I have been in this position before. What worked for me was to: A) Agree that consistency is very important in usability a large percentage of the time; thank my critics for helping me keep an eye out for inconsistencies, since I want to avoid them as much as possible. B) Explain that there are pros and cons to every decision we make in usability. Often, there can be multiple solutions that solve the design problem at hand. One of the potential solutions may be inconsistent according to one factor, but the other potential solution causes a bigger usability problem. Usability decisions are often not always straightforward and simple to make. C) Mention that when people ask me, "Which is better, X or Y?" The answer is usually, "It depends", followed by a lot of questions about the user, goals, tasks, context, etc. (Also, see this comic for some minor therapy: http://www.ok-cancel.com/comic/99.html) D) Point out the pros and cons of each proposed solution and discuss which factors should be weighed more heavily based on the targeted personas, system goals, etc.
Example: I once designed an interface that had a really long column header (36 characters) for a value in a table that was only two characters in length. The full term was used in other places as well and really shouldn't have been abbreviated in other contexts. There was a shortened version of the term (8 characters) that I felt still captured the meaning of the full term, would not confuse users (because of the context it was used in) and I was out of space (there was a lot of information in the table and it was all essential, so nothing could be cut). Using the full term would have forced a horizontal scrollbar, which was very undesirable. So, in that case I felt it was best to be inconsistent by using the abbreviated term in the table rather than the full term. There was some pushback from the team, but I explained my reasoning, pointed out how it could be worse (I was just abbreviating, not using a rarely-used synonym), that being inconsistent by abbreviating here and not elsewhere wasn't my first choice, but that I felt that this was the best usability decision to make in this scenario. After that, things seemed to go more smoothly for me. My critics understood more about my job and were more polite when helping me identify inconsistencies. Hopefully this helps! Good luck! Stephanie On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 11:50 PM, Jeff Howard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Emerson wrote that a "foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little > minds." Unfortunately it's my experience that stakeholders don't > appreciate being called hobgoblins... Or foolish. Or little, or > really any of those things. But it might make you feel better. > > This is partially a problem of framing. If the battle is in terms of > consistent vs inconsistent, you've already lost. Because of course > inconsistency is vile. But if instead of inconsistency you're > talking about contrast, then you're working within a more flexible > framework. It's no longer binary. > > More broadly, I'd say it's about being able to articulate your > design decisions. If your button (looks inconsistent/provides > contrast) then explain why this is necessary. Maybe buy a book like > Universal Principles of Design to back you up. > > Finally, if it tests well then all the principled arguments against > inconsistency are moot. Does your design work? > > // jeff > > > . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . > Posted from the new ixda.org > http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=34308 > > > ________________________________________________________________ > 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 > ________________________________________________________________ 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
