My there! My name is Steve Kwan. User experience design is my passion.

A toast about a toast

(March 31st, 2008 - 10:38AM)

Conversation over beer at Memphis Blues:

Desmat:
"A toast!"

Steve:
"To what?"

Desmat:
"To beer!"

Steve:
"A meta-toast!"

Not all buttons are created equal

(March 25th, 2008 - 11:44AM)

I've been thinking a lot about buttons lately.

Everyone knows I'm a big fan of buttons. I've been getting a lot of flak at work because I recently designed a screen that has a gigantic "click here" button consuming half of the visual space. In my opinion, that screen represents the pinnacle of UI design: no confusion, and it's painfully clear what the User should do. But I digress.

Buttons are an essential navigation element on any UI, regardless of what Steve Jobs will tell you. But there's more to button design than just dropping a handful of options onto a screen. The button itself can give the User an indication of which action she should take.

Let's take a look at one of the screens we developed for docmetrics:

A screenshot with different-looking buttons.

Notice how attention is drawn to the "Next" button, whereas the "Back" and "Finish without forms" buttons are less emphasized.

This is a really subtle effect, and it may not seem like a big deal, but take a look at the same screen with similar-looking buttons instead:

A screenshot with similar-looking buttons.

Notice how your attention is no longer guided towards the "Next" button? No actions are empasized, and the User doesn't know what her "default" action should be. For the first-time User, this is a big problem.

I noticed Firefox making use of this principle. See the screenshot below. Notice that the "Back" button is significantly larger than the "Forward" button. At last! Someone acknowledges that nobody uses the "Forward" button!

Using different-looking buttons draws attention to primary actions and de-emphasizes secondary actions. If you're worried that your Users won't be sure which action should be their "default," make one of your buttons visually distinct from the others.

I need usability test subjects for docmetrics

(March 13th, 2008 - 11:42AM)

We're looking for 10 usability subjects for docmetrics. Are you interested?

The ideal usability candidate is:

• a semi-skilled computer user.
• a working professional.
• in the Vancouver area.
• willing to come down to our Yaletown office for about an hour.

As a thank you gift, we're offering a $25 Starbucks gift certificate to all volunteers.

If you or anyone you know is interested, please contact me to set up an appointment.

Docmetrics 1.1 released!

(March 6th, 2008 - 2:22PM)

Docmetrics 1.1 is finally out the door, with great new lead generation features for your PDFs.

Docmetrics 1.1 has two main components:

1. lead generation. Find out who is really reading your documents, what they think, and convert them to sales.
2. document analytics. Ever wondered why you can't generate Google Analytics-style reports for your PDF documents? Well, now you can with docmetrics.

I'm the user experience designer for docmetrics, meaning that I designed the application, wrote the requirements, and fielded usability issues.

Here are some screenshots.

Adding documents to docmetrics.

Creating a form in docmetrics.

A detailed lead report in docmetrics.

A list of leads in docmetrics.

Selecting a report in docmetrics.

Docmetrics accounts are free for the first 14 days (no credit card required), so please sign up and let me know what you think.

Sign up for your free docmetrics trial account!