Script supervisor is like a UX designer
OK, maybe not exactly. But that is what I thought when I heard a little story on NPR’s Morning Edition about “script supervisors” on movie sets. Their job is to ensure that continuity mistakes do not happen in between takes. We’ve all seen it — a dinner scene where a steak magically regains its size even as the character munches away.
A script supervisors on the set prevent mistakes like this by sweating the details, and their end goal is to provide a seamless experience for the viewer. If you notice a mistake while watching a movie, it’s that much more difficult to immerse yourself back into the story. They are most successful when nobody notices the result of their hard work.
This reminds me of my own job, where a bulk of my effort is spent on making sure that no user gets tripped up on their way to accomplishing a task on a website. Like script supervisors, I’m successful when nobody remembers the site for being frustrating to use.
And just like when they make mistakes, it’s a lot easier to point them out than to know how to prevent the mistakes in the first place!
And just like them, you probably get no glory for the hundreds of sites that aren’t frustrating to use…but get blamed for the one that is. Bummer. No glory for UX design I guess.
(not that you ever make mistakes).