

Designing a UI for an enterprise, complex, commercial browser app. - ux_designer

I am designing a very complex enterprise application. I have developers with me that can make all the UI ideas possible. And I've done a great deal of UX work leading up to designing the UI and interactions.<p>My quandary is that I don't really have any experience with highly enterprise style products.<p>Essentially I am building a browser based product, which basically functions like a website. And I have license to make it as usable and friendly as possible.<p>So, instead of looking at startup apps or well done websites, where does one go to see inspiration or ideas for highly complex, well done enterprise/commercial apps that run in a browser?
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teyc
Is your application highly complex? Are your users highly technically skilled
and constantly using this application? Highly complex UIs arise from highly
complex situations - think plant-processing control rooms - lots of dials,
switches and blinking status lights.

If the answer is: the user doesn't regularly use this piece of software, or
this application is ancillary to their primary task, then you should fall back
to simplicity, remembering that simplicity and directness is difficult because
it involves paring back what is less used.

Here are some general guidelines:

Go back to first principles. Understand the key process, identify the critical
path and make it simple to perform common tasks.

Make it easy to remember context. Recently accessed searches are more likely
to be re-used. Do you store these?

Avoid modal interactions, because the user may have to jump out of their
current activities midstream to perform another task, and then return to where
they were.

A significant portion of support time for enterprise product is due to
administrators misconfiguring the product. Nail those down so that it is
difficult to get wrong.

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ux_designer
To expand a bit, Ive done a great deal of UX work and research, more of what
I'm worried about is the visual appeal and attractiveness.

It's easy for me to make a slick, good looking startup splash page or website.
But I am not totally sure what makes a enterprise, behind the firewall app
still be attractive and "cool" while maintaining its critica function. Part of
my challenge is to get emotional buy in and "fun" in the ease of use.

Or are people people and just stick to whatever works in the b2c world when it
comes to visuals and aesthetic?

