One great logo

This is apparently a few months old, but I just spotted it for the first time this past week. Boston has long struggled to make the Downtown Crossing area into a nicer shopping area/pedestrian mall, and their efforts have largely been met with a "meh."

If this logo is any indication, they are moving in the right direction. I generally think overly clever logos with overlapping words just end up looking confusing and overwrought, but in this instance the words overlap brilliantly and the T-as-cross really fits perfectly with the "Crossing" aspect.

I haven't been this impressed by a logo in a long time!

Pointless "innovation" (the new iPod Shuffle)

Before I began this blog, I attempted a different style of blogging elsewhere that was intended to focus more on good/bad examples of design. My first example of good design was the iPod Shuffle. The multi-colored clip-on items were only a little bigger than a postage stamp and I loved them. They were perfect for the gym, or if I wanted to ride the subway in town for a night out without having to stuff my pockets with an iPod.

Today Apple announced the new version of the Shuffle. It is not all that drastic a change, and there are some new features I like, such as the ability to hear the song/artist name spoken to you while listening and the addition of controls to the headphones.

But most of the other changes seem either pointless or actually negative.

• The Shuffle is now even physically smaller than before -- but was anyone even asking for this? The previous Shuffle was tiny as it was -- it weighed less than an ounce already. I can see the benefit in reducing weight with slightly larger objects, even something as small as a cell phone can benefit from being a few ounces lighter. But when you are changing something to be tenths of an ounce lighter, will anyone care?
• There are now no buttons on the Shuffle itself. The idea of adding inline buttons to the earphones is great -- but making that the ONLY way to interact with the device is a mistake. You are now requiring your audience to use only specially designed earphones with the device.
  
• The size of the storage has increased to 4GB. There really isn't any harm in adding more storage, but for many people the 1GB (or 2GB) was probably sufficient. And the new 4GB is over 60% more expensive than the old 1GB. Is that price increase worth a memory jump that many may not need? For now, the old 1GB version is still available, but it will undoubtedly be phased out.
  
• This is purely cosmetic, but -- why only silver/dark gray options for colors? Apple has an affection for clean lines, which I love, but when your object is about half the size of your pinky finger with no buttons or interface on most of the surface, you risk going from "sleek" to "lifeless." A little color would at least allow some personality.

I have to wonder, why did Apple bother? The voice reading of tracks was a very nice touch, but otherwise there is little innovative here. In terms of convenience, the size of the Shuffle was no longer an issue. The area probably most asking for innovation is the headphones now -- wires still get tangled, they are aesthetically unpleasing sometimes, and can get caught on things. Why not focus their innovative efforts on something like making wireless earphones standard? And if that is a difficult goal, why even bother at all with tweaking something that was already extremely effective as is?

Trust and faith in design

It's a cliche to make fun of older generations and their discomfort with technology, but that stereotypical technophobia is really just an extreme version of something all of us probably feel at some point or another: a lack of trust and faith in the system we are using.

What does this button do?
I remember having someone ask me, "What do I do to submit the form? Do I press the submit button?" The answer, to most of us, is "yes, duh." But what if the question is less clear? Navigational terms don't match what you thought you'd find. Something you thought was a free trial asks for your credit card and doesn't explain why. A link that seemed obvious takes you to a completely unexpected page or site. In each case, the design is playing fast and loose with the user's trust and faith, and as a result, is probably failing the user's needs.

Anticipate the next step
Good design anticipates what the user will want. On your homepage, offer links to the things your visitors most likely will want. Look at the search terms people use to find things on your site, and make sure your navigational terms match them. Whenever you ask a user for information, explain why you want it and how it will be used.

