SensoryMetrics » bad-UI http://sensorymetrics.com re-inventing the User eXperience Thu, 22 Apr 2010 23:46:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 UI & Software: Flaky pie crust http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/05/27/ui-software-flaky-pie-crust/ http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/05/27/ui-software-flaky-pie-crust/#comments Wed, 28 May 2008 00:36:29 +0000 Mitch Brisebois http://sensorymetrics.com/?p=2028 The old adage is that data is never wrong, but its interpretation may be left to “interpretation” is a good analogy to many software systems. Back ends spew out data. Middle layers sort through it. The UI layer displays it and sometimes tries to make sense of it… Trouble is… does the user really know [...]]]> The old adage is that data is never wrong, but its interpretation may be left to “interpretation” is a good analogy to many software systems. Back ends spew out data. Middle layers sort through it. The UI layer displays it and sometimes tries to make sense of it… Trouble is… does the user really know if the final interpretation is accurate based on their interpretation of what is being said???

When you think of User Interface… STOP thinking of ONLY “ease of use”!! Think of “accuracy”, “reliability”, “effectiveness”, “efficiency”…

Consider this pile of garbage as the middle layer being spewed out from a big SQL database… Think of the light and the resulting shadow as the interpretation of that data. Is it accurate??

Inaccurate data is everywhere! Below is a Swiss Air Map. Go back to your High School Geography class… scratch your head.. and identify the cities that are way out of whack. For starters, Ottawa is certainly not located in Quebec… and Portland is not a mountain town!


Wacky map via Strange Maps
Shadow Art via Funtasticus

Post to Twitter Post to Plurk Plurk This Post Post to Yahoo Buzz Buzz This Post Post to Facebook Facebook

]]> http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/05/27/ui-software-flaky-pie-crust/feed/ 0