Designing for failure

It only takes going through a handful of creative projects to realize that virtually every tiny thing is done purposefully. Very little happens by accident, and because of this, one of my mini-pastimes is looking at common designs and trying to figure out how they came to be (or, in contrast, why antiquated designs went out of style). Last night I was pondering how the anthropomorphizing of food -- a smiley face on a popcorn box or a cup of soda -- became a successful marketing technique. And I've been wondering for months about the process that led to the creation of traffic signs -- perhaps the most vital instance of usability in action, as a failure to communicate properly could be fatal.

But I'd like to focus right now on the concept of designing for failure. Of course, an ideal system would make it virtually impossible for someone to fail, but even the most simplistic and clear designs are going to stump a few people, and sometimes failure can occur due to other complexities in the system. My shining example? Copy machines.



(Okay I know that's not a copy machine but at least it involves a cat.)

Jams in the copy machine are obscenely commonplace, as anyone who has worked in an office knows, and they can be extremely frustrating. But they're unavoidable; the mechanics of these machines are so complex that the smallest problems can trigger a jam. I imagine that early copying machines broke down so frequently that calling for a repairman became an untenable situation, and the "fix it yourself" process for un-jamming a copier became a standard for the industry. You know the drill, open the side of the machine, pull out tray 3a, take out the jammed paper from some spinny thingy labeled 5c, etc. It's annoying, but it usually works, and you can get back to copying. The time and cost savings of not having to call a repairman is well worth the minor inconvenience of having to fix it yourself.

This same concept can be applied to just about any design, including a website. You can have what you think is the most sensible site structure and design possible, with a big clearly labeled button for some key task, only to find that sometimes your visitors just miss it entirely or click the wrong thing or otherwise end up lost and confused.

The keys to anticipating error involve eliminating opportunities to make a mistake (ahem), and offering alternative paths to get to the desired result if the visitor misses or doesn't understand the primary path. While a lot of web visitors will resort to the back button and try again, you have to remember that the back button may be taking them off your site altogether. For example, let's say they search on Google for something in your industry and use the word "compare" -- this may take them to a page on your site which compares your various products. But if the visitor was looking for comparisons across a variety of brands, rather than just within one brand, the page won't be what they want, and they may end up at another site altogether. But if you have a prominent link that says "Compare to the Competition," well they just may click on that and stay with you on your site.

Other suggestions to keep visitors on the right path: use logical naming conventions (e.g., "About Us" is much more intuitive than something like "Our Way of Thinking"), provide alternative paths (e.g., include a search option, and highlight relevant contextual links on key pages, etc.), and remove anything that does not hold a lot of value to the user (a page full of marketing copy may show up high on search results but will likely not actually provide the hard info the user is looking for).

Plan for the copy jam. If you do, your visitor will be able to get back on track to find what they want rather than abandoning you entirely.