Man, the guy’s a genius. What better way to sum up the argument against feature-first design?
And what’s feature-first design? It’s really pretty simple …
Say you’re a designer who’s run across some cool feature on another website. Wouldn’t it be great if you could use something like that too? Now, where we can we do that? How about the current project you’re working on?
Now, there may not be any need for that feature on that project. Or, if there is, there may be no need to do that particular way. What’s already there may work just fine. Or the newfangled way might not be a good fit.
But is that going to get in your way? Of course not!
I guess a lot depends on where you’re going to get your from feedback from. If it’s from other designers (say, in a crit), their inherent neophilia will probably get them to go along with you. And management, of course, always likes bright, shiny, new objects.
I would, though, suggest getting that feature in front of some users. If it truly is a game changer, they may very well like it. Otherwise, you may find that it’s simply hard to use.
Over the years, I’ve tested some “cool” new features that fit both categories. As for the first, I remember testing long, scrollable pages back in the day, back when not a lot of sites were using them (if you can imagine that!). Boy, did they test well. Slam dunk.
As for the second, I remember testing the hamburger menu back when it was brand new as well. Man, did that bomb. Users tended to have no idea what it was for, and subsequently never clicked on it.
Now, of course, it’s everywhere. Back then, though, not so much. I guess you could say we were ahead of our time. From the user’s standpoint, though, it’s important to realize that may not necessarily be a good thing. Can you imagine that?
I tell ya, the man was just a usability quote machine
