Albert Einstein once said that,
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”
In terms of this topic, I’d really like to adapt that.
Design without usability is lame, usability without design is blind.
Ok, so this may cause a little bit of friction between me and the usability purists, but I’ll try my best to explain myself.
As a more design and development orientated person, I tend to find that usability, although good, tends to lack in the creative side of things. It’s become more of a science rather than an exercise/task that should be used to improve the user’s interactivity within a website. In so many occasions design aspects (and is some cases branding) has been skimmed down or even simply ditched because they ‘get in the way of the usability’. Where is the line drawn between good design/usability and exploring newer creative ways of displaying data to the user? Personally, I think that if a website has 20-30 links on any given page so be it(there may be a half decent reason for it)…would it not be at that point where more confidence needs to be put in the hands of the designer(s) to make things look good. The science needs to go back to its roots and learn how to work in conjunction with the design and, even at the best of times, best coding practices again to produce a healthier movement forward in terms of the future of web design and development.
Over the past few years, a lot more emphasis has been put on the users experience visiting any given website. That’s brilliant. Love it and I agree, it is important but, all the research is based on what the user is used to. As humans, like it or not, we are all reluctant to change. My question is…unless we take the next step, be it a big step or a small one, the evolution of design on the web will stagnate, and really…where is the fun in that?
As web professionals, usability experts and designers need to find a better balance in terms of the way we work and move forward. Like I said, Design without usability is lame, usability without design is blind…a greater balance is needed.