Branding the feel: applying standards to enable a uniform user experience

Abstract

There is nothing more dissatisfying to users than the inconsistent behavior of a particular interaction within or between different software applications from the same company. A company's unified interaction is part of the company brand: the "feel" of look and feel. Many companies throw away their brand when they do not observe interaction consistency across products. However what is precisely meant by consistency and to what level this consistency should be attained is open for debate. Moreover, user interface designers and developers ignore standards since they assume that complying with standards stifles design innovation. The lack of understanding on what are standards and how they can be effectively applied, results in unnecessarily complicated user interface designs and dissatisfied users. This panel discusses how there is still much room for design innovation after applying appropriate user interface standards and how application designers can contribute to the creation of standards.