Goodnotes is a powerful digital notetaking and PDF markup app available on Android and iOS, known for its versatility. Popular with students, it allows users to create notebooks, upload and annotate existing documents, and organize files within folders. On the iPad, Goodnotes also supports Apple Pencil integration, enabling a more robust notetaking experience.
In this article, I will be critiquing two aspects of its design based on the concepts discussed in The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman.
- Navigation Sidebar
The navigation sidebar found to the left of the screen includes four icons and copy indicating Documents, Favorites, Shared, and Marketplace. The icons and copy are great signifiers of the page each tab leads to, allowing for clear discoverability for the user.
The sidebar utilizes effective conceptual models through its skeuomorphic icon designs. For example, the Documents tab is denoted by a folder icon, which matches people’s mental models where documents are stored within a paper folder. The Favorites tab is denoted with a starred bookmark, coinciding with common mental models on saving a page by placing a bookmark. (Having Favorites readily available in the sidebar also empowers the user to easily access a memory for the future to review important notes and documents.) The Shared tab uses an icon of two people, reinforcing the conceptual model of collaboration or shared access. Finally, Marketplace is indicated by a brick and mortar store, evoking the users’ conceptual model that the tab is where one might purchase goods. These examples of knowledge in the world makes it easier for users to navigate through the app.
The sidebar also provides great feedback as when each tab is selected, it is highlighted. This leads to a low gap in the gulf of evaluation. It also provides a constraint in that it only allows one tab to be selected or highlighted at a time. The sidebar has natural mapping, as the relationship between the controls and the object (in this case, the selected tab) to be controlled is obvious. Additionally, its placement on the left side aligns with users’ knowledge in the head, as navigation is conventionally located in a left sidebar.
2. Read Only Mode to Editing Mode
A new notebook opens automatically in the “Read Only” state, where it is uneditable. A user might use knowledge in the head from previous experiences with notetaking or writing apps to click on the page to begin typing. However, Goodnotes fails to match users’ conceptual model; a short press shows/hides the toolbar UI, while a long press yields a tool tip with the options to Zoom and Add Comment. This indicates a high gap in the gulf of execution, where it is not clear how a user might achieve their goal of taking notes.
After receiving feedback during their gulf of evaluation, the user is not able to achieve their goal of taking notes. At this point, the user may revisit the planning stage within the seven stages of the action cycle. Their goal remains the same, but scanning the screen again, they might notice knowledge in the world: an icon and copy that states “Read Only.”
This button is a signifier for the Read Only mode. However, it has poor discoverability: it is unclear whether it functions as a button that activates Read Only mode or as an indicator that Read Only mode is currently enabled. However, as the recent feedback from the last seven stages of action is still within the user’s short term memory, they will likely be able to deduce that it is an indication that the document is currently on Read Only mode. This leads to a lower gap in the gulf of execution, where clicking on the button moves the document out of Read Only mode. In this case, the user is able to receive good and instantaneous feedback as the document moves into editing mode. As a result, the gulf of evaluation is low as the editing toolbar appears with one of its many tools clearly highlighted.
In order to increase the discoverability of the “Read Only” signifier, we can apply a lighter treatment to the background of the button, matching the treatment of selected options in the editing toolbar. Not only will this maintain consistency throughout the application, the greater contrast would also decrease the number of rule-based mistakes.
Conclusion
Overall, Goodnotes demonstrates many strengths in its use of clear signifiers, effective conceptual models, and strong feedback, particularly within its navigation sidebar. However, the notebook viewing and editing experience reveals a breakdown between the user’s expectations and the system’s design. While the app is powerful and thoughtfully designed in many areas, improving the discoverability and clarity of the “Read Only” state would better align the interface with users’ mental models and create a more seamless notetaking experience.