Novice vs Expert

Through popularity and imitation Gangnam Style videos, created by PSY the South Korean Internet sensation, became a viral phenomena. In much the same way, many current UX patterns have gained popularity through sharing and imitation. Do you understand what are the psychological foundations of social sharing and how do things “go viral”? Mass copying and imitation of some patterns can lead to the belief in a “Best Practice” even when the pattern is proved faulty. What are the trends that we have had to fight against, and what trends do we want take off like a cheesy horse dance.

We’ve designed a lot of user interfaces over the course of our careers, and one theme has been present across them all--a desire to create something that is easy to use for the novice user. Can mom use it, many clients have asked?

This approach may be great for a small company or for a simple website that perhaps users would only access once or twice. But what about mobile or web-based applications where the users do “their work” each day using the application?