There comes a point in time when you have been designing your application for so long that the littlest things slip by. It’s not your fault. When you are working on something so often, thinking about it day in, and day out, you are attached. Not just emotionally attached, your eyes and brain are attached too. When you are testing your own application, you know what every icon means, where every button is, and your brain is programmed to the specific type of experience someone is meant to have. But if you put your application in front of an 11 year old boy, or a grandpa, they will make you do two things. One, pull your hair out. Two, realize there is no way you can design your application for a beginner in the first try. From the first day you start doing mockups, and writing out wireframes, you are already steps ahead of anyone when it comes to understanding, and using your product.

The image above is based on a true story. We were user-testing an elder, and he asked why he had to “pick a state” (when “Georgia” was the default font). On one hand, that seems like a ridiculous question. On the other hand, it makes perfect sense in it’s simplicity. Why not change it? Really, think about it, if a user is confused by something that small… don’t be stubborn, just change it.

Design your application for beginners, let the beginners test it, and then rebuild for the beginners. And guess what, experts will still use it!