Aral Balkan

I just got a 3G iPhone and signed in to the O2 website to take a peek at my account, only to be greeted by the menu you see here.

My, my, my..! :)

It's completely unscannable, with each line starting with the same prefix ("My"). As I try to scan it, my brain initially refuses to think that they're separate menu items. It runs contrary to my natural ability to distinguish patterns by homogenizing the visual appearance of each item.

Simply removing the "My" prefixes alone is a big step forward. That, and removing O2 from "O2 FAQs", leaves us with a much more scannable list:

My O2

• Profile summary
• Tariff & services
• Allowance
• Bill
• Payment details
• Recent charges
• Orders
• FAQs

Much less cognitive effort, much easier to scan.

They could have avoided this menu mishap completely if they'd read through Robert Hoekman, Jr.'s excellent new book, Designing the Moment. (And, yes, I'm very psyched that Robert's going to be speaking at Singularity!)

Comments

• You're absolutely right - these MY things are completely unnecessary, and if you're going to do it, you should always say YOUR documents, otherwise it sounds like the things belong to the website/computer, not to the user. The capitalisation being on the active word also makes a huge difference for scanability, that's why you should have capitalised Services in "Tariff & Services"

  by Iain on 2008-07-11 17:10:23

• Ah, I've seen worse ;)

  by Lee McColl Sylvester on 2008-07-11 16:23:35

• An awful menu indeed. Also a pain to listen to if using a screen reader via the web. You have to spend longer listening to the links when really all a screen reader users wants to do on a site that they are familiar with is just hear the first couple of letters on a link to confirm if it is the one they do or don't want. I wonder if 02 will pay attention and change it.

  by iheni on 2008-07-11 16:02:22

• Hey Dan, I love the phone, although O2's 3G coverage appears to be _very_ patchy (at least in Brighton). I hope it improves as that's the main reason I got the phone in the first place. @Iain, and yet Sentence Case Is Slower To Read Due To The Capitals, so I guess it's a trade-off. I see your point, though :)

  by Aral on 2008-07-11 17:41:32

• 1st thing you read "Welcome back" 2nd thing you read "Sign out" Could be worse. Could have been "My sign out".

  by creacog on 2008-07-11 15:55:39

• what do you think of the phone Aral? and the apps you've tried out so far?

  by Dan on 2008-07-11 16:39:13

• i've been o2 pay as you go customer for two years. i've used the website to top up online and it's an utter nightmare in terms of usability overall. menus are just the begining

  by borzoj on 2008-07-11 21:31:50

• The design seems awful and it doesn't seem user-friendly at all. I think they could have got away with all the "My" if the design was better. I can't seem to find a way to contact you, I would have sent you a link to a iPhone web application I developed for the company I was previously working for.

  by Farid Abdulhadi on 2008-07-12 06:35:47

• Thanks for the kind words, Aral! Indeed — simply getting rid of the "My" modifiers would help a lot. I think you're dead on. And yes, I look forward to speaking at Singularity. It promises to be a great event, and most certainly the start of something big. Cheers!

  by Robert Hoekman, Jr. on 2008-07-11 17:45:17