What Is Usability? A UX POV.

Okay, Wikipedia refers to it as "the capacity of a system to provide a condition for its users to perform the tasks safely, effectively, and efficiently while enjoying the experience".

Usability is often confounded with User Experience as a whole, but in our UX design realm, it is not the overall quality of a user interface but only one of the quality attributes used to measure the quality of a user interface & experience.

The 4 Levels of User Experience.

According the Nielsen Norman Group, one of the leading voices in the field, User Experience can be defined through 4 levels, and usability is just one of those levels. It finds itself imbricated between utility & desirability, before the last level, brand experience, which we will all cover in future articles.

Let's Break It Down.

Like in every field, the more we progress, the more specific we get, moving away from vague ideas and concepts towards well defined principles.

The Nielsen Norman Group (again!) breaks usability down into 5 components:

1. Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter the design?

Ok, some of us like it when the levels get more & more difficult in a game, whether on our smart phone or on the latest console. But let's be real, most of us would prefer a cheat code and avoid having to learn the best methods to beat the ultimate game boss!

This is why we must know who our target users are. Is it really worth the pain for them to go through the process of learning our complex user interface or do we have to make our app interface the easiest possible because we want our users to learn quickly?

The example above is eye-opening in the sense that we often look for universal explanations or a one size fit all approach. But it really depends on the product we need to design and who is going to use it.

A Whatsapp user needs to get hands on with the app very quickly while a Photoshop user can and wants to spend time to learn the complicated app interface because of the potential reward.

2. Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks?

Now that the user has used our interface and learnt how it works, the question is, how quickly can the tasks be completed.

In short, how many clicks or keystroke to achieve something? Technology was often the limit for optimum efficiency, but nowadays, everything is going faster, technology is at a peak and people have less patience.

They can easily be discouraged by an interface that looks complicated.

3. Memorability: When users return to the design after a period of not using it, how easily can they reestablish proficiency?

Let's say you are invited to your friend's birthday for the 10th time and you still need to ask for his GPS location. This means that the route to your location is so complicated that you can't remember it even if you have been there before.

This counts as much in UX design. Will our users remember how to use our application even if they come back in 6 months?

4. Errors: How many?errors do users make, how severe are these errors, and how easily can they recover from the errors?

There are 2 types of errors : Slips and Mistakes.

Slips occur when you intend to perform and action and end up doing another. For example, typing your password wrongly. You know your password, but you mistyped it.

Mistakes are made when the user goal is not in line with the current task or problem at hand. One example would be single clicking on a button and getting confused why nothing is happening, when in fact you are supposed to double-click.

Mistakes often happen when the user does not have the correct information to complete the task, while slips happen when the user already knows what to do but manages to do it wrongly.

If in everyday life you might resort to blaming the person making an error, in UX design, you want your user to glide seamlessly through your app, by anticipating the errors and by constantly giving information about how to proceed.

Your passwords for example, are usually stored in digital keychains, to reduce your errors and improve the usability.

5. Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design?

We have all heard about the little dopamine boosts we get from people liking (or loving) our post, or the endless wormhole of TikTok timeline, where you just can't stop watching the videos.

Sure, those examples are extreme and considered as negative, but it shows in a way how customer satisfaction influences the level of success you can achieve.

A UX designer ultimately wants the users to feel good while using the app. This ensures that the user will come back, but it should not be to his detriment.

Then What?

Knowing all the above though, our aim is always to improve the usability of our product and to do so, customer feedback and user testing is key. how?

Let's have a look at the recommendations of the Nielsen Norman Group:

• Find some?representative users.
• Ask the users to perform?representative tasks?with the design.
• Observe?what the users do, where they succeed, and where they have difficulties with the user interface. Shut up and?let the users do the talking.

"Makes things easier for others."

Last word.

Ultimately, as Tirish Sooriah , one of our UX designers likes to say,"Make things easier for others." This is exactly how we think about usability : As a constant quest to make the life of our customers "slash" users, easier.

Please leave a comment and like our company page if you enjoyed the read and you would like us to write more of these. It is always encouraging and motivating!