On the top-left of the front page of most air travel websites you will find a form to enter the starting and destination locations, and departure and return dates, as well as the number of passengers traveling on the given trip.

A common thread amongst blogs, regardless of the theme, is to have a top-level search box alongside an obvious RSS subscription link.

With online shopping websites, some of the most familiar and common characteristics are top-level, browsable categories, a search box in the page header, and, often, the presentation of special or new products.

Intra-product-type consistency, the Recognition and intuitiveness present within a product, is a key component in determining the overall Usability of a product. For example, for an air travel website to be usable, it should have some basic consistencies with other airline products (see aforementioned examples).

Quick-UX provides for the rapid, simple and quantifiable assessment of a product’s User Experience (UX). In answering the question of Usability, "Can I use it?" the sub-category of Recognition is one of frequent discussion, especially in the latest wave of online products and how they handle content presentation and interaction.

The Recognition variable’s rubric is:

The Recognition variable is assessed from the perspective of an average user and is assigned a value of…

• 1 if the interface and product, in general, feels familiar and is easy to use,
• 0.5 if some poking, finesse, and interaction are required before the user will be able to gather his or her bearings in the use of the product,
• 0 if the average user will have clear difficulty understanding (1) how to use the product and (2) what the product is trying to communicate.

Over the next several weeks I will be providing real-world examples of Recognition values…

Broad Recognition (value 1)

Fair Recognition (value 0.5)

Poor Recognition (value 0)

Subscribe now (click here) to make sure you don’t miss any part of this series exploring the Usability and Recognition of Quick-UX, the quick and easy method of generating quantifiable and comparable metrics representing the understanding of the overall User Experience of a product, as well as other insightful posts from The Product Guy.

Enjoy!

Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy

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