What if usability pros were president

If I were president of the United States of America there are some issues I’d address first and foremost. Here’s a just a few of those issues:

Building number consistency
Have you ever been looking for a specific building number only to end up passing it, then wondering how you passed it? We all know that the left side of the road hosts the even numbered establishments and the right side of the road has the odd numbered ones. None of that matters though when you can’t see the numbers you’re looking for. I’d require businesses and homes to ensure their building number is easily viewable from the road. To help lower the country’s debt, I’d fine those who did not follow this rule.

Road/Sign accuracy
The same thing goes for road signs. Luckily a good bit of the population has GPS devices in their car now, but for those of us who don’t, having inaccurate or missing road signs can be extremely frustrating. For example, as I was coming home from IKEA in Atlanta I was needing to get on I-85. There were plenty of signs for I-85 but one of them in particular was poorly placed. Rather than being placed more near the exit I needed to take, it was placed almost to early. As a result I ended up taking the exit before and going the wrong way.

In both of these above cases I’ll admit I’m not great with directions, but as Donald Norman said in his book The Design of Everyday Things, mistakes such as these aren’t the fault of the user, rather they’re the fault of the designer. Meaning, designers should consider all factors before making final decisions. The proper placement of road signs is just common sense, especially in a big city such as Atlanta which not only has the worlds’ busiest airport, but also has a a plethora of connecting interstates, highways, and roads. And locals will know that taking a wrong turn in Atlanta can quickly place you in an area of town that is questionable.

Consistent government websites
Have you ever seen any of the government websites? Have you seen the official website for the United States of America? Surprisingly both ‘usa.com’ and ‘america.com’ are parked domains. If I were foreign looking for information I’d probably start with one of those two URLs so why are they not what people might expect? Then we have ‘usa.gov’ which is painfully dated. Out of them all, ‘whitehouse.gov’ is probably the best. Unfortunately it’s not a site foreigners would likely search for when researching our country.

With so much pressure on Obama to fix and maintain America’s face to the world, why do we have websites that do a terrible job and representing how fantastic this country is? Let’s bring some consistency to our internet face too. There are tons of highly skilled designers and developers out there who would love to get their hands on some of these sites (myself included) and give them a much needed (and deserved) facelift.

Way-finding signage
Having traveled and lived in foreign countries I know how daunting it can be to navigate unfamiliar territory. Signage is something I think most people take for granted, yet it’s some of the most powerful form of communicating easily and clearly. My design class back in college had a project once where we each had to find a system of signage then redesign it making it better. Most of us, I’m assuming, know our ways around nearly all of the places we visit on a day to day basis so well that we don’t use the way-finding signage. It becomes part of the space, something we barely see. But what if it’s your first time to the mall, to a certain part of town, or even to this country? If our country is supposed to be welcoming everyone with open arms, then why are we luring them in only to let them get devoured by the impossible and inconsistent signage?

If I were president, rather than mucking around with healthcare, taxes, and other complicated and uninteresting stuff, I’d focus on the things that actually increase the quality of life for Americans and foreigners alike. A new healthcare system won’t please everyone and the gov’ment will never find a tax solution that satisfies everyone, but I’ll bet that nobody would complain if the above things were addressed.