Usability is often viewed as being inherently risk-averse, and even at odds with innovative ideas. The usability practitioner seeks to meet users’ expectations – or “mental models” – eliminate surprises rather than capitalize on them, and follow standards that provide consistency with outside interfaces. User experience designers employ design patterns that have been proven over time, and utilize prototyping tools that encourage the use of established pattern libraries. User testing also tends to focus on the first use, making it very difficult for seemingly innovative ideas to beat out the familiar and immediately recognizable user interfaces that employ well known design techniques.
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Whether UX practitioners care to admit it, many of these claims are true. UX professionals don’t tend to be the greatest advocates of innovation, and our designs are often limited to what others are doing and the depth of our pattern libraries. These are the side-effects of lazy design, however, and not the nature of User Experience. User Experience designers have a unique opportunity to become the facilitators of holistic design and the advocates of innovation. By combining traditional user-centered activities with a greater emphasis on creating engaging designs we can bring usability into alignment with innovation in the design process. Here are some thoughts on how […]
Where Innovation Belongs in User-Centered Design by Jake Truemper
He llegado al artículo gracias a un twitt de César García Gascón y de forma primitiva, rondaba por mi cabeza desde hace tiempo…