Hi all - I'm having a difficult time reaching my VP about the difference between what we decide are the goals of the company via the website versus what the people who visit our site (our users) hope to accomplish.
He feels that this is just a matter of language and that there is not in fact a difference. I feel - in over 11 years of web user-interface design - that there is a difference. To me, it's like the difference between the hard-sell salesperson who is obviously trying only to make the sale versus the salesperson who allows people to navigate the offerings with guidance along the way. An example of something I believe our site reflects as the 'company' goals is our global navigation: We have roll-over drop-down menus (horizontal). The "tab" that one rolls over is not clickable to a main page. The links in the drop-downs were determined by the various stakeholders as to what are "the most important links" that *we* want people to get to. In fact, when I raised the issue that people are frustrated that they cannot click the main tab (getting a LOT of negative feedback on this), the VPs response was that "we want to force users to use those menus"; thus, he simply had the development team remove the hand cursor that appear on rollover of the main tab. Anyway, that may have been a bit of a vent/rant, but it is a good example of what I'm struggling with here. So, what are your thoughts on the difference between company goals and user goals? Is there even one? Now, I will say that I feel that a balance should be struck. Also, if you have recommendations of how to approach this topic with him, I'll add that my VP is extremely metrics/analytics-driven; to the point that he wants us to have a 'performance driven design' approach to the site... Comments? Ideas? Thanks! ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
