I confess I have a somewhat clunky phone manner. I tend to dispense with small talk, go straight to the business at hand, and when the business is done I'm ready to hang up. I'm so abrupt, once my business partner asked me, "What is UP with you and the phone?" And it's not just business calls: my husband and children lodge similar complaints. I'm not much for small talk on social media either perhaps that's why I like Twitter. There's a staccato effect to the interaction that I enjoy. I suppose I think of myself as less-than-smooth when it comes to my personal interface.
It's no surprise then that I also struggle with my digital interface. In an attempt to buff out my real-life rough edges I tend to over-compensate by trying to add excess functionality to my website. My steady and patient graphic designer Brandon Jameson has reminded me on many occasions, "Don't get lost in the sophistry of gimmicks." In other words, get rid of the fluff and make sure that every aspect of my user interface fulfills the purpose for which it was included. Last week, as I prepared to launch my book, that purpose was to make the online experience of Whitney Johnson smooth, enjoyable, and informative. Well, my website continues to be a work in progress, but the process makes me think about how we present our real and virtual faces to the world.
In this modular era for workers, some principles of user design can be applied not only to building websites, but to each of us as managers, free agent workers, and freelancers. As we think about how we present ourselves to our employees and employers, clients, coworkers and the world, we should ask ourselves: How's my user interface?
According to user experience consultant, Whitney Hess, five of the most crucial overarching principles to consider when designing a website are: 1) Make a good first impression, 2) Provide feedback, 3) Be consistent, 4) Make actions reversible, and 5) Be credible and trustworthy. These principles also apply as we contemplate our personal user interfaces. Hess explains her design principles and how they apply both in human-computer interaction and human-human interaction:
1. Make an accurate first impression. The first thing visitors do when encountering your website for the first time is scan the page to ensure that the information presented is relevant to their current goal. Ensure your layout is easy to digest and accurately conveys your purpose. Ideally the site is also attractive and appealing, strong and sensible.
Establishing a set of rules for conduct in real life is similar to designing a digital experience. Sure, you want to make people feel comfortable when they first meet (or speak) to you. But you also want to set clear expectations about what you can and can't offer. If your working style is fast-paced, for example, but in person you seem to have a leisurely style, give a glimpse of your pace upfront. Better said, abide by the WYSIWYG motto: ensure that what people see of you is actually what they get.
2. Provide feedback. Long lines with no announcements are irritating, and so are delays in an interface. Whether submitting a form, clicking to load a video, or trying to go to the next page in an article, a person's action should be immediately followed by the system's reaction a clear notification that a trigger occurred. Design is not a monologue; it's a conversation.
It's equally important to respond to people's requests quickly or you may give the impression that you aren't really listening. And if you really need people to wait, tell them why. Tell them that you're working. Tell them you heard them and offer a next step. As with the virtual interface, be quick to respond, to explain, to engage in a dialogue.
3. Be consistent. The navigational mechanisms and organizational structure that are used throughout the design of a website must be predictable and reliable. Navigation bars should be in a fixed location on all pages; links should always look and act the same way; terminology shouldn't be used interchangeably. When things don't match up from one area to the next, the experience can feel disjointed, confusing and uncomfortable.
While I am consistently clunky on the phone, I am not yet consistent in providing feedback. In fact, because I often respond to e-mails too quickly (e.g. unsustainably fast), when I don't, people wonder what's wrong. Consistency implies stability, and people always want to feel like they're in good hands online and off.
4. Make actions reversible. There is no such thing as a perfect design. No one and nothing can prevent all errors, so you're going to need a contingency plan. Ensure that if people make mistakes (either because they misunderstood the directions, mistyped, or were misled by you), they are able to easily fix them. Have clearly marked emergency exists for leaving an unwanted state without hassle. Offer constructive suggestions for recovering from any system errors. Allow edits and deletions to be reverted by providing the option to undo and redo.
In our personal interface, "Undo" is probably the most powerful control you can give a person. There's a flexibility of mind, a humility I proffer when I allow for an "Undo," a clear message that our interaction is more than a transaction.
5. Be credible and trustworthy. It's hard to tell who you can trust these days, so the only way to gain the confidence of your site visitors is to earn it. Your content must be accurate and up-to-date, your aesthetic modern and fresh. Dial down the hard sell, encourage and revel in visitor engagement.
In other words, do what you say you're going to do, don't over-promise and under-deliver. If you set people's expectations appropriately and follow through in a timely matter, you will gain their trust. Trust is the foundation for a smooth user interface both virtual and interpersonal.
As vexing as it has been at times, I realize there are critical lessons to be learned from the experience of creating a virtual homestead. My personal interface needs to be just as smooth and error-free as the online version of Whitney Johnson if I'm going to be effective in our increasingly free-agent world. Certainly I can't be perfect. Which is ok we will make mistakes and it's important to focus on connection, not perfection. But in the mod-mod-mod-ular world of free agents, low friction is key, and an employer needs to know "How's your user interface?" Because when everything spent on you is ultimately a variable cost, your ability (or not) to plug in and immediately play goes straight to the bottom line.
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