Usability in daily lives: pitfalls

Being a designer by training , I have always been observant of functionality of products around , be it a tangible 3 dimensional product or the intercative interfaces.Ther have been numerous ocassions where I experienced that an otherwise appealing and 'credible' product / interfaces that generates a sense of 'credibility' and 'trustworthiness' to the users had some or the other usability issues.

A great approach to design is to observe the common existing pitfalls from the user's perspective and address it in new design to create a better user experience. Being senstive to the existing design issues, being able to empathise with the USER or in other words being HUMANE are some of the most important pre-requisites for a good design approch.

Here I attempt to illustrate an overview of such an experience where I analysed that the product fell short in 'affordance' it offers from the 'Functionality' and 'Usability' point of view.

Scenario


Recently while searching for 'Mosquito Net' that could bought online, I came across this particlar site 'camping survival' that appeared as one of the search results. As a typical user with a set goal in mind I scanned through the site. The site apparently reinstates the perceived quality of 'credibility' by virtue of elements as 'security seal' by one of the trusted providers, a neat layout with good application of interface design principles.





The search task and observation.

I searched for the 'Mosquito Net' again using the search option on the site. This search resulted in many options for 'Mosquito nets'. Each option had link that opened a page for more detailed information about the product and an image of the product. Images of products always enhances the experience of online shopping as it allow buyers to view the product that they are buying. As a user I prefer to get as detailed view of product as possible before an online purchase and hence use the"Zoom" funtionality that allows me to ldo so. Following this insticnt of getting a feel of product I clicked the "Click to zoom" button and VOILA ! Opened a new window with exactly the same sized image ( much contrary to the expectation of the user and as 'afforded' by the 'click to zoom ' button).
oops!!





Well a perfect example of 'Affordance' belied ! User experience would have been better if the "Click to Zoom" button were disabled for products that did not had "zoomed" images. we should put user experience above coding convenience.