[IxDA Discuss] product SUITE design

[Wilson, Russell]

Thanks Joseph.  

To me, consistency is the safe choice.  But from an "ideal"
design perspective, it seems like an uninspired choice.  

I've run into several situations where we have "shoe-horned" 
some function into an existing control/pattern, etc.,
for consistency's sake.  For example, we have time navigation
for reporting in all of our products, but the way the data is
stored in the products is very different (it's rolled up
differently, etc.).  So one time navigator doesn't perfectly
fit across all products, however I've had several people make
the argument to me that there should be one and only one way
of "selecting time" across any of our products.

So, for a hypothetical but concrete exercise, let's say that 
in product A in the suite, you can select any arbitrary time frame,
but in product B in the suite, you can only select fixed durations --
do you create a "fixed duration selector" for both, or do you create
a "fixed duration selector for one" and a more flexible time frame
selector for the other?  (in the real-world situation, I did not
make them consistent because that would have reduced the functionality
of the more flexible time selector, but users *did* stumble over time
selection when using both products).

 



-----Original Message-----
From: Joseph Selbie [mailto:jselbie at tristream.com] 
Sent: Friday, August 03, 2007 11:27 AM
To: 'Mark Schraad'; Wilson, Russell
Cc: 'IXDA list'
Subject: RE: [IxDA Discuss] product SUITE design

I agree with Mark in the main, and with context, I know that I might
give a
different answer -- but I would tend to consistency over context because
I
believe consistency (for new users) is generally more user friendly than
having context specific navigation. I would reverse myself on this if it
were the case that the one product you want to deviate on were your most
popular or best selling, in which case it would deserve to be the
centerpiece of usability.

Tough to give you very good answer without context, but I hope this
might
help.

Joseph Selbie
http://www.tristream.com

-----Original Message-----
From: discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com
[mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of
Mark
Schraad
Sent: Friday, August 03, 2007 8:57 AM
To: Wilson, Russell
Cc: IXDA list
Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] product SUITE design

Great questions.

I do not have 'the' answer, but I know that generally I tend to defer to
context over consistency. 

This is not a decision that is exclusive to UI (IMO). The business and
brand/marketing should weigh into this decision as well.

Depending upon how engaged your users are and how much elasticity there
is
in the user's need or product loyalty - you may be able to afford some
minor
or purposeful inconsistencies. While heavy users get the most benefit
from
consistency, they will also likely be the best at adopting to minor
shifts,
depending upon how likely they are to switch o the next competitive
product.

Mark


On Friday, August 03, 2007, at 11:48AM, "Wilson, Russell"
<Russell.Wilson at netqos.com> wrote:
>I'm struggling a little with the design of a product suite.
>
> 
>
>The products perform very different functions, but they do
>
>makeup a suite of tools that can be used in conjunction.
>
> 
>
>The struggle is: 
>
> 
>
>1)      What design elements (banners, navigation, interaction
patterns,
>etc.) should be the same?  
>
>2)      What can be different?  Can I have different navigation
>mechanisms for two tools in a suite?
>
>3)      What is key (from a design perspective) to presenting a
>connected suite of tools?
>
> 
>
>I tried at one point to fit all the products into one navigation style,
>but for at least one
>
>of the products, I was sacrificing usability for the sake of
>consistency.  So, I can create "optimal"
>
>designs for each product, but how do I make them come together?  
>
> 
>
>My current gameplan involves making several mechanisms within the
>products consistent (the
>
>way a user expands a window, visual elements and icons, etc.), but the
>overall navigation is
>
>different.  To me, this "threads" the products together.  But I'm
>concerned that navigation is
>
>so different...
>
> 
>
>The best design for a particular function VERSUS consistent coordinated
>design???
>
> 
>
>Thanks,
>
>Russ
>
>blog:  http://www.dexodesign.com
>

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