If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, I would call it a duck.

Just a few days ago my Nokia Phone Suite application told me there was a new version available. And the installation surprised me again. It's the year 2008 and the most simple usability rules are still unknown to some software developers.

Let me show you the dialog:


It is really simple. If you suggest I can click YES the should be a YES button. Not a button with a green V. Same for the NO button. Not a red X.

Call it what it is.

I understand: it it obvious, everyone can figure out that the green V is the YES and the red x is the NO. But it takes (a little) time to figure that out. And that, only that, can kill the trust users have in your application. Dr. Eric Schaffer of Human Factors International talks about PET design. Design for Persuation, Emotion and Trust. I believe it's a fair point. Especially the fact that there always is tension between that and Usability. In the Nokia case, the designers probably wanted to make a trendy flashy application (it's a lot of young people who use mobile phone applications, not?).

I think Nokia went wrong here in the installation of the application. They don't do what they promise: offer a YES and NO button. Bye bye trust.

Will the end user regain his trust and trust the application itself or will they quit using it at the first failure?

I leave you with this question, but I can make a guess...