Why is it that things I use every single day are so poorly designed? Why do the companies that have these products not change them for a better user experience? Do these companies not realize that it affects their bottom line? UX Design is important people!
I recently moved house and switched cable provider to Comcast. I am happy with the package from Comcast but I loathe the terrible process of getting what I want out of their service.
Let me start with the remote control. We all know that remote controls by default are terrible, they are the perfect example of something that we all use and yet are overly complex and not intuitive to use. Comcast take this experience a step further by having buttons do one thing in one menu and a completely different thing in another menu. It’s not that the button functionality is dynamically changing to suit the user experience – it’s the complete opposite. You click the “last” button and depending on if you are watching live tv, a recording program, or an on-demand program you get different results. It is just annoying that the user has to learn and remember what button does what in every situation. I mean, it’s a remote control not the nuclear launch codes – make it simple.
Next is the menu of recorded programs. Why do I have to delete each episode individually? Why can’t I just delete all episodes of the program if I want? If I want to clear up space in the DVR it takes a hundred clicks! Seriously, we are all comfortable with being able to delete a folder of content on digital devices if we want to, so let me do it…please.
These are simple user experience issues that can be solved with a little thought, good design, split testing, and evaluation.
Rant over, I have to go record the soccer game…wish me luck!