A month or so ago I was asked to review an application that would be used on a website for signing up to a seminar. It was DENSE. I had all kinds of little nit-picky items like may we contact you using the phone? may we contact you using email? may we call you by your name? (that last one was mine. hahah)
They only needed this:
Name
Office Phone
Cell Phone
Time Zone
Email
They had FOUR TIMES this amount on the form, not to mention 18 (eighteen) other navigational elements. When I provided them the simplified form there was a comment from someone who looked at it with us during a conference call. “That’s it? Oh gosh, we could have done that!” …. right.
You see, simple design is not easy. That’s why so many websites, appliances, car dashboards, computers, phones, remote controls, etc. are so hard to use. Apple gets it. Bosch gets it. Google gets it. I try very hard to also get it.
I just got the chance to do some marketing for a cool product called the Frame-Tamer. It’s one of those products that is SO SIMPLE that it cannot be used wrong. It’s perfect. I couldn’t make it any better than it is if I wanted to. Like a hammer. There really is only one way to use it. That’s why I think it’s going to do well ($12.95, by the way, it’s a steal.)
Websites aren’t like this. To make them simple you must give up the notion that “if we pay a lot for this design it better be flashy!”…
