A while back I read an article entitled ‘Becoming a More Thoughtful User Experience Designer’. The first example Haugen used in his article was about clearing his inbox using Gmail and being presented with a smiley face and the text ‘You’re all done! Please enjoy your day.’
I have often wanted a clear [personal] inbox, but don’t remember ever achieving it. Last night I had some time on my hands so I thought I would give it a go. I caught up with my personal correspondence and dealt with a few admin tasks. I cleared my inbox. YAY!
But there was no smily face. Just this:
I was a little disappointed.
So I read Haugen’s article again. He’d been using the Gmail app, not the web version of Gmail.
I installed the app onto my iPad and right enough, I got the smiley face. I got the smiley face on my Android phone too. YAY.
But why didn’t I get the smiley face on the web version of Gmail? Most probably the Gmail app and Gmail web version were designed by different UXers. But it would be nice to have a consistent experience.