Explain yourself
One place that I frequently see abused is the "contact us" page -- many sites will ask for name, address, phone number, email, sometimes even fax number and company, and in worst-case scenarios, they'll even tack on some "survey" type questions -- even if all you wanted to do was maybe email them to ask about the release date of an upcoming product. In that scenario, literally the only piece of information the company actually needs is your email address. So why ask for the moon? Is it because your designer just used a "contact us" template and didn't really think about what that means for the user? Is it because you are adding me to a database you are going to sell to third parties? And even if all you do ask for is my email address, will you start sending me unwanted email newsletters without asking? Tell the user up front, and let them make the informed decision. (Even better, in this scenario, you could save the user and yourself time by having just clearly listed the product release date on your site in the first place.)

Expect questions, and provide answers
One thing I try to do when starting any project is just write down a list of questions I think a user/visitor may have, based on the type of site/product and the customer base. I try not to get overly specific but the questions should not just be the broad ones either -- for example, on a shoe site, I wouldn't write out questions about a particular pair of shoes, but I might write out questions about broader types of shoes, or questions that might apply to any individual pair of shoes.

Prioritize and group logically
From there, I try to group the questions logically, and see if they align to particular terms. If possible, prioritize the questions as well, and make it easier to find the answers to those more essential questions. This is also where some statistical data can come in handy -- search terms used, frequency of visits to particular areas of a site, volume of support emails/calls about particular topics. Maybe half the visitors to your site are just trying to find your address, and already know all about your product/service. You could have a beautiful, highly usable presentation of your product line, but if that address is hard to find, you are failing half your audience from the start.

I've found that structuring a website around this is a good way to meet user's needs, and a lot of this work can inform other decisions down the line, and make it easier to work in changes/new ideas -- just follow a mini-version of these steps (asking questions, grouping them, working out logical answers) and see if your architecture already accommodates these changes or if you need to restructure.

By anticipating everything the user will want, and providing easy answers to key questions and presenting them at logical points, you build that trust and faith. You're more likely to have a happy customer, and you reduce anxiety.

Usability Case Study: Comcast

I've heard a lot of horror stories about Comcast -- terrible customer service, too expensive, half-assed installations that sometimes end up destroying walls -- but when I moved this past weekend into a new apartment in Boston, I had to say goodbye to RCN and sign up with Comcast.

I try to keep an open mind, so I was willing to let the bad stories I'd heard recede, and look at my Comcast experience with out prejudging. Some of the experience was bad, some was good. Overall, for Comcast, this can serve as a case study in how they could improve their sign up process.

1. Signing up online
The first thing I did was visit the Comcast website and try to put together the package I wanted. We needed cable and internet, but no phone, and they did have a bundle for those two things. But they only had ONE bundle -- oddly enough, with the most basic cable offering they have, which excluded a few too many channels for my liking. When I tried to build my own bundle with the next level of cable, any bundle savings were erased, and there was no option to upgrade the basic bundle. Here I was, a customer wanting to spend MORE than the basic bundle offered, but the online system offered no way to do this. I gave up.
Verdict: FAIL
How to fix it: System should genuinely show all options, and make it easier to customize your package.

2. Signing up by phone automated prompts
Defeated by their website, I decided to just call to set it up. The very first thing that comes up in their automated prompt is "Enter the phone number where you would like service." This is a problem on many levels. First, Comcast offers phone service, so you could conceivably NOT have a phone number yet for the place you want to have it installed. Second, and here's what applies in my case, I am a cell-only person and do not have or want a landline. So the place where I want service has no phone number. Hoping to get to a prompt that makes more sense, I hit #. It asks me for my number again, and I hit # again hoping I'll get an operator or something. Instead it reads me back the phone number of the line I am calling on, assuming it is where I want service. Since I am calling from a landline at work, this is definitely not the number I want, so I hit a series of other buttons hoping to get out of installing cable at my workplace. Eventually, I somehow get a live person.
Verdict: FAIL
How to fix it: I suspect this may be the case, but a simple change in language could go the distance -- "Enter the phone number you would like to use for your contact information. If you are ordering phone service as part of your package, press *." This addresses both problem scenarios -- you don't have a landline, or you are adding a new landline.

