The myth about UX design

I've read many articles about UX design, all proving that there's NO such thing as UX design. The main point of these articles was that you can design user interface, you can design user paths, but you cannot design experience.
Well, I say, that there is user experience design, or whatever you wish, I should call it.

First, look at this picture:

What the hell is this? This is a floor plan of an IKEA store. The perfectly designed user experience. Most of the users (visitors) go through this path, and have more or less the same experience, because people's behaviour and desires are easily predictable. When we talk about user experience, we talk about the majority of our users, not all users. Like in the IKEA, there are shortcuts for those visitors who want to go directly to the market area.  The example could be Tesco or Wal-Mart as well, these stores are planned perfectly, too. Maybe you all know, if you're a supplier of Tesco, you have to pay, if you want your product on the shelf right before the people's eye.

Another great example is the iPhone. I'm not a Mac user, and I'm not a macfag. But I appreciate Steve Jobs as a UX designer: I think he was the first well-known of his kind. Everyone knows that he was mad about the small  details, he wanted a perfect product - from the shape, through the touch, to the icons in the software. Everything was controlled through the design process. all because he wanted to reach the same experience for all the users.

I think UX design is about what I want to reach. Yes, some of my users will leave, some will make a shortcut, but if I do my job correctly, most of the visitors will do exactly what I want.  That's the point. It's like a TV show, from viewer to viewer, the experience will different (favourite actor, opinion about their behaviour), but the biggest part of it will be the same for everyone. JR Ewing will always be the evil character and Bobby his counterpart - because this is how the experience is designed.

Yes, things like site speed affect the experience, but, for God's sake, if your user feels any problem with the speed, than something is technically wrong with your site. Load time should count to Google, but for your user.

Anyway, if you like, I'm a UI designer.

the new ipad: beautiful moneywasting

Let's imagine something. Let's imagine, you're a normal guy, with a good salary, but nothing extra. You have a smartphone, a tablet, you can rent a flat, maybe you can afford a holiday seaside. But you've always wanted a brand new Ferrari, that's all you can think about. 

On a day, your not-so-well-known uncle dies, and since you're the only living relative of Uncle Bill, there's 200 000$ on your account. Whoooah! You can buy the Ferrari! You put on your best clothes, and rush to the first store, to order the car. Unfortunately, you have to wait one year for a new car, but the seller tells you, here's a purple one. You pay, and go home with the dreamcar.

Then you realize, there's no place to hide the car. Later, you find out, you have no money for a single tire, 'cos it's so expensive - while you drive it only on Saturday, since you can't afford to use it everyday. The dreamcar becomes a hassle, and finally you sell it, and buy a Ford Focus Combi.

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I was looking for the perfect camera app for my iPhone 4 for a long time. There was only one wish: resizable picture size. I take photos usually outside, where's no WiFi connection, and I really don't want to use my data plan for uploading uneccessary big photos about my lunch, especially not 5MP photos. 1200x960 pixels are far more than enough to express myself. The difference is around 1 MByte per photo: 1.2 against 200 kBytes.

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How these things connect? That's what I have in my mind about the New iPad (3). Retina display, they say. I say, as an engineer, it's fascinating, the near-print pixel count has to make a beautiful picture on 10". But hey, do I ever want to download 2 MByte pictures just because I have an iPad? No, of course not. Who cares. I want a fast web experience. Do I want to redesign my webpage in double size? Are you serious? Just because of iPad users? 

The problem is, that we're at the gates of the new megapixel-war, but this time it's all about screens. I'm pretty sure, in the near future, Samsung will come out a super-mega-amoled screen, w/ 1800x2200 pixel resolution, and so on, we're there. You know which screen has almost the same resolution as the iPad? The 30" Cinema Display. Which is a really big monitor.

I have several problems with this. First, the mobile data plan - you better swich to a 4 times bigger plan, unless you have an unlimited version (in that case, you're a lucky guy). Second, it's better, if it's a 4G connection. We all know the difference between the theoretical and the real speed of mobile internet. Third, you have to buy new-ipad-HD apps, hope, the developers don't ask extra money  for that.

And we're here: the app and web development. It's like Intel and Windows was several years ago - you just bought the newest and fastest processor, and the new Windows took away the extra power. You just finished the development of your iPad app, now you can start again, 'cos it's not just magnifying.

My biggest problem is the web, as I wrote earlier. For this device, you have to use print-quality pictures, wich can be quite expensive (some photo agencies have different prices depending on size), your photographer has to take extra-quality photos (downsizing sometimes a good tool), which is extra time and money, and your page load time will be worse as well, since these pictures has to arrive to the device - user confusion. While if you don't do anything, than the user will se a converted version of your website, which is quite ugly, according the news.

I know, these things doesn't count too much. I just don't like the wasting of resources, and bandwith is now like water, or electricity. 

So I think about the new iPad as a luxury good: it's like a Ferrari. Beautiful, perfect, absolutely precise thing. And consumes too much petrol.

Twitter: it could be better (and why every site should make a "Like" button)

A few days ago, I got the new Twitter interface. I said, ok, let's see. 

It looks good, the structure is better a bit, because the content moved closer to the center of the screen. It's clear, that the brief for the designer was, do it like the mobile version. The task has been comleted, and it's up and running. 

But at last, I was disappointed.

I don't know how many of you use their smartphones (or tablets) to check the things in the morning, while drinking the first coffe, and eating toast, bagel, or whatever you like. I do. I check Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, GReader, my mails - so I'm up-to-date with the news, happened during my sleep.

Now, in Google Reader, if I find something interesting, I just put a star on it, and later I decide, if I'd like to read it or not - I have no time in the morning to read every article I find interesting. I do the same in Tumblr, I like many posts, and later I reblog them from my like list.

Now Twitter. I see something interesting, so I favourite it. I talk about up to 10-12 tweets. Now imagine: you just sit behind your computer, and start to read your list. You reach Twitter. What happens? You open Twitter, than your profile, search your favourites on the page, and bang! thre you are. Two versions earlier, it was right there on your dashboard, so you cliked it, and there were your marked tweets. I know, the function is not designed to build a reading list, but every user use the functions for their own purpose. Twitter thought, that my followers, or nay visitor on my page, get a list about the tweets I find interesting, but what about the tweets I find interesting?

It wouldn't be a big development, puttting it back to the dashboard, or into the user menu top right, right?

The other one is the retweet function. I think, about 99% of the third-party clients give the option to use the RT function, so you can comment the tweet. Who doesn't allow it? Right, Twitter itself. Of course, I can copy and paste the tweet, putting RT before the text, but please. 

At the end, there's an other option: I haven't found these options by myself. If this is the case, there's two more options: I'm lame, or the UI is.