“Usability”: The New Buzzword
I hate buzzwords.
The buzzword I find most annoying today is “usability”. That might sound a little crazy if you know me, so let me explain.
For example let us look at “usability designer”. You can find it in resumés, job postings, and titles, but what does it really mean?
The American Heritage Dictonary tells us to design is:
To conceive or fashion in the mind; invent.
and a design is many things, including:
The purposeful or inventive arrangement of parts or details
A basic scheme or pattern that affects and controls function or development
A plan; a project
and a designer is:
One that produces designs.
The ISO 9241 definition of usability is:
The effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction with which specified users achieve specified goals in particular environments.
So in order to be a Usability Designer, you would have to “produce a purposeful arrangement of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction with which users acheive goals”. Just by skimming through some of the hits with the phrase, I can tell that isnt what people mean when they use the term.
So why are they using it? Because it sounds good.
Additives like “analyst”, “specialist”, and “consultant” don’t put special meaning to what it is you really do, but its an easy filter companies use to sift through candidates for an open position. “Usability” has become one of those hot topics in the technology industry, everyone wants a piece of it, even if it is in name alone. A graphic designer had a psychology class in college which went over some Gestalt principles, and now s/he think they understand human-centered design. A Java developer read some interface guidelines and thinks s/he understands how user interact with interfaces. A manager takes and “Introduction to Usability and the Web” class and thinks s/he can troubleshoot and solve issues in their big project.
The more I dive in to human-centered design, cognitive psychology, human-computer interaction and interface/usage usability, the more I learn and the more I realise how much I don’t know. Usability isnt something that can be cookie cutted. You cant read a book or take a class or follow checklists and guidelines to create, review or manage a usable product.
Some argue whether its an opinion or science, but I think most of these people are misinformed about the concepts of usability and how it effects the user in human-centered design. The better known rules and principles and heuristics associated with usability are not some opinion of one or many designers. The concepts behind usability are supported by research in a variety of fields including psychology, technology, design and education.
I have a long way to go before I will have enough background and experience to become a formative voice concerning usability. Until that time I make sure anything I suggest is founded on research and results, and I make that not only can I explain my ideas clearly, but that I truly understand what Im trying to say. Some call it a job, but to me it is a lifestyle.
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I’m right there with you. I think too many usability “designers” think more about the colour schemes and what the buttons should look like rather than if the users are getting what they want done, done. It’s a no-brainer that most of usability is a cognitive science and most of design is an art. I really think they should stay separate, but you won’t often see this happening. One or the other always ends up dominating the project.