A lesson on intuition

To be intuitive or not to be, that is not the question.

One of the first lessons I learned as a designer was how to design intuitive experiences. Seems naturally right. (Ha, get it?)

But what does the word intuitive even mean? It’s instinct, it’s ease. So in order to design intuitive experiences, we want to create experiences that are straightforward and clear for our users, right? Think about it, do you ever purposely design experiences that are hard to use? Gosh, I sure hope not.

Picture a product that made absolutely no sense to you. Perhaps you were thinking of push doors with handles? Checkmarks beside error messages? Elevator buttons where the ground floor is at the top? These experiences were probably very frustrating, and may have resulted in you pulling your hair out screeching, “This isn’t even intuitive!”

The thing is, it is intuitive. It’s intuitive to the designer who made the product, and therein lies the issue. The experience shouldn’t be catered to the designer, but rather the user. The problem that arises with designing intuitive experiences is when we design experiences for our users with concepts that only make sense to us. One of our favorite designers, Don Norman, mentions how it is not the user’s responsibility to know how to use your product; the responsibility lies on you.

You may have faced this problem before when you were conducting usability tests. You walk into the room, confident with your designs, knowing that your user will have no problem completing all the tasks that you’ve so gracefully lined up for them. You got this!

Five minutes in, you don’t got this. Your user isn’t completing the tasks the way you assumed they would. That hamburger menu creatively represented by a delicious burger icon? Totally missed that. (Honestly, this is hilarious. But that’s because I refer to it as a hamburger menu and not as the three-lined menu icon.) You get the point. When we say that we design intuitive experiences, that includes the research that goes in to truly understand our users and what is intuitive to themthem.

To be intuitive or not to be, that is not the question. The next time you’re looking at your wireframes and wondering if they make sense, don’t. Get out there and test your ideas with your users! Whether it’s a complete prototype or some basic sketches, it doesn’t matter. But I know you don’t want to be the next designer who places light switches on the outside of the bathroom! 😉

Also, we’re hiring! If you’re a designer looking to help redefine and champion patient wellness in health tech, shoot me a message!