Lou Fuiano
ITI Spring 2006
Duff

Don't Make Me Think
Steve Krug

Don't Make Me Think

Krug's article has some zip to it. In the spirit of Norman, he sounds the siren of usability, specifically web usability, to designers everywhere. His voice however is more about practicality and less about rapping the knuckles of designers who just can't seem to get over themselves.

I liked this article for, you guessed it, it's usability. As someone who is relatively new to the problems and solutions of designing for the screen, this was very helpful. Sure, he maybe just confirming what Norman has already outlined, but this has a direct application and a lighter tone.

Krug gets things started when he talks about what we design for as opposed to what is actually seen. Essentially pointing out how we "scan pages" as opposed to read them. This seems to reference Norman's observations about knowledge in the world and knowledge in the head. What with so much information and the ability to interact, it seems as though the screen has become a new terrain wherein information has become an organic landscape that we peruse on the fly. It's all in the name of a brisk moving culture where we're in a big hurry to get to the next thing, whether we need it or not. Krug also mentions that we've been preparing for this all of our lives. We tend to consume magazines, books and newspapers in much the same way.

SATISFICE
Krug mentions the term "satisfice", introduced by economist Herbert Simon. This comes from the behavior of people who make quick decisions that are not necessarily based on the best option, but the first reasonable option. Why? Because we can. Unlike the firefighters used in the example from the Klein book "Sources of Power", there is little or no risk in decisions made on the screen.

Great examples were the dog in the Larson cartoon. The dog only hears it's name. All else is jibberish. Web users are not very different. While the content creator or designer has lofty ideas of what the user needs, many users only want what specifically concerns them. They seem to fly by everything else, even though it may be useful.

Krug closes his article by saying that the designers efforts are not in vain. Ultimately, if we can make the user feel smarter, there is a good chance that they will return. However, Krug warns that there have been some very effective standards set-up in web navigation. In an effort to earn their fee, designers often try to reconfigure these standards. Krug reminds the designer that they need not re-invent the wheel, unless it's a significantly better wheel.

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