At 37signals Jason Zimdars presents an issues with their Basecamp account upgrade screen as a “math problem.” Putting aside the fact that many educators wouldn’t necessarily think that a math problem a bad thing, it is a rather provocative way to describe an interface issue.
In some ways the math doesn’t really go away with the redesign, the users still might have to figure out the difference in prices or how much they are paying for a gigs worth of storage on each plan. What the designers have done is visually draw the user to the relevant information more efficiently than had been done with the previous design. In a sense, they have taken some of the initial work out of selecting the relevant quantities.
It is really not hard to imagine a text-book math problem that would describe a user’s interaction with the interface.
Sylvia has decided that she wants to change her Basecamp account from “premium” to “max.” How much more would she pay per GB after one years service?
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