The Blog
Product packaging
published September 17, 2010
I have to admin that I have become an Apple fanboy. Usability and design of their products is just so good that it is quite hard not to like their gadgets. First impression is very important for us humans and we make snap decisions about product quality based on that impression. For Apple products, high quality starts from product packaging. All their packages look and feel something with a high quality.
There is much we should learn from Apple. First of all, I feel that too many software projects do not achieve top-notch usability and are producing mediocre user interfaces. Secondly, designs lack eye candy, which is something that Apple products definitely have. Many projects are in desperate need of an artistic web designer, who could take full responsibility of usability and high quality UI design. When this person does not exist, role is cast upon developers, which will in turn deliver mediocre results.
There seems to be a wide skill gap between a software developer and a web designer. Software developers are not very interested in usability and consider it somewhat secondary. Web designers have artistic creativity but have no interest in coding. As Scrum suggests, we should have a cross functional team but unfortunately in many projects team is just too homogenous and lacks artistic creativity. This creativity gap is then filled by buying layouts and mock-ups from web design companies.
This is like hiring two teams: a “visual team” and a “development team”. Of course, these two teams will not meet in person, and they only “communicate” with document handovers. Sounds crazy? Well, it is. These unnecessary handovers can distort product vision and hinder team from owning the visual plan. Much better option would be to hire a web designer and ask him to join team as a full-time member. I believe that this leads to better usability, finer architecture and less confusion about product vision.
2 Comments to Product packaging
Quick “foolproof” method to test if you are left or right brained.
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This probably has something to do with left-brain vs right-brain thinking. Check this out: http://bit.ly/dBRhG6