Interaction Design Trends 2015 & 2016

Invisible Design 7
Simplifying User Flows
A simple user flow doesn’t always show off your design skills, but it
does help users achieve their goal. Here are some ways to get users
to their goals faster:
• Less steps – List out the steps required to complete a task, then
remove redundancies. For example, to log in a user (1.) clicks in
the username field, (2.) types their username, (3.) clicks in the
password form field, etc. You can see how, if you make the default
cursor position start in the username field, you shave off
an unnecessary step. Try listing them out backwards for a fresh,
goal-focused perspective.
• Simpler steps – The goal is not to make the least steps possible,
but the simplest. Make an interface that’s self-explanatory, and
don’t bog down users with too many decisions. Don’t obsess over
the 3-click rule, but recognize the spirit behind it.
• Map user flow – Jessica Downey’s method for mapping user creates
a visual aid to help designers understand and organize the task
steps, and their screens. Ryan Singer of Basecamp has a similar
but faster shorthand approach.
• User testing – Guesswork is unreliable. Test users to see how they
instinctively try to complete a task. This gives you more informed
data when applying the other steps above.
Let’s look at three examples of simplified user flows in action: