When big things are out of control, little things come to the rescue
My role as a designer makes it impossible to stop deconstructing the roadblocks I encounter in daily life like bad hospital wayfinding, public showers without a hook or shelf, bus stops without shelters, and dresses without pockets. When one of them is fixed, it’s thrilling.
I shop everyday, our grocery store is across the street so instead of one big trip every week I tell myself that it’s more efficient to head over almost daily. I get a few items each visit, no more than what fits in my arms, so the self checkout is where I go. At the store I go to, I’m allowed to scan one item, and then I’m required to touch the screen and select whether or not I have a rewards card. I railed against it to my family and friends, my hands are full! I can’t touch anything until they’re empty, but I couldn’t proceed through until I had made the selection, and I always said “no”, because if I said “yes” I needed to dump all of my stuff on the tiny shelf to the right of the scanner, and bruise my fruit when it cascades off the shelf and onto the floor. This is considered “friction” in the UX/UI business, an inconvenience. If I’m truthful, writing a post about the “friction” I have to endure while shopping in a secure, and privileged community feels weird during the timeline we are living in, but here we are.
A little while ago I was back at the store, prepared to go through the same dog and pony show, but that first hoop to jump through was no longer there. It was a pleasant surprise, and I was vindicated. Someone at corporate received enough feedback to consider making the change. I had been seen, I endured the hardship of an additional step at checkout without speaking out, but enough did, and that was enough to make the shift. I’m thankful for the anonymous heroes who filled out the survey I ignored.
I had a similar experience much closer to home around the same time. My partner Robyn Derdall is laser focused on security and requires us to use an ironclad third party extension to ensure that we are not hacked. When I need to access any site requiring a password I have to proceed through this first. Unfortunately, there was friction; I couldn’t “show” the password on the login page on any of the sites I needed to access, the little lock icon from the third party extension covered the eyeball or checkbox that allows me to see the password instead of dots. If I needed to confirm the password, I couldn’t. No sooner than I was preparing to mobilize against big tech, I discovered a redesign! The lock icon was moved so I could finally choose to show password option. Once again, individuals braver and faster than me had taken up the cause to fight against inconvenience. I thank them for their service.
In my job I can fix little roadblocks, and it feels nice, and it’s a living.
