User testing and design decision making (was RE: [Sigia-l] defining acct. profile)

[Boniface Lau]

> From: sigia-l-admin at asis.org [mailto:sigia-l-admin at asis.org]On
> Behalf Of Hilary Marsh
>  
[...]
> 
> However, it's smartest to remove this from the "you said" vs. "they
> said" realm by doing -- you guessed it -- user testing via paper
> prototypes.

User testing is a way to gain insight, but not a replacement for
design decision making. See the Amazon interview at:

http://www.goodexperience.com/columns/02/1121.amazon.html

GE> Customers told us that they wanted to click a confirm button and
GE> felt it was too scary without it. So, we took the UI back to Jeff
GE> and said no, it's terrible, it's never going to work. But Jeff was
GE> convinced that we had to make it 1-Click, not 2-Click, so we went
GE> back to the drawing board and made adjustments to make customers
GE> more confident. 

It is a good example of not blindly led by user testing. 


Boniface