A Bad User Interface Is A Cranky Receptionist

You enter an office for the first time. The first thing that greets you is the view of a glowering receptionist, slumped deep into their chair and chewing gum brashly. You take a few hesitant steps towards the front desk. The receptionist looks at you, tuts, and raises a surly eyebrow. How do you feel about continuing?

Now, let us say you begin a trial of a new piece of office software. You open the application for the first time, with the expectation of using it right away. Instead, you are presented with a mess of buttons and a sprawling, dense navigation that leaves you overwhelmed. How do you feel about continuing?

Offline, a cranky receptionist is a direct experience affront. In the digital world, that cranky receptionist takes shape in the form of a bad user interface (UI). Both are off-putting, both are uninviting, and both are thoroughly unexpected. Unfortunately, both leave a bad taste that lasts.

The impact of that initial unpleasantness is jarring, sometimes so much so that the journey ends there. And while a receptionist may yet be able to salvage the situation with a hasty smile or joke, there is no such intervention when a user hits (x) on your app.

Just look at the digital landscape we are in. The days of the instruction manual are long gone. The web has been tamed and standardised. Apps are downloaded in a click; products need no explanation and users have no tolerance for complexity. If consumers do not ‘get’ your product right away, they are not likely to persevere. For websites, products, and apps alike, a bad first impression can often be the last one.

A bad user interface is like getting a grunt instead of a greeting. When presented with the unpleasant surprise of an antiquated or hectic UI, the user stumbles and starts feeling both distaste and distrust.

This is not just a small starting hiccough. For the end user, your interface is your brand. It is how they interact with your product; their chief touch point with your company. Implicitly but intrinsically, then, your user interface is linked with the calibre of your product or service.

It is all too easy to write off judgements that are based only on an interface as shallow ones. What does it matter if the UI is a little ugly if the technology behind it performs flawlessly?

Well, it matters a lot. Judging a product or app by its user interface is not like judging a book by its cover — it is like judging a book by its readability. If the content is unnavigable and convolute, the validity of its message is of little value to the struggling reader.

Poor usability fosters mistrust about your brand. Even if your application is not always crashing or throwing up error messages, a bad UI projects a bad attitude impression.

Let us return to the receptionist. Their hostile welcome has instantly rubbed a bad attitude off on the guest. If the guest proceeds at all, they do so reluctantly, with former enthusiasm wiped out and disapproval in its place. In short, the company attitude problem has turned into a customer attitude problem.

To simplify right down to the core: bad UI puts users in a bad mood.

It should go without saying: putting users off your product is not a good idea for your bottom line. Despite that, many companies still scrimp on design. All too often, the UI is an afterthought; a hastily thrown together postscript that has been relegated behind back-end functionality.

Invisible usability is all about ease and effortlessness. In the physical world, for example, you would train a receptionist to eliminate all friction when getting guests through the door.

Their posture would be impeccable: open, upright, and relaxed. Their manner would be similarly engaging: warm, professional, and efficient. Their language would be clear, their attire would be smart, and their face would wear a smile. The receptionist, in short, would be trained to do everything in their power to create a smooth, positive visitor experience.

Ultimately, that is also the first (and ongoing) job of your UI. While you cannot request a chirpy smile from an interface, you can design it to be as frictionless as possible. The basics of a good UI are universal: simple, slim-lined, consistent and predictable. Just like any receptionist worth their salt will follow a standard pattern of behaviour, any UI worth its salt should follow the fundamental basics.

A cranky, unwelcoming receptionist will make offline customers disinclined to engage with your company. Their antagonism sets instant alarm bells ringing, sending off negative signals the moment the visitor passes the threshold.

A bad UI does the same. It is the product or app equivalent of a mishandled, moody entrance into a building, making the user want to turn right back around and exit. And digitally, when there is nobody to see the user leaving, no abandonment guilt or fear of being impolite, a user with a poor first impression is more likely to leave.

It all boils down to this: your user interface is the face of your company. Do not make yours miserable.

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