challenge for web/ digital designers today as more websites feature and encourage user interaction. I sometimes get the impression that many designers would rather work on a “sexy” campaign for a major brand rather than be considered a “user interface designer” which doesn’t exactly sound very appealing. 

Campaigns come and go, but web/ digital designers today have a unique opportunity to create tools used by thousands of people every day. Perhaps in the end acknowledgement of a designs ease of use and uptake by users just might in the end provide a more lasting recognition of one’s work / contribution?