Question 3 is am I being consistent? 1
Now what do I mean by this? 2
It means that when you're designing for a website or when you're designing for an app, think about am I 3
being consistent with my product in terms of my design? Is my design consistent with my brand? Are my web 4
site and my apps consistent with each other? 5
So this is a classic example of a inconsistent design. 6
And I don't want to name and shame but this was a previous version of their website. 7
Now this is a hairdressing company and styling company and their website happens to be tiled images 8
happens to have a background of tiled images of what seems to be something from their previous holiday. 9
Now the background makes me feel like maybe this is a travel agency, 10
maybe they are based in an exotic location. 11
I don't know. 12
But the thing that really seals the deal is these tiny little airplanes. When you hover over them or when you 13
roll over them, 14
the airplanes actually fly off into the distance. 15
Now what any of this has to do with hairstyling? 16
I have no idea. And this is an example of an anti-pattern where the designer didn't think about consistency. 17
You know this design has nothing to do with hairstyling. 18
Now I'm glad to say that this company has actually gotten a web designer and have changed their web 19
site so it no longer looks like this. 20
But it's so important to 21
ask yourself "Am I being consistent?" so that you at least avoid having your product or website named and 22
shamed in design classes. 23
Now another example of an anti-pattern is the error reporting tool that we had at a previous workplace. 24
When you had an IT problem at this workplace and they had a website that looks like it was inherited 25
from e-commerce website because you had to pick your IT problem and then you have to add it to cart 26
and then you would have to check out your problem and then it would say something like congratulations 27
your order has been made. 28
So it was absolutely insane and it was so inconsistent with what you're trying to achieve that it just 29
felt so confusing to use and a confused user is an unhappy user. 30
So think about consistency not just in terms of appearance but also in terms of functionality. 31
So if you're making a website for people to submit their IT problems don't make it like it's an e-commerce 32
platform. 33
It's very confusing and very jarring. 34
So understand what your product does. Understand 35
what is your branding, what is it that your company is all about and try to make your designs on your 36
app or on your website consistent with that.