Meg Peters — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:55 GMT

Thanks for your insights, Chris. Possibly the strongest connection between the Guiding Principles and design behaviors and patterns is the need to design personalized experiences that support user needs and that balance those needs with business objectives (as you note).

Kudos on creating an effective framework for discussing and making decisions about interaction design. Our projects also tend to be incredibly complex, and it’s helpful to have objective criteria for evaluating “pieces” of the user experience. To refer to a Guiding Principle: “Make sure visual and verbal cues match the site’s performance…” Having this standard keeps discussion focused on the UE and prevents the team from getting sidetracked on design versus technical tangents.

Meg Peters — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:55 GMT

Thank you, Masood. You make a great point that the user interface should be designed thoughtfully so as not to overwhelm the user. I like to imagine “layers” of info that’s not all displayed but is easy to find if the user needs it.

An example on Marriott.com is the form for joining the Marriott Rewards loyalty program: https://marriott.com/rewards/createAccount/createAccountPa…

The boxes in the right column summarize and link to pop-up windows containing the privacy statement and info about security. This allows users to get key info on the join page, and it gives them access to more detailed info about privacy and security while they are considering whether they would like to provide personal info. This “layering” also keeps them within the context of their primary task: joining Marriott Rewards. Forrester cited this page as an example of best practices in a recent teleconference by Harley Manning titled “Beating The Three Web Design Challenges” (3/6/06).

The tricky part is deciding what info, and how much, to include where. Testing users is the best way to determine that.

Boxes and Arrows: Comments by Meg Peters