I regularly use Adobe Lightroom to edit my photos. The first thing I do after opening the app is add photos from my camera. And this is what I usually see:
I’m presented with a large instructional screen prompting me to connect my camera, drag and drop photos, or sync from my mobile Lightroom app. Below that is a blue button that tells me to “Add photos”. The blue button is the only color in a screen that is gray and black and white. I want to click the button. The button will do the thing that I want: Add my photos.
It does not add my photos.
When clicking the big blue button, it suddenly spawns a blue orb that gently arcs over to the sidebar menu, landing oh-so delicately on a menu option that reads the same as the blue button: “Add photos”. It pulses around the plus icon and shows a tooltip that says: “Lightroom is more fun with your photos. To get started click the + button and select some photos”.
I KNOW LIGHTROOM IS MORE FUN WITH PHOTOS — THAT IS WHAT I AM TRYING TO DO! WHY DO YOU MOCK ME, LIGHTROOM?!
Why can’t I just add photos from the first button I pressed? Why on earth do I have a tutorial telling me how to click something that I wouldn’t intuitively click on given the user interface? Why can’t I dismiss this tutorial?
Here’s the thing: I’ve been a Lightroom user for years. They’ve had this user experience for years. And every single time, I click the blue button. Despite my experience with the app, I still will always take the path that seems most obvious to me.
Familiarity and teaching users how to use your app won’t always win over what is most intuitive on the page. Especially when that intuition drives a primary goal.
Shoehorning in overlays or extra steps won’t always force folks to use the nicely paved sidewalk you put in place. Your product — the web really — is just a series of desire paths. Understanding those paths (read: talking to users), is critical to designing an experience that is based in reality, not just product objectives.
So, just let me click the button to add my photos.