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Three UX lessons from the redesign of the latest version of Google Translate. After a long day of work we launched the new version of the Google Translate website with a responsive layout and a modern UI (User Interface) design project. Given Google Translate's global popularity, we knew we had to prepare for some resistance to change. There are many great articles on strategies to minimize the change aversion response. But, as is often the case with projects of this scale, there are some lessons that can be learned through the retrospective. Here are my key takeaways from the Google Translate redesign. 1. Your users are your crystal ball Index 1.
Your users are your crystal ball 2. Asking for Phone Number List preference in usability studies can be a trap 3. Let A/B testing be your arbiter If you've read about change aversion, you've probably come across a chart like this: It shows the different possible outcomes after introducing a change, but it doesn't help you predict the results of your change. This lack of clarity and control frustrated me initially. But with each iterative experience, I realized that our users were naturally guiding us through their actions and feedback towards the best possible outcome. Also read: Persona: how to create and why using it is essential for projects During our experimentation phase, Google Translate users submitted comments that ranged from praise to chastisements.
It wasn't always an easy read but my team and I spent hours reading as many as possible and responded by filing bugs or tweaking the design. For example, when reading the comments, we realized that we had inadvertently changed the tab order for some elements, causing problems for the productivity of our everyday users, so we had to change them back. Likewise, we increased the information density of the page after we heard clearly that people preferred to see more information on the screen. It's tempting to obsess about achieving the perfect design before showing it to real users. But it's best to focus on creating a phased experimentation plan that allows you to collect and respond to feedback at scale.
Your users are your crystal ball 2. Asking for Phone Number List preference in usability studies can be a trap 3. Let A/B testing be your arbiter If you've read about change aversion, you've probably come across a chart like this: It shows the different possible outcomes after introducing a change, but it doesn't help you predict the results of your change. This lack of clarity and control frustrated me initially. But with each iterative experience, I realized that our users were naturally guiding us through their actions and feedback towards the best possible outcome. Also read: Persona: how to create and why using it is essential for projects During our experimentation phase, Google Translate users submitted comments that ranged from praise to chastisements.
It wasn't always an easy read but my team and I spent hours reading as many as possible and responded by filing bugs or tweaking the design. For example, when reading the comments, we realized that we had inadvertently changed the tab order for some elements, causing problems for the productivity of our everyday users, so we had to change them back. Likewise, we increased the information density of the page after we heard clearly that people preferred to see more information on the screen. It's tempting to obsess about achieving the perfect design before showing it to real users. But it's best to focus on creating a phased experimentation plan that allows you to collect and respond to feedback at scale.