At the end of Q1, Sliders converged for a few days of bonding, reflection, and planning. Swapping from inside to outside activities and from one location to another, I was reminded about all the things we need to consider as we designing for users on the go.
The great (bright) outdoors. Knowing that I’d need my phone for 12 hours a day (or more), I turned down the screen brightness. Hours later, trying to take a team photo outdoors, I couldn’t see anything on my dimly backlit screen. We talk about contrast and accessibility all the time, but this was a stark reminder that the designs we review in our cozy offices at 100% brightness will not always be consumed that way.
Sliders line up for a sunny pedaling experience.
Chaos and urgency. “Where are we supposed to meet the boat?” I felt my face getting hot as I searched and scrolled before our group of 15 eager guests, having realized that I didn’t have the specific meetup location for our team’s dinner cruise. In the moment, none of the confirmation emails or webpages I found pointed me in the right direction. Users are often looking for information in the midst of chaotic situations: noisy homes, busy airports, etc. As a provider, ease the burden by automatically text and/or email users on the morning of their scheduled arrival, with a map and address.
Lost cellular connection. Looking down and seeing that my phone wasn’t connected to cellular data at one point invoked a little bit of panic. How does your app handles this scenario? How can you ensure users have what they need if they enter areas of low service?
Distraction and inattention. As our team toured the coffee shops and breweries of East Austin, we saw remote workers everywhere, sipping brews, and fielding Zoom calls. We design from large external monitors in quiet home offices, but we must remember that the workers we’re often designing for could be anywhere–on their laptops, phones, and iPads.
I can’t wait for the next chance to connect with our team in person, but in the meantime we’ve got plenty of jokes and memories to fuel our team’s bond for many weeks.