3 examples of good design versus 3 examples of bad design
Good design #1: Pandemic
This is a mobile app that was adapted from a board game. It’s great because there are lots of pieces in the board game, but they designed the app so that everything fits on the screen and is unambiguous. User options are displayed in dashboard and only the turns that are available to the user are highlighted (unavailable options are visible but grayed out). Although the whole board fits on screen, it can be zoomed in/out by pinching or it can be re-centered by pressing a single button. Turns can be reversed. Cards that have been played or discarded can be viewed. Rules and settings are easily accessible. It is as close to a perfect digital replica of the physical game as it can be. Plus the opening sequence is pretty cool, as is the animation that goes along with “outbreaks,” which gives an added layer of fun/drama.
Good design #2: Jimmy John’s
Their website stores information from previous orders, including what you ordered, where it was delivered, and payment information. This makes ordering very quick and simple. Their sandwiches are then also delivered quickly. The only problem I’ve had is that the customization of sandwiches doesn’t offer the option to add sprouts to my sandwich, so I’ve been entering the name on the order as “Add sprouts plz,” which is kind of weird, but it’s a very minor inconvenience.
Good design #3: Uber
No money exchanged between driver and passenger. There is a pool option which is slower but cheaper. Passenger knows his driver's name as well as what kind of car he’s driving, his license plate number, estimated time of arrival. The user can even see on the map where his ride is. This makes for a very smooth transaction from start to finish.
Bad design #1: 4moms Mamaroo
Touchscreen. Seems simple enough, right? Except that it’s not a touchscreen. Surprise! There are buttons on either side that are raised very slightly and are the same color as the surrounding rubber, making them almost impossible to see in low light. The buttons should be colored differently or, even better, make the touchscreen a touchscreen.
Bad design #2: My car’s navigation screen/audio player
I have to scroll through the hundreds of artists (or worse, 10s of thousands of track listings) on my device to get to what I want. It should be set up to allow searching. Also they stopped making software compatibility updates after iPhone 5, so I have to use my iPod instead of streaming music from Spotify on my phone.
Bad design #3: Adobe Suite
Hear me out. Adobe Suite is wonderful. Between Photoshop, InDesign, After Effects, Illustrator, and now Experience Design, Adobe offers products with complete functionality to accomplish any design project you can dream up. That said, Adobe products have a pretty steep learning curve. There are so many options, it makes it hard for a beginner to know how to do anything. There are 23,703 videos on lynda.com teaching people how to use Photoshop, versus 208 for Sketch. I know, there is a chasm of difference between what Photoshop and Sketch can do, but there are 114 times as many videos for Photoshop as there are Sketch. A possible solution to this could be to offer users to enable or limit features based on their level of experience: novice, intermediate, seasoned, expert, god. Something like that. Only offer so much to the user at a time, and offer in-app instruction to empower the user. This will help get them comfortable with the software faster and produce projects they’re more satisfied with.