USER-INTELLIGIBLE
by Marylaine Block
I got a good lesson on how NOT to think like your users when I went to my fitness center this morning. A sign on the door gave a full paragraph of instructions about where we shouldn't park next Monday because of repaving. The areas not to park in were described solely with words, and ambiguous words at that. It said the southeast lot would be closed, but after I did a mental compass check to figure out which direction was southeast, I realized that there are TWO or even THREE lots that could be described as "southeast lot" (one of the two is subdivided into two lots by a strip of greenery). So I have no idea which one I'm not supposed to park in. And we're not supposed to use the entrance off of Kimberly. Since there are two entrances off Kimberly, this was not helpful either.
When I suggested to the fitness center attendant that a map would be desirable, she didn't understand the problem. She explained which areas would be closed and which would not -- it was really simple, she said, because it was the original old lots that would be repaved -- I said, yes, that's fine, but NONE OF WHAT YOU JUST SAID is on the sign. The sign makes perfect sense to you, not because of what it says, but because you are mentally filling in the blanks in what it does not say.
It's the same sort of problem users of the Seattle Public Library have been having in trying to find restrooms, copy machines, and even the way out. People have been so confused that librarians hired a professional "wayfinder" " to show them how to improve their directional signs.
It's also the same sort of problem many users have trying to follow written instructions on how to use the internet and library databases.
And it's the same sort of problem ordinary people have when they ask a techie about a computer problem. The techie says, "Oh, that's simple. You just do this..." He goes doink doink doink and suddenly the machine works. Which is fine, except you have no idea what doinks he did, in what order, why they were in that order, and what would happen if you didn't do them in the same order, or, even worse, did the wrong doinks altogether.
I think of all the people who create these unhelpful signs and instructions as doink-doink-doinkers. Their disease is that they know too much about the building/machine/process, and therefore cannot think about them as their users will.
One cure, it seems to me, is enlisting users early on in the design process. You could, for instance, put up dummy signs and building maps before you order the professional ones. Test them by bringing in some users for a private showing and asking them to find the children's room, the new books display, the information desk, the restrooms, a public meeting room. Observe where their eyes go as they're looking for signs and maps and other clues. Are those the places where you've posted signs?
And once they've found your signs, ask them to tell you in their own words what the signs say. Once they've found your maps, ask them to show you where they are on the map and the route they'll use to get from there to the restroom. Watch them to see if they get there. Then you can use what you learn to redesign your signs and maps, and their placement.
Alternatively, you could do what librarians at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh did after they remodeled the first floor of their building: watch users as they navigate through new or remodeled buildings to see the places at which they stop, stare, and try to figure out what to do next. At each of those confusion points, librarians posted either signs or staff.
You might also consider what is the simplest, most economical way to explain something to your users. Often, it includes good graphics. In the case of my fitness center's parking lot, a one sentence message with a map showing the affected parking areas would have been instantly understood. As it was, people had to put in a lot of mental work (let's see, southeast would be here, and they must mean this entrance...) just to realize that they still didn't understand the message.
In an academic library, where librarians teach information literacy, it would make sense to show students how to use the databases and then ask them to write instructions for other students. Why? Because they won't mentally fill in the blanks like we do. They know from experience the ways in which the search interface doesn't make sense, and they will tackle those problems head on.
One of the presentations I have delivered frequently is on how to train seniors in using the internet. I'm good at it because, since I was over 50 when our library first got Netscape, I KNOW where, why, and how they are confused. I know they don't pay any attention to the browser functions, don't understand the distinction between the browser itself and the web content. I know that the first experience of the net is getting sort of seasick as you click from one site to another and have no idea what you're doing, where you are, or how to get back to where you were. I answer those questions up front in my teaching and in my handouts. I go slowly, and I tell them exactly which keys I'm pushing, and why.
And since I'm their generation, I also understand the trusting world view they were brought up with that makes them such ripe and juicy targets for con artists, so I show them how to figure out how to evaluate both the information and the information provider. I also show them a few things they should never ever do, like download attachments from strangers.
That brings me to another way of figuring out how to think like your users: ask them what they wish they had known when they first used your building/computers/internet/databases. Then figure that input into your future signage, maps, and instructions.
And you might spend some time analyzing the dumb questions you get. If people keep asking you where the copy machine is when they're standing right by a sign for the copiers, you just might have a problem with either the wording or placement of that sign.
I notice library signs and instructions a lot more now than I used to, and the reason is this: I'm not a practicing librarian anymore. I'm a library user. And you know what? Like any other library user, I want you to think like me. I want a library that is so intuitive and well-signed that I don't HAVE to ask questions.
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COOL QUOTE:
The user is not broken. Your system is broken until proven otherwise... The most significant help you can provide your users is to add value and meaning to the information experience, wherever it happens; defend their right to read; and then get out of the way... Information flows down the path of least resistance. If you block a tool the users want, users will go elsewhere to find it. You cannot change the user, but you can transform the user experience to meet the user. Meet people where they are--not where you want them to be.
Karen G. Schneider. "The User Is Not Broken." Free Range Librarian, June 3, 2006 http://freerangelibrarian.com/2006/06/the_user_is_not_broken_a_meme.php
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