Umo and Our Digital Barriers

Anonymous

We all know design shapes how we live, but a recent evening with my mom reminded me just how much.

She recently installed the Umo app and while she’s fairly tech-savvy, she doesn’t have the built-in instincts of someone raised with digital tools. Thankfully, Umo’s design is friendly. Auto-pay is easy to set up, the scan button is pinned to the bottom navigation bar instead of inside a hidden menu, the app is bright teal, and there’s a cheerful little smiley face—she’s gotten on the bus!

But that’s not the case with all apps and she’s often come up against confusing menus or unintuitive design in the quest to book appointments, pay taxes or update an internet plan.

As services move increasingly into the digital realm, it’s a small but important reminder: good design makes life easier; bad design can become a real-world barrier.