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A quick illustration for improving user experience

There is no better way to illustrate how to improve user experience than to breakdown a page. I recently ran across the AARP's retirement calculator page as I was doing research for my posts at financialmarketingnews.com. AARP.org is a site targeted at the 50+ crowd - a group that is quickly adopting the technology but is less willing to spend time with a site with a complicated user experience.

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The AARP site has some work to do. The navigation is complicated. And the brown on brown navigation bars add to the complexity. The site could benefit from a reduction in clutter.  Mostly, I was surprised by the small type size and lack of contrast of the type on a site built for folks who have a high likelihood of needing reading glasses. This is especially surprising in a time when designers have shown us how big type and prominent buttons can be beautiful (see the iPhone example).

Taking a look at the AARP site reminds me how we need to be vigilant when it comes to our user experiences.  Now excuse me, I need to go reevaluate the experiences on the sites I'm working with.