Elaine Fath Blog #2

I chose PostSecret.com (http://postsecret.blogspot.com/) as an example of the aspects of "Obvious Design" given on page 9.

If you aren't familiar with the site, the premise is incredibly simple: people send in one of their secrets anonymously written on a postcard, normally decorated in some way, and every Sunday the person who runs the site will post a collection of them.


The aspect that I chose in particular is the way that the site's content is presented: this site was created to show the postcards that people send in, and that's what it does. No bells, no whistles--this is one of the best examples I could think of a site doing what it's supposed to do.

1. Conforms to the way users interact with the web: Simple, scroll-down format. No buttons, no links except to other sites when they pertain to the subject matter. Focuses on the activity instead of a specific audience: No buttons, no sidebar, absolutely no way to get lost on this site. Anyone can use it.

2. Has only the features that are absolutely necessary for users to complete the activity the application is meant to support. This site is supposed to display the postcards, and it does almost nothing beyond that...which is fine, because it doesn't need to.

3. It supports the user's mental model. Most internet users understand the "scroll down for more content" model at this point.

4. Makes it easy to recover from mistakes. No mistakes can be made, because there's nothing to click on except outside links, which can be fixed by pressing the back button.

5. Has uniformly designed interface elements: All postcards and text centered onscreen. Plain black background. Easily readable text, one font. Leverages irregularity to create meaning: When special things are posted, they're created to be visually distinguishable from the postcards using different colors, etc.

7. Reduces clutter to a minimum: It would be easy to clutter this site by creating archives of past posts, categories for different types of posts, etc. Instead, the posts for the week are only available during that week--creating a strong incentive to return on a regular basis--and are then removed from the site. Since newer posts don't build off older content, this is feasible and effective.