There are all sorts of ways that designers use to make you feel more comfortable with your electronic devices, no matter how good the device, you are bound to come across more than a handful of error messages in your time of use. Situations like these create problems for designers to solve.
What is the tone that needs to be set by these error messages?
I mean, let's face it, how many of us understands some of the error messages that pops up whenever you do something that is out of the computer's reach? Most use complicated technical lingo that the rest of our humble beings have no clue what it is about. So would it be more beneficial to us users to have a simpler more understandable error message or would it make no difference whatsoever?
Anyone recognizes this guy? Clippit, nicknamed Clippy, was one of Microsoft's venture in creating an interactive animated character that would assist users with Microsoft Office. It only lasted on a few versions before it was removed because of the negative feedback that it was receiving for being 'intrusive' and 'plain annoying'. Even though it was designed to be helpful and maybe even relatable by adding a pair of eyes and eyebrows so that it would be able to portray some sort of expression, it proved to be no more than a nuisance for users of Microsoft Office.
So is the problem in the design of these interactive characters or are we better off just simply navigating the product ourselves? For me, maybe simpler approaches would be more effective as long as it doesn't intrude itself upon my usage, but all to it's own.
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