A process that a user has become accustomed to, can sometimes receive reinvention for a number of reasons:
- The process can be simplified
- The process can become a experience unique to a certain entity
- Aesthetics
Amongst others.
Whilst I see and can understand the reasoning behind taking the reinvention approach, how can it be justified in terms of UX? After all, the user habitually knows what to do, having to learn a new process so as to produce the same result is surely a bad experience.
Here's an example:
Car manufacturers, particularly those of sports-cars, often opt to change the process of opening a door on the vehicle, that differs from the norm (i.e a door handle). This can be in the form of a button on a key fob, a button located beneath the wing mirror, a hand gesture over a sensor, etc.
I sense that, more often than not, this is done for aesthetic reasons. Or to offer something unique to the consumer.
So where's the line? At what point can introducing a process that, more than likely, damages the overall UX be justified?