User Experience: Granola Muffin

Normally UX (user experience) is a term assigned to tech related products, but sometimes we need to look beyond that to more basic things. When my local coffee shop asked me what I thought of their new muffins I couldn’t help but think of UX. Yes, I am a geek.

The old muffins were small, but moist and easy to handle. They were also tasty. Both of these things led to a superior user experience.

The new muffins are bigger, which in theory would be a bonus, but that makes them more cumbersome to handle. The inside of the muffin is no longer moist, but actually quite dry leading to more crumbs. To top it off, literally, there is some sugary substance sprinkled all over the top of the muffin. This makes an even bigger mess and leaves my shirt and the table covered in muffin debris.

Taking this forward, the new muffin may look more enticing, but really is just not as good. Sometimes change for the sake of change is not necessary, particularly when your product was good to begin with. If other people feel the same way I think this muffin will be the Windows Vista of the local coffee shop, and perhaps a Windows 7 like backpeddling is on the horizon.