[IxDA Discuss] The Black Art of Usability

[David Armano]

One of my favorite whitepapers is The Essence of Effective Rich Internet Applications by Kevin Mullet of Macromedia (2003).  It provides a nice POV relevant to UX, Design and IA related disciplines.  One thing that always stuck with me was this portion of it:

“Usability has always been the most difficult quality to instill in software design. It sits at the 
junction of form and function to constrain and inform the design of both aspects of the 
product. While still viewed as a black art by some, there is a substantial body of formal 
knowledge in psychology and human factors and a long history of accepted practice in the 
design disciplines that can guide the creation of usable products.“

While most of us would probably agree that making something usable isn’t easy—I’m curious how this group feels about about the “black art” part of the statement.  Do you think that usability is perceived as a “black art” by some?  If so—why?  If not—why?

Respectfully,

David Armano
http://darmano.typepad.com