SOFTWARE DESIGN

Users preferred the less straightforward UX — and I finally understand why

The initial version of my app had all the information available with 0 clicks from the home screen. And users hated it…

Two years ago, I learned a valuable lesson about creating good UX:

It might not seem intuitive, but sometimes users prefer the less straightforward UX

At this time, I was building the first version of a new cross-platform app called Skiwise. I thought I was creating the best experience possible, but as I later learned, straightforward doesn’t always equal intuitive.

This is the story of how I learned this lesson, and how these learnings can help you build better software.

It’s confusing?

Skiwise is an app that lets cross-country skiers access crowd-sourced reports on the trail conditions of various ski trails. This lets them decide where to ski on a given day and what skis/wax/clothes to bring with them. You can think of this as essentially “the weather app for cross-country ski trails”.