I’ve noticed this a few times when traveling United in the past and was reminded again this morning when checking in for my afternoon flight. On the boarding pass screen, there’s a strange interaction. A large, yellow button labeled “Print” is displayed. To the right of the button is instructive text informing the user that they should “Print your documents using the button to the left”. Is this text really needed? Do we need to tell the user to clicking a few pixels to the left?

If testing has shown that users need the 1-2-3 steps, then it’s entirely logical to have step one be print, but the wording should simply read “Print your documents”. The good news is that the hyperlinked “Print” text has the same action as clicking on the button.

This design by United reminds me of some examples from Dan Saffer‘s blog and book “No Ideas But In Things“.

Photos credits: Jennifer Whitehead, Dan Saffer & Will Pate