Throughout our careers, we have designed various user interfaces, and a common request from many clients has been to create something that is easy for novice users to operate, often asking, "Can mom use it?"
It may seem logical to create a highly simplified application with numerous "Wizards" to guide novice users, but what happens when they become experienced users? Research has shown that there are significant differences between the way novices and experts approach a problem. As soon as a user has learned the cognitive workflow necessary to complete their assigned task, they move on to an advanced mental protocol, which is a more experienced user approach. Therefore, forcing experienced users to navigate through a series of screen-by-screen wizards and other similar simplifications may result in a suboptimal user experience.
Creating an expert interface may seem straightforward, as expert problem-solvers could be given a command line, access to detailed options or allowed to enter SQL code directly. However, not all novice users become expert users; most remain intermediate users, learning to engage with the application in a way that best suits their "middle of the road" understanding of the application workflow.
Therefore, our recommendation is to aim for the middle when designing a user interface. Create a design that meets the needs of your largest user population, the intermediate users, while providing embedded assistance for the novices, such as keyboard shortcuts, and advanced features for the experts. By doing so, you can cater to the majority of your user base while still providing the necessary support for novices and experts.
If you're interested in learning more about how user-centered design can benefit your organization, please contact us at https://www.BrainstormErgonomics.com/contact. Our team is ready to help you develop a design strategy that aligns with your business goals and your users' needs.