Design for stupid people: April 08, 2002 issue of New Thinking

April 08, 2002 New Thinking:
Design for stupid people

Website content management

Home I About I Services I Clients I Contact

New Thinking Home

Subject Classification
Reader Feedback
Subscribing
Unsubscribing
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996

Books by
Gerry McGovern

Content Critical

Gaining competitive advantage through high-quality web content

The Web Content
Style Guide

The essential guide
for online writers, editors and managers

April 08, 2002

Design for stupid people

By Gerry McGovern

The days of the Web as a frontier for pioneers are over. In a growing number of countries, the Web reflects the society at large. Ebay, AOL and Yahoo have long designed websites that are simple and easy-to-use. Web design needs to focus on ordinary people who are relatively unfamiliar with the Internet. Simplicity of design is the number one characteristic of website design that works.

Customer: "I'd like to buy the Internet. Do you know how much it is?"
Customer: "How much does it cost to have the Internet installed?"
Customer: "Can you copy the Internet for me on this diskette?"
Customer: "I would like an Internet please."
Customer: "I just got your Internet in the mail today..."
Customer: "I just downloaded the Internet. How do I use it?"
Customer: "I don't have a computer at home. Is the Internet available in book form?"
Customer: "Will the Internet be open on Memorial Day tomorrow?"
Customer: "Are you sure that the Internet isn't closed for the night?"

These are all supposedly real quotes from real people, taken from a website called Computer Stupidities. If you think the people who said these things are really stupid, then you shouldn't be designing websites.

"Indeed, from Titanic to Chernobyl—and in nine out of ten accidents in the air and on the road—human error has accounted for vastly more fatalities than malfunctioning parts or sabotage," The Economist wrote on March 14, 2002. When it comes to our tools, we make stupid mistakes all the time. Good design takes account of this and seeks to minimize the mistakes we might make.

People can't spell. Google recently published a very long list of the misspellings of the Britney Spears name. You'd be amazed at the amount of ways a name can be misspelled. Did Google sit back and laugh? No. Google implements a function which if it thinks you have misspelled something, suggests the correct spelling. That's good design.

Again and again, I receive emails from designers who tell me that my thinking on web design is so 1996. They inform me that in 2002, people are much more educated and that they demand innovation and excitement.

The reality is that there is a much greater need for simple web design today than there was in 1996. Back then we had pioneers and early adopters who tended to hunger for the new and exciting. Today, the vast majority of people on the Web do not see themselves as pioneers. They see the Web as a utility where they can pay their phone bill or check up holiday offers.

According to Nielsen NetRatings analysis of Internet access during January 2002, of the 172.8 million Americans with Internet access, 55.5 million did not go online at all that month.

Cars have been around a lot longer than the Internet. Cars are vastly easier-to-use than computers. And yet people still make all sorts of driving mistakes. So when it comes to the Internet, intelligent people will do the most amazingly stupid things.

We need to stop pushing the envelope and living on the cutting edge for a while. People make stupid mistakes all the time. But what is really stupid and truly breathtakingly moronic are designers who do not recognize this age-old fact.

Gerry McGovern

Related Links
Computer Stupidities

Next issue: Examples of cool web design
Previous issue: Don't call people users
New Thinking homepage

New Thinking Newsletter
Subscribe to this free weekly newsletter covering the role and function of content on the Web.
More info | Privacy policy
Read the current issue

Email Address:

 Subscribe  Unsubscribe

Content management seminar feedback
"Gerry's presentation was very well received by the more than 400 higher education delegates. I've chaired this meeting since 1994 and very few speakers have generated the same level of enthusiasm. Wit and wisdom is always an unbeatable combination."
Bob Johnson, American Marketing Association

“Excellent presenter ... thought-provoking and relevant. I hope we can persuade him to visit us again one day.”
Malcolm Davison
The British Association of Communicators in Business

"Hearing Gerry McGovern speaking, one can feel that he truly masters the subject of content management. He was voted ‘best speaker of the conference’ by delegates."
Toon Lowette
European Association of Directory Publishers

Find out more about Gerry McGovern's seminars

People make stupid mistakes all the time. But what is really stupid and truly breathtakingly moronic are designers who do not recognize this age-old fact.

Content Critical is recommended reading at the following universities

Augustana College, United States
Drury University, United States
Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland
Indiana University, United States
Monash University, Australia
University of Applied Sciences, Germany
University of Regina, Canada
University of Teesside, UK
Manchester Metropolitan University

Find out more about Content Critical