Human beings learn with all their senses. When it comes to decoding a user experience, we can only really on sight, sound, and touch (which I’ll use as a proxy for interacting with the interface itself). But for some reason, many tech folks these days believe that if a user can’t understand your user interface instantly and completely from sight alone then you’ve failed to make your user interface intuitive.

What’s wrong with letting a user play with a user interface a bit to learn what it does?

Could someone who’s never seen a car, but understands its general purpose, walk up to one and start driving? Some trial and error would probably be essential.

Of course, with software user interfaces we’ve trained users that the consequences of a misstep are almost as bad as they would be making the wrong choice in a car. Isn’t that our fault for making unforgiving software that punishes the user for trying things out?

Making intuitive software means making software that works the way a user would expect. It doesn’t mean that the user can instantly parse a user interface without pressing any buttons and know exactly how it works in detail. Software is expected to help us perform complex tasks. And sometimes it takes time for users to get “comfortable behind the wheel”.

And that’s ok.

Done right our software should be explorable. And pressing the wrong button shouldn’t result in a fender bender (or worse).