ARTICLE SUMMARY: You have to admit, when you’re online there’s no greater feeling than being on a website that’s operating on all eight cylinders and you just broke the speed limit in the blink of an eye.
You’re in online heaven, the site loads like it knew you were coming and was just waiting for you. It responds instantly: no broken links, no lag, no friction—just one smooth operation. This kind of user experience doesn’t happen by accident.
In “Good Design Doesn’t Happen By Default,” Pir Ahmed looks at why some websites are falling short of mark when it comes to user experience and what can be done about it, he talks about,
- The problem with “default”
- Fixing the defaults: the invisible architecture
- Stop guessing defaults, start defining them
As designers we need to be careful. While defaults let us move fast, mock up ideas, and get screens on the board quickly, they are decisions that someone else made on your behalf long before the product existed—without considering your context, brand, or users.
If we are not careful, Pir Ahmed says, “Over time, the product experience will become unpredictable. Users will notice a subtle and unsettling lack of cohesion. The interface will be functioning, but it will lose its sense of trustworthiness. It loses that instinctive sense of clarity and order.”
The insights in this article can help you turn a good site into a great one. Let us know what you think in the comments.
