Saint Nicholas, Christmas, presents, toys, parties, annual reports and retrospectives on TV and in the papers, eating days on end, post digestive dips assimilated by taking a nap in front of the TV, ... You are probably wondering what in the name of God this free association has to do with usability.

Retrospective

The darkest days of the year are often the onset for looking back in time. Soon journalists of all sorts will bombard us with annual reports, end-of-the-year reports, in-depth interviews by the Christmas tree, you name it. We want to measure up to all of them by presenting on our website a fabulous report of the dazzling third World Usability Day event organised by the Human Interface Group at the beginning of November in Technopolis. The theme was ‘Making life easy… and fun!’. And that is exactly what we have been doing for 15 years.

Fifteen

Exactly 15 years ago two pioneering usability experts founded the Human Interface Group. There was 2 of us then, there is 40 of us now, but just like at the very beginning we are making life more pleasant and easier for users around the world. Playing Saint Nicholas every day, you have to admit it, it is a luxury only a few jobs allow for. And just to make sure that we are getting the message across, we have lots of surprises in store. Make sure to keep an eye on our website!

Saint Nicholas

Now that we are talking about the saintly man, a small rambling through a large toy shop last weekend spontaneously made me realise that some usability advice would even do the Saint some good, being misled as he is by piles of plastic gizmos in all colours of the rainbow, one more flashing than the other. The icing on the cake of those gadgets is usually the flashing lights which will at least impair the apple of your eye's sight, and the hooters and bells that will undoubtedly inflict irreparable damage to their hearing.

In short, each and everyone one of those toys will guaranteed drive parents crazy while making them reach for the glued plastic battery slide in blind panic to calm down the noise and their nerves. Extremely user-unfriendly, in other words, while dear son or daughter often loses interest in the much longed for game after only a few days. Well, of course, I can only speak from my own experience.

Usable toys

However, there are so many alternatives, especially for kids who are too small to be fooled by crafty merchandising tricks. From user observations I have seen with my own eyes that a kitchen towel, freezer boxes and wooden spoons are user-friendly, safe and extremely efficient means of entertainment. And cheap as well.
Now, do we have to invest "en masse" in kitchen towels to entertain our offspring? Of course not. There are lots of nice, modern, electronic games which are extremely "fun" and usable, it's just that the same golden rule applies to the creative Black Peters who design toys as to software designers & Co.:  keep it simple! Do not overwhelm your little users with a whole range of trimmings, just make it simple and fun. Like the Wii. (Also fun for big kids, for that matter.)

So, be sure to let the grey and Saint stop by in Mechelen, we will be pleased to let them see the wood for the trees, and give many kids and parents the time of their life.

Beatrijs Vermaere, Sr. Human Interface Consultant