3. Signing up by phone with a representative
Once I finally got a representative, which didn't take very long (no 30 minute wait for me), the process actually went quite smoothly. The man was helpful, understood exactly what I was asking for, explained the pricing and the promotional period, set up installation, it was a breeze. The only thing I realized after the call was that he had never taken my email address, which would've been nice so I could've gotten some email confirmation. But, not a big deal.
Verdict: SUCCESS

4. Installation
The installation was supposed to happen between 11am-1pm, and just as scheduled they showed up just after 11am, even though there was a huge snowstorm. They installed everything quickly, and were very nice -- they even took my roommate's old cable box with them to save him the return hassle.
Verdict: SUCCESS

5. Setting up internet
The one thing I had to set up on my own was the internet. They brought the modem but I had to activate it. Which would've been a breeze, except the first thing the system asks for is your account number. Since I had never been asked for my email address, I had no email record with that information. I looked through the documents the installers brought, and nothing had any personalized information -- no account number there either. I had never been given my account number! And the prompts offered no "don't have your account number?" prompt like many online services offer for people in my shoes. I had to call to get it, and this time I did have to wait about 10+ minutes on the phone to get a representative. Fortunately they gave me my number quickly, and then I was able to complete the setup.
Verdict: MIXED
How to fix it: Installation should come with some sort of confirmation sheet or other personalized document including your account number. But ideally, the internet activation should offer a "don't have your account number?" link that lets you enter in other information (SSN, phone number, address, etc.).

6. Ordering TiVo service on the website
Once I got everything set up, I tried to hook up my old TiVo box and realized that my new fancy HD setup did not work with my old school TiVo -- and the TiVo couldn't even communicate with the cable box to change channels, making it useless completely. I had seen billboards around town advertising that Comcast had partnered with TiVo to offer that service. Since I hate typical cable DVRs, I thought this would be a great alternative. I go online to the Comcast TiVo site, and it asks me for my zip code to check availability. Success! It is available locally (which makes sense, given the billboards). Now it's redirecting me to the order page, and... "This package or service is no longer available." What? In fact I can't find anything on the site to actually order the service. Which I know they are offering.
Verdict: FAIL
How to fix it: See #1. Don't tell me you have a service and then don't let me sign up for it. Get your system up to date, Comcast! Furthermore, include pricing information up front -- the page for TiVo did not include this.

7. Ordering TiVo via live chat
Just to try one more avenue of communication, I decide to use the live chat function rather than waiting on hold for a phone representative. No one is immediately available on the chat, but it does tell me what number I am in the queue, which is nice. It takes about 5-10 minutes for someone to show up, but since I am online I am able to do other things so I don't mind the wait. The representative is very helpful, answers my questions quickly, and I am surprised to learn that to get TiVo HD I do not need to buy a box or even pay an expensive initial setup fee, and the monthly fee is actually less than I was paying on my old TiVo. A pleasant surprise. The installation is set up quickly, and I'm done.
Verdict: SUCCESS

Overall, I was impressed by the actual human interactions -- people were friendly, and although not every phone call/live chat was answered immediately, the waits weren't too terrible. As for the website, it proved almost completely useless. It did not show all the options available, and in the case of TiVo, didn't even show the service at all. Even worse was the automated phone system, which started of on such a wrong footing that I got worried I was going to accidentally set up something at the complete wrong location.

Now I am not someone who hates using websites and automated phone systems to complete transactions -- in fact I prefer it greatly. If I can set something up without having to talk to someone, I am happy, as it saves me time and I can do it whenever I want. And, as far as I know, it greatly reduces the cost to the company. One client I worked with once mentioned that it cost them $14 per call due to the costs of maintaining that system and paying for call representatives. It would be to Comcast's extreme benefit to improve their system. And considering they are a company offering internet service, it speaks quite poorly of them that they cannot even offer a successful online interface.

Now let's just see how billing goes...