Anxiety Design

Posted by Jaan on November 12th, 2010 | Add your comment

If there’s one thing in our industry that needs to go away it is Anxiety Design.

You’ve been subjected to it on sites and in apps, I’m sure. It’s when the screen is overloaded with options (just in case!) and every interaction comes with an “are you sure?” alert (in case you don’t know what you’re doing). And, my personal favorite, when navigational copy repeats what’s about to happen.

“You have choosen to delete a file. Once you choose to delete a file it will be deleted. Delete the file by clicking ‘OK’ (the file will be deleted) or ‘Cancel’ to not delete the file.”

Just in case, you know, it’s not clear the first one or two times!

Deep sigh…

Why Anxiety Design happens

There are two main reasons why this is so common:

1. The site or app creator’s don’t know enough about their audience/users, including not knowing how online savvy they are.
2. The site or app creator’s don’t have enough confidence in their own skills, knowledge and experience.

Both lead to decisions based on anxiety and uncertainty. And the audience looses out.

How to fix it

1. Talk to your users, learn about who they are, what other sites and apps they use. You’ll quickly get a correct feel for what they are comfortable with. Throw in a spot of testing, ideally on a prototype. You’ll be amazed.
2. Believe in what you know, and go with it. You’re good at what you do, otherwise you wouldn’t be doing what you do. If you allow yourself to be smart, you’ll help your audience become better at what they want to achieve with your app or web site.