Support users’ preference to begin exploring the interface immediately by allowing them to learn the interface through trial and error, without that experimentation resulting in loss of work or irreparable damages.įor example, limit users’ ability to carry out a long sequence of actions without seeing the results of those actions. (This phenomena is known as the paradox of the active user.) While it would be risky and inappropriate to rely solely on trial-and-error learning for applications in mission- or safety-critical domains, some degree of learning by doing will always be required, because it’s not possible to cover all uses of a system in a training course or manual. Users are more motivated to begin their tasks than spend time consuming tutorials, documentation, or other types of help or setup content. Research shows that, when introduced to an application or system, users prefer to start using it immediately, undeterred by its level of complexity. This article outlines 8 guidelines for complex-application design, given the shared challenges that designers and researchers face while working on these applications. Mitigate the risks of executing high-impact (or high-value) tasks, where high loss (e.g., revenue or even lives) is at stakeĭespite the great variance, many of the same challenges exists across all complex applications, both for practitioners creating these complex applications and the end users relying on them for their work.Require handoff or collaboration among multiple roles, tools, or platforms.Support problem solving or end goals with unknown or variable underlying tasks.
Help users navigate and manage large underlying data sets and enable advanced sensemaking or data analysis.Support highly trained users with specialized knowledge.Complex apps certainly vary in the type of workflows and end users they support - from research scientists to military professionals to financial analysts, for example - but they often share similar qualities. We’ve previously defined a complex application as any application supporting the broad, unstructured goals or nonlinear workflows of highly trained users in specialized domains.
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