The inventor of the method of heuristic usability assessments, Jakob Nielsen, about how the user's technological skills affect UX design.
According to a study conducted in 33 developed countries, only 5% of the population has high computer skills, and only a third of people can perform tasks of moderate complexity.
One of the lessons of usability, which we did not immediately understand, is that the designer is not a user. That's why it's so hard to guess the user's needs. Designers are very different from most representatives of the target audience, and that's why what he likes and what he thinks is the easiest to use, is not just not relevant, on the contrary, he will only deceive himself if he relies on personal preferences.
Of course, anyone who works on a design project has a more accurate and detailed mental model of the user interface than outside people. If the target audience is a wide range of consumers, then this person's IQ is likely to be higher than the average user, the literacy rate is also higher, and most likely, he is younger, and his abilities have not yet been degraded due to age, as Most users.
There is another difference between the designer and the average user, which further reduces the ability to understand what a really good user interface is: the ability to use computers, the Internet and technologies in general.
Any member of the web design team or employee involved in the project to create a user experience is a real super-geek compared to the average population.
But this is true and not only for developers. Even less technically savvy team members are "less technically savvy" only in comparison with engineers. They in any case have higher technical skills than most people.
The study of the level of skills of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
Recent international studies allow us to obtain figures confirming the difference between the general population and the technological elite. Data were collected from 2011 to 2015 in 33 countries and were published in 2016 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In total, 215 942 people were tested, in each of the countries there were at least 5 thousand participants. The large scale of this study explains why it took several years to publish these results.
The purpose of the study was to test the skills of people aged 16 to 65 years, that is, people who were called "adults" in the report. And although people over the age of 66 rarely refer to labor resources (which means that they are of less interest to the project, whose purpose is to investigate the employed population), they are included in a large group of users of many websites.
A study of users older than 56 years has revealed many different usability problems for users of this age range, because they often have a much lower level of technological skills than younger users. Assessing the results obtained by the organization for economic cooperation and development, we must remember that the entire set of users skills are much worse than the data show.
The project of the organization for economic cooperation and development envisaged the study of a whole range of working skills, but we are most interested in testing technological ones.
In this part of the study, participants were asked to perform 14 computer-related tasks. Participants did not use real sites: they performed tasks on specially simulated software on the organizer's test computers.
This allowed the researchers to check that all participants of all age groups performed tasks of the same complexity, the translation of user interfaces into the local language in each country was also under the control of the organizers.
The complexity of assignments ranged from the simplest to the slightly complicated ones. One of the simplest tasks was to use the "reply all" function in the mail client to send a response to three people. It was very simple, because the task was unambiguous, only one step was required for its implementation, and there was only one condition (three people).
One of the most difficult tasks was to record the meeting time in the meeting room in the application-scheduler, using information that was distributed over several letters. This was difficult, because the statement of the problem was not direct, it took many steps to fulfill it and there were many conditions.
It would be much easier to solve a clearly stated problem, for example, to reserve room A on Wednesday at 15:00, but the fact that it was necessary to determine the task itself, collecting information scattered across different applications, complicated this task, and made it difficult for a large number Users.
Even supposedly complex tasks sound not so difficult, and I, of course, are sure that all my readers are quite capable of coping with them quickly enough and with a high degree of confidence. However, my main idea is that the fact that you can do this does not mean that the average user can handle it just as well.
Four levels of skills in information technology
Researchers defined four skill levels based on the types of tasks that users were able to successfully complete. In each level, in percent, the number of people is indicated (the average value for all countries in which the studies were conducted) that fulfilled the tasks of this level. The report also describes the abilities that people of this level have.
"Below the first level" - 14% of the adult population
Researchers of the organization of economic cooperation and development are too polite to use terms like "zero level" in the report, therefore the lowest level of skills is called "below the first level".
That's what people can do that are below the first level: "Jobs with a clearly defined task, using only one function, in a universal interface, with the fulfillment of only one condition, without any categorical or logical reasoning or information transformation. To perform a task, you need several steps, and you do not need to create an intermediate task. "
An example task at this level is: "Delete this e-mail" in the mail client.
The first level is 29% of the adult population
This is what people who relate to the first level can do: "Usually tasks require the use of applications with widely known and familiar technologies, such as an e-mail application or an Internet browser. Almost or absolutely no transitions are needed between applications to access information, very few commands are required to complete the task.
The task can be solved regardless of the user's awareness and his ability to use special tools or functions (for example, the sort function). Tasks are performed in several steps and with a minimum number of operations.
At the cognitive level, the respondent can easily guess the goal from the statement of the problem; To solve the problem, the respondent must apply clearly set conditions; The requirements for monitoring the performance of the task are few (for example, the respondent does not need to check whether the procedure he or she used is appropriate, or how far they have progressed to the task).
Identify the content and operations through a simple comparison. Only simple forms of reflection are required, for example, the distribution of positions by category; There is no need to oppose or combine information. "
To perform the "answer all" task, which we already mentioned earlier, we require first-level skills. Another example of a task for users of the first level is "Find all the letters from John Smith."
