Yesterday I went to the store to buy oregano and pizza seasoning mix, amongst other things. Usually I use two or three hours in front of the seasoning shelves to find what I am looking for (at least). But yesterday I found what I was searching for in two or three seconds.

Why? Because the designer of the seasoning labels was smart enough to think about how I search for the right product, instead of just making something beautiful.

This is what the shelves looked like:

All the seasoning labels were marked with a letter: the first letter in the name of the seasoning. And luckily for me the store employees had put them in an alphabetical order, so I in matter of seconds found what I was looking for.

Happy from experiencing a user-friendly design solution in my everyday life, I headed out to my Toyota Avensis with my groceries. And there, in the driver seat, trying to change my CD to the next song, I concluded that not all designers think about the users need:

What button do you press to change to the next song?

Make your search solution easier to use for your users! Try to understand how they think, and what their challenges are …