USER CENTRED DESIGN
What it is and why it's important

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
The basics of how and why I do this

SERVICES
What can I do to help?

SAMPLES
Annotated examples of my work

ARTICLES and RESOURCES
Articles and comments on designing for real people

FREE IDEAS
A few design ideas that are up for grabs

My Bio

A short history of who I am, including selected work experience, references, etc. A slightly less boring version of a resume. [more]

Why Is Usability So Hard?

I was asked a very interesting question the other day. "Why is usability so hard? Isn't it just common sense?"

This is a great question, and one that took me a long time to be able to answer. My difficulty was not because usability is actually easy, but because it can be hard to approach that question properly. The answer is complex and detailed, but like all good things, the basic idea behind it can be explained simply. It's that simple answer that eluded me until now. The problem is partly in the questions. Usability testing is relatively simple and straightforward. The first question should really be "why is it so hard to build usable sites?"... [more]