Everyone says a product should be intuitive and they’re right except it’s doesn’t mean what you think it means. Also making something intuitive is really hard
I find this object very intuitive to identify and use.
I can put it bounce it while standing still or running, quickly deliver it to another person at a distance and put it through a hoop. Its intuitive for me because I spent years playing basketball. When something is intuitive what you need to know to use it (target knowledge) matches what you’ve learned from the world around you (acquired knowledge).
The trick to making something intuitive is knowing what knowledge has been acquired by the target segment. This takes interviews, observation, looking at industry trends and understanding conventions specific to them. You then take all of this and incorporate it in your design. But it’s not enough, you will need to prototype and test your product to ensure that it is intuitive.
All of this takes time and effort. If you really want an intuitive product you need to make the investment and that means tradeoffs, mostly cutting features.
For a enlightening look at intuitive web pages I highly recommend this talk by the one and only Jared Spool.
The Curious Properties of Intuitive Web Pages by Jared M. Spool – An Event Apart Boston from Jeffrey Zeldman on Vimeo.