VIA Interaction

Thursday, March 15, 2007

When the UI is the product

I saw a TV commercial last night for a user interface!

If your Web site is largely about conveying information -- as so many business-to-business Web sites are -- it is hard to see how much trouble your customers are having getting to that information.

Large eCommerce sites do not have that problem. Their bottom line is directly affected by their user interfaces. In many ways, the user interface is the product.

Expedia.com seems to know that. One of its recent TV ads extols the virtues of its new user interface. The UI enables you to easily see the impact that shifting travel dates has on price:


That interface seems simple, exactly as all good user interfaces should! It allows easy comparison (which is, after all, the key task involved in selecting a flight) by using the familiar calendar interface to show pricing. It uses color to indicate something significant (in this case, the lowest priced flights). And that's it.

When you see it, the first thing that jumps to mind is "Why haven't others thought of this?" Which is another sign that it is a great UI.

It was the second Web travel site ad that grabbed my attention in the last few days. The first was Travelocity's latest in the "Roaming Gnome" campaign. I was struck by the idea of a travel company evoking the Bermuda Triangle, even going so far as watching a toddler and a pet disappear from a beach.



I remember in the newspaper business that airlines were the one class of advertiser who had some say in where ads were placed in relation to news items. If they were on the same page as a news story about a plane crash, the ad got moved.

Now, to break through the clutter, travel companies are highlighting things like the Bermuda Triangle.

posted by Tim Beidel at 3/15/2007 11:28:00 AM

---