Usually this happens when there were correct goals made by the designer. If a product is designed well, we should be able to do it with out thinking. Think about how to log in to certain web pages, if the sequence of buttons you select come second nature to you, it's probably because what you need is in a very convenient location.
Goals can be simple every day tasks, like "brushing your teeth" or "driving to the store" or even "submitting an assignment."As designers we need to be aware that goals are met with a sequence of actions.
When something is difficult to do you have to ask what were the results of the actions you took? Did your actions meet your goal? Let's watch Waffles the cat.
Sometimes it's the intentions that determine how a goal is met.
A goal is something to be achieved, Waffles wanted to get off the car and on to the ledge.
An intention is a specific action taken to reach that goal, Waffles jumped.
In the case of Waffles, he didn't realize how far away the ledge was and probably ignored the fact that he wasn't an agile kitten anymore. His intentions didn't help him reach his goal. He probably should have found another way around. (Poor Waffles...)
If his goal was simply to get off the roof of the car, however, than he reached his goal. But based on his actions, we can assume his goal was to get on to the ledge.
Being aware of goals and intentions is pretty critical to interaction design. They go hand in hand. A designer needs to know what the goals of the user are and then provide a product that helps them make the right actions to reach their goal, with out making them go the long way around.
If you are going to create a web page that sells products, you shouldn't make it difficult to let your users know what the product costs and how they can order that product. They other day I saw an advertisement for a rocking chair.
I'm not having a baby right now, but this is a cute little chair that I think I would like to have when I'm a mom. So I clicked on the picture that lead me to their web site. I wanted to know how much the product costs and if it was something local so I could sit in it before making a purchase.
It's a cute little web site, you can check it out if you want to, but long story short it took me a lot of clicking to find out that this is a company based in the Netherlands and their 2 U.S. stores are on the East Coast. And I still don't know how much this chair would cost or if I could have it shipped to Idaho. If that's something they don't offer, I wish their website would explain that.
Being aware of what your audience is looking for, even if they live on the other side of the world, can help you create a product that users will really appreciate.
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