It’s 9pm, you’re at your friend’s house, and the show you’re watching ends. You scramble to change the channel but you can’t figure out the remote. You stare at dozens of buttons with no clue where to start. Doesn’t it make you feel stupid? Some experimentation might get you somewhere, but it’s not easy. Why can’t you figure it out?
In these situations, we often blame ourselves. We’re not smart, patient, or capable enough. This conclusion is incorrect ⏤ product design is the direct cause of the stress.
This realization won’t help you with your frustrating remote experience. However, it does emphasize the importance of user experience design. We can redesign experiences to create new feelings.
Next time you’re confronted with a bad user experience, spend some time brainstorming better designs. You never know where your experiments will take you.
