Ruby On Rails, Design, Simplicity, Web 2.0, Ajax, Mac and Tons of Pizza.

Don’t release new visuals without new functionality

Posted by Massimo Sgrelli in Design - Whodo.es - 1 comment

In the last months I’ve been working on a new release of WhoDoes our team project management software. It’s been a really exciting experience, where the mantra has been “learn from your users” and “study your data”.

Now it’s almost done! A new cool and simplified version of our tool is almost finished.

We worked a lot on the new user interface, believing since the beginning that user’s interaction with the design choices is a fundamental component of the product’s success. But design and interaction metaphor isn’t the only thing to keep under control.

I completely agree with Hannah Donovan , Last.fm’s head of creative, when she says:

... don’t release new visuals without new functionality. This is the important lesson we learned when refining the features we had released quickly. If the design needs an upgrade to make it more usable, there’s a chance that the functionality does, too. It’s much better to release these at the same time, and it will keep your users much happier. Nobody likes interface changes that appear to be unnecessary.

That’s exactly what I want to do in the next imminent release of WhoDoes.

You can find the whole article on .Net Magazine here .

By the way…

Many compliments to Dan Cederholm of SimpleBits.com , the winner of the Best Use of Accessible Design Award (.net magazine ).
Great man! We keep following your work :)

Permalink