Nielsen called to account for using harsh Generalisations

"An open letter to Jakob Nielsen" by Andrei Michael Herasimchuk of Design by Fire has been igniting new controversy in the user-centred design community.

Written in reaction to Nielsen's March 15th Alertbox: Why Consumer Products Have Inferior User Experience and taking issue 'quite frankly, with much of what you have written in the recent past' Herasimchuk rebuts the Nielsen's article point by point.

It is a polite and respectful letter and the criticisms have weight. For instance:

'You state,

'"Here are just few examples of the BMW 745i's clueless interaction design"

'These are aggressive words. In my opinion, too aggressive. Considering how well BMW has designed so many cars in the past, it seems unnecessary.

'Do you believe that attacking them, or any designer, in this fashion will somehow inspire them to make a better product?'

He challenges Nielsen to redesign UseIt.com with his own hands. 'Do the work yourself. Make it readable. Make it pleasing to the eye. Fill it with content that inspires people to do better in their own work. Take the time to employ some basic typography principles. I'll even let you borrow my copy of Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst. Create a pleasing color palette. Create some simple, yet elegant informational graphics. Go take a few photos.

'Do all of this and make your own web site usable. It is possible. In fact, for someone who is at your stage in their career, I would claim it is required.'

Nielsen has not yet risen to the challenge or made any public sign that he has noted the letter.

Associated Link: An open letter to Jakob Nielsen

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