I’m in the midst of a seemingly endless stream of feature requests for my software package right now at work. In essence, my product is one which takes data which is inscrutable and makes it scrutable. My artistic hope is that the data is pleasant to observe, and allows for quick notice of relevant details. In other words, rich, clean and appealing.

My queue of requests generally falls into two categories. The first is a concrete feature request, for adding a new data view or making a change in which the back-end works. The second are the interface requests, which range from “add a button here” to the dreaded “make this easier.”

The first are simple to do. The second I find to be both fiendishly challenging and often the most rewarding. In the majority of cases, they require an understanding about how the end user actually uses the software. Even something as simple as button placement can lead to the difference between frustration and (perhaps) illumination. While I tend to get a feeling for what works, I’m constantly learning how to improve my art.

Occasionally I think on how the world would be if everyone paid more attention to matters of interface. Clearly, there would be some dramatic improvements in all sorts of inanimate objects, but more interest lies in human interface. If people were more thoughtful as to who they were and how they were presenting to others, I wonder what changes would come to pass.