The Dangers of Sampling

Designing interfaces for complex Web apps is difficult for a number of reasons: business requirements, technology, user-based conventions, subjective preferences, etc, but one way to help move the process along is the practice of adhering to conventions observed through sampling. Observing how a problems is solved in other places (effectively or not) helps provide supporting evidence for a decision as well as the peace of mind that comes with knowing people have some experience with the task.

Sampling can also inform subjective preferences like color palette or typeface. “Salesforce uses a lot of red and we have the same customers so we should use a lot of red…” for example. This is, arguably, harmless enough–though certainly doesn’t do much for establishing your product as unique–but if not kept in check, sampling experiences can have potentially devastating consequences. Enter Microsoft’s Bing search engine.

In Ryan Singel’s Wired article, “Kayak to Bing: Stop Copying Us! - Update” the similarities of Bing’s travel site and the popular travel site, Kayak, are profiled along with the pending “discussions” between the two organizations legal departments. How Bing ended up looking like it did is something that may be very difficult to identify in the end. It may be a result of technology requirements, cross-industry usability research, or a lazy UX designer (though I doubt as much). Ultimately, it’s unfortunate that the process of observing best practices, which may have started with the best of intentions, has lead to something so poorly vetted. Microsoft continues to struggle with courting the Web audience and I suspect this is mostly to blame. When you want to be a part of the club, you’re going to dress like everyone else in the club.

A big part of what user experience design attempts to achieve is the balance between unique and usable, innovative and simple. If Kayak has identified an interaction design pattern that makes for the best possible presentation of search results for airline tickets I find it a little difficult to defend the idea that nobody else should be able to incorporate that pattern into their own experiences. This line between innovation and usability will continue to blur as more and more of our digital interactions shift from the desktop to the browser and it will be the shared responsibility of businesses, technologists, and designers to make sure we can walk that line.

What are you making with your stencil?

Love this little creation from Scott Dierdorf:

Family portrait made with my new web site design stencil from @designcom.http://twitpic.com/82yxa

So, how about it–what are you doing with your DC stencils?

Resume, yes–but cover letter? Definitely.

37 Signals has a post about the importance of nailing your cover letter when you are applying for a job and I can’t agree more. As we continue to review applications for our Web Developer position, I’m amazed at how little effort people sometime put into the process of applying for a job with us. Here are a few hints for those who have yet to get in touch:

• First, and I know this sounds insane but it’s happened, address the letter to the right place. Seriously, we’ve gotten canned cover letters that were addressed to the wrong design studio. I can’t even tell you how quickly I deleted that email.
• Try to help us understand why you, more than anyone else, bring value to our team. There are a million-and-one people out there with your skills–I promise. What sets you apart is the value above those skills. It’s very hard to articulate in a resume, but a cover letter is the perfect place.
• Along those lines, don’t rehash your resume in your cover letter. You resume should be well organized and descriptive and if it is, you won’t need to summarize it for me in your cover letter. Use that for telling a more unique story.
• Finally, research our company. Then, in your cover letter, address who we are, what we do, and why that matters to you. It’s not that much work–read our Website, do a Google search or two, ask around. It only takes a little time, but it shows us that you really care about getting a job here.

Being a part of any design team is a very tricky thing. The chemistry has to be just right, and the more we can tell about you and how you’ll fit into our team, the better shot you’ll have.