Design, indicators, and quality are connected. When we don’t think about them, they are doing their job well.

I was headed into the Dallas Improving office in June. The photo below is what showed up a short distance from home.

So, indicators and warnings. Yeah, I considered ignoring the tire pressure light.

But, I didn’t. I drove back home. Checked the pressure. Inflated the tires. Back on the road.

This brings me to a question on the first of the three thoughts.

What indicators or warnings are you ignoring from your teams?

Building on my thoughts above, I wanted to pose a different question.

Working in the product development space, I enjoy having a good experience. While the low tire pressure indication might be annoying from time to time, it is important.

When I consider user experience (UX) and experience design (XD) I want people to note important information.

Do you appreciate the value of having clear messaging from the products you use?

Another angle I considered with the original post was quality products or services.

Simple Theme – Design, Indicators, and Quality

My car is 14 years old. It has passed the average age for vehicles operating on U.S. roads.

The story on product quality is the car is still operating well and has very few noticeable defects.

Since I bought the car used, I don’t know its full history. I can share that for as long as I have owned it (since 2014) it has spent more time on the road than in the repair shop.

When quality is builtin, products last. Services are relatively easy to access and use. Routine maintenance keeps them operating well.

What is your experience with quality?

To tie this together, good design leads to timely indicators and solid quality. When products and services lack good design, they may fail to deliver indicators and quality.