Encourage Exploration
A goal for most user interface designers has been to produce user-friendly interfaces. A friendly
interface encourages users to explore the interface to find out where things are and what happens when
they do things, without fear of negative consequences. We are slowly achieving this goal, but users now
expect even more from a product interface. They expect guidance, direction, information, and even
entertainment while they use a product.
Key Idea! Interfaces today and in the future must be more intuitive, enticing,
predictable, and forgiving than the interfaces we’ve designed to date. The
explosion of CD-ROM products and Internet browsers, home pages, and applets
has exposed the user interface to a whole new world of computer users. It’s time
we moved onward past user-friendly interfaces to user-seductive and fun-to-use
product interfaces, even in the business environment.