intuitive design

jared spool article, inspired from a discussion on IxD-Discuss: What Makes a Design Seem 'Intuitive'?

for a user to complete a task with an interface they begin with a "current knowledge point", the knowledge they currently have, and they need to arrive at a "target knowledge point", the knowledge they need to complete the task. different users will have different beginning and end points and the same user will also have different beginning and end points depending on the task and their continued use of the interface.

plotting these points on a continuum to find the space between, called "The Knowledge Gap", can help determine where you need to design:

The Knowledge Gap is where design happens. We don’t need to design to the left of current knowledge point, because it’s all stuff the user already knows. And we don’t need to design stuff to the right of the target knowledge point, since the user won’t be needing that information (for this task, at least). We only need to design the interface for the space in between current knowledge and target knowledge.

designers work to close this gap through 1) training (help text, etc.) and 2) reducing complexity.

The biggest challenge in making a design seem intuitive to users is learning where the current and target knowledge points are. What do users already know and what do they need to know? To build intuitive interfaces, answering these two questions is critical.