saulrosenbaum.com / Simple and Useable

The title of this post is Simple and Useable, two thing that I strive for in most every project, but it’s hard, Clients seem to want complex and involved, which is fine, but to meld that with good design is time consuming, and clients are generally thrifty. This week has been a particularly bad one for complexity - I spent hours in a meeting listening to a application flow that was needlessly complex, and client was under the assumption that a UI redesign would make it more useable, which I suppose could be true, but the workflow is really the issue - the whole project is the perfect example of why software engineers shouldn’t design consumer applications.

If your a application designer (or a UI designer) take a trip to a classic video arcade (every major city has one) and look for Tempest, everything you need is right there

• Simple controls: a knob and a single button
• Immediate feedback: you turn the knob, you move, you push the button you fire
• Minimal Learning curve: it may take you a few seconds to learn the mechanics of the game, knowing that the game designers made the first three levels simple
• Reward for Performance: clearing a level rewards you with a fun trip up the Tempest game-board
• Clean and simple typography: highly readable, perfectly appropriate type that integrates into the overall look and feel
• Longevity: regardless of what you feel about classic video games, I’m sure you’ll agree - Tempest was groundbreaking in it’s day, and IMHO it’s still highly playable and for the most part unique, sure it’s a little like centipede, but the linear graphics and synth soundtrack really allowed this great game to stand the test of time.

It’s Friday, take half a day, get some quarters and go play Tempest, if your boss/clients/co-workers complain, tell them I said it was okay.

Tempest on Wikipedia