The second level is 26% of the adult population
What can second-level users have: "At this level, the use of applications with common and more specific technologies is required to complete the tasks. For example, a respondent may need to use a new online form. To solve the problem you need to move through pages and applications. The use of tools (for example, the "sort" function) can help accomplish the task.
To solve the problem, several steps and operations may be required. The respondent may have to determine the goal of the task himself, although the conditions of its fulfillment will be clearly conveyed to him. The requirements for control are higher. Some unexpected situations may arise, the user may come to a standstill. The task may require an assessment of the relevance of a number of items, so that the user gets rid of distracting items. It may be necessary to combine different sources of information and draw logical conclusions. "
Example of the task of the second level: "Find the document that John Smith sent you in October last year."
The third level is 5% of the adult population
The most prepared group of people can do the following: "At this level, you usually need to use applications with common and more specific technologies to complete the task. To solve the problem you need to navigate through the pages and applications. The use of tools (for example, the "sort" function) is required to advance to the solution of the problem.
Many steps and operations may be required. The task of the task, perhaps, should be determined by the respondent himself, the conditions that need to be guided, can be directly stated or, conversely, hidden. There are very high control requirements here.
Very likely the occurrence of unexpected results and deadlocks. The task may require an assessment of the relevance and reliability of information in order to weed out distracting information. Consolidation of information and logical reasoning are to a large extent necessary to carry out tasks of this level. "
To perform the task with the negotiation room described above, the skills of the third level are required. Another example of the task of the third level: "You want to know what percentage of e-mails sent to you by John Smith last month concerned issues of prospective profitability."
Computers can not be used by 26% of adults
The total number of respondents in all four levels does not gain in the amount of 100%, because a large percentage of respondents did not even begin the task, because they do not know how to use computers. In total, for all countries in which the organization for economic cooperation and development conducted research, 26% of adults were not able to use the computer.
The fact that a quarter of the population does not know how to use a computer is the most important element of the digital barrier. To a large extent this is happening, because computers are still too complex a device for many people.
Technological skills by country
You can say that the team designs the product not for all those countries in which the organization for economic cooperation and development conducted research. You design the product only for a rich and privileged country, in which, in all probability, you live.
Well, it's reasonable, but the conclusions from this will not change much: even if we look at the richest countries of the world, as shown in the graph below (the information is filtered in order of increasing the number of people at the highest level of skills - that is, people like you ):
The Scandinavian region presents average results for Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. In the UK, studies were conducted in England and Northern Ireland, the population of Scotland and Wales did not participate in the study
The figures showing the number of people who can not use the computer at all vary greatly. At the same time, the number of people at the highest level of computer literacy is only slightly different in different countries.
You belong to 5-8% of the highest level
The main thing that I would like to draw attention to, dear readers, is that you, most likely, belong to the highest category of computer literacy - the third level. In the US, only 5% of the population has such high skills. In Australia and the UK, only 6% of people are at this level; In Canada and in Northern Europe, the number of such people reaches 7%; In Singapore and Japan the situation is still a little better - at the third level is 8% of the population.
In total, people with good technological skills make up between 5% and 8% of the population of their country, regardless of which rich country they are from. Go back to the definition of the third level of skills that the organization of economic cooperation and development gave, above in the text.
Think about the need to set a goal based on implicitly defined conditions. Or that you need to get out of the impasse or cope with the unexpected result that you got using a computer. Or that it is necessary to assess the relevance and reliability of information in order to weed out excess. Do you think you can do this? Sure you can.
It is important to remember that 95% of the US population (93% in Northern Europe and 92% in the rich part of Asia) can not do this.
You can do this, and 92-95% of the population can not.
What does this simple fact tell us? You and the user are not the same, unless you design a product for an elite audience. And even if your goal, say, a b2b audience that consists exclusively of engineers, still they know much less about the features of your product than you, so you are still different from the user.
If it seems that something is easy to do or you think: "yes of course people can do it on our site, it's just that," you may be very much mistaken.
What most users can do
If the target is a large consumer audience, then it is safer to assume that the skills that users possess are at the first level. (But do not forget that 14% of adult users do not even have such skills, we do not even take into account those who do not know how to use a computer at all.)
Briefly recall, the first level of abilities is:
To complete the task, you do not need to go to other pages at all, you need very few commands.
Only a few steps and a minimum number of operations.
To solve the problem, the respondent needs to be guided only by the explicitly stated conditions (there is nothing implied in the assignment).
Almost no control requirements (for example, you do not need to check how far you have progressed to the goal).
The definition of content and operations is done by simple matching (no need to convert material or draw logical conclusions).
There is no need to oppose or combine information.
If the designer does something more complicated, only people with a second or third skill level will be able to use the product, which means that he limits himself to 31% of the US population, 35% of the population of Japan and the UK, 37% of the population of Canada and Singapore, and 38% Population of Northern Europe and Australia.
Differences across countries do not matter much, because ultimately they do not influence the main conclusion: the product should be as simple as possible, or two-thirds of the population will not be able to use it.
Video
Look at the story of Jakob Nielsen, where he explains how the differences between designers and ordinary users affect UX design (duration 2 minutes):