Our philosophy

At Madera Labs, we believe that making things easier to use is not only a noble pursuit, it’s a necessary one.  Easier technology means happier users, and that means better results for your business.

Our guiding philosophy for making things easier to use hinges on the following three tenets:

Make it Simple

Technology often brings with it unnecessary complexity.  While some complexity is borne out of the technology itself, much of this complexity is the result of poor planning, lazy design or lack of design altogether.  We believe that making things more simple is one of the cornerstones to good experiences.  Our approach involves evaluating and designing an interaction to strip out unnecessary complexity, leaving the user in a much better position to accomplish their task.  Ultimately, good design should be invisible.  Making the experience more simple is one way we get to that transparency.

Make it Obvious

Not only should interfaces be simple, but they should be painstakingly obvious.  Providing the user with a seamless experience that requires almost no thought is a goal we strive to achieve on each project.  Making an interface obvious is about providing what the user needs, when they need it, and only then.  By carefully designing through interactions with this intentionality in mind, we work toward crafting an experience that leaves the user relaxed and happy.  Ultimately, we want users to say “It works just like I thought it should”.

Make it Polite

The interaction between user and computer can sometimes be harsh.  When machine and human meet, the machine ultimately doesn’t respect the human’s sensibility.  Rude error messages, terse copy and frightening actions in an interface erect a barrier between the user and the machine, eliciting hostility and defensiveness.  Unfortunately, most interfaces today are simply rude.  With no thought given toward the users’ state of mind and human characteristics, interfaces are more often than not designed to communicate with users as a machine, not as a human.  We strive to craft a polite conversation between the user and the interface, leaving the user feeling welcome, comforted and non-defensive.