MacBook Pro Touch Bar: A UX Evaluation & Redesign
Reimagining how users interact with Apple’s most debated interface - making it visible, intuitive, and personal.
Industry
Consumer Tech (Laptop Interaction Design)
My Role
UX Researcher & Designer
Platform
macOS - MacBook Pro Touch Bar
Timeline
Oct - Dec 2024 | 7.5 weeks
The Challenge: Innovation That Missed the Mark
When Apple launched the MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar, it was marketed as the future of laptop interaction. Instead of static function keys, users were introduced to a dynamic, touch-sensitive strip designed to enhance workflows and make tasks more efficient.
However, many users found the experience lacking. Instead of simplifying workflows, users experienced friction:
Poor visibility: Many users didn’t realize certain features even existed.
Low intuitiveness: Icons were unclear, and functions like highlighting or Mission Control caused confusion.
Limited customization: Users couldn’t easily tailor the interface to their needs.
Error-proneness: Accidental taps were common due to the strip’s sensitivity and proximity.
"How might we make the Touch Bar more visible, intuitive, and customizable so it enhances - not hinders - user workflows?"
Understanding User Perception: What Real Users Told Us
To ground our evaluation in real user data, we conducted an online survey with 11 MacBook Pro users.
The goal was to understand how frequently people use the Touch Bar, what tasks they rely on it for, and what frustrations they face day-to-day.
Key Findings:
Average usability rating: 2.5 / 5
27% of users rarely or never use the Touch Bar
Frequent frustration with disappearing icons and a lack of tactile control
Users felt traditional keyboard shortcuts were faster and more reliable
These results highlighted the Touch Bar’s fundamental gap: while the hardware was innovative, its interaction model didn’t align with user habits or mental models.
Heuristic Evaluation: Pinpointing Usability Breakdowns
Each team member performed an independent heuristic evaluation to ensure unbiased results. We then synthesized common findings.
Consistent issues across evaluations:
Visibility of System Status: No confirmation when an action is completed.
User Control & Freedom: No quick undo or reset options.
Error Prevention: Accidental taps due to sensitive input.
Recognition vs Recall: Icons lacked a clear visual meaning.
Flexibility & Efficiency: Customization options were buried or limited.
Heuristic | Severity Rating | Finding | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
Visibility of System Status | Minor (2) | Users lack awareness of certain Touch Bar features, causing confusion during complex actions. | Integrate visual cues or brief notifications (e.g., animations) to indicate status and functionality during use. |
Match Between the System and the Real World | Moderate (3) | Some icons (e.g., highlighting, mission control) are not intuitive, leading to misunderstandings. | Standardize iconography for universal recognition or add tooltips to clarify functions when hovered/tapped. |
User Control and Freedom | Minor (2) | The dynamic nature of the Touch Bar can cause unintended actions without easy undo options. | Add an undo option or confirmation prompt for actions initiated via the Touch Bar to enhance control. |
Error Prevention | High (4) | Small, closely spaced buttons increase accidental touches due to sensitive controls. | Redesign the layout with more spacing and add tactile feedback (e.g., haptic response) to prevent accidental actions. |
Flexibility and Efficiency of Use | Moderate (3) | Limited customization and narrow width restrict user efficiency and workflow adaptation. | Allow icon rearrangement and customization; consider Touch Bar relocation to enhance efficiency. |
Help and Documentation | Minor (2) | Lack of contextual help or tutorials causes uncertainty about available features. | Include a built-in help feature or quick reference guide accessible directly from the Touch Bar. |
Task Analysis: Observing Real-World Usage Patterns
To understand where and why users encountered friction when performing everyday actions, and how the Touch Bar either supported or interrupted their workflow, we conducted a Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) combined with observational usability testing with 10 participants. The participants were a mix of MacBook users with and without Touch Bar experience.
Task Type | Example Task | Observation Summary |
|---|---|---|
Frequent Function | Adjust screen brightness | Users immediately recognized the sun icon; completion was fast and confident (3–4 seconds). |
Less Frequent Function | Access Mission Control | Participants hesitated, pressed wrong buttons, or defaulted to trackpad gestures; average time 17–24 seconds. |
Web Navigation | Open a new browser tab | Most relied on the trackpad due to habit; scanning the Touch Bar took longer (6–12 seconds). |
Highlight Interaction | Highlight a sentence in Preview | The icon was unclear; users described it as “a random symbol” and preferred traditional methods. |
Media Controls | Play, pause, skip, adjust volume | Universally successful - icons were recognized and actions confirmed via visual feedback. |
Major Insights:
Clear visual icons = fast and confident actions
High-cognitive-load tasks = confusion and frustration
Adaptive layout = broken flow and higher mental effort
Journey Mapping: Empathizing with Real Users
We created three personas, each representing a different interaction style with the Touch Bar:
The Traditionalist - Prefers shortcuts, avoids the Touch Bar.
The Curious Learner - Experiments, then reverts to old habits.
The Pro User - Seeks efficiency but feels constrained by design.
Emma’s Journey at a Glance:
Setup: Excited to try the Touch Bar; quickly disappointed by limited customization.
Editing Workflow: Icons shift unpredictably, breaking focus and momentum.
Review: Feels tasks took longer than before - efficiency lost.
🌱 Opportunity: Support flexibility and personalization while maintaining predictability.
Touch Bar 2.0: From Prototype to Final Design
We transformed insights into design principles that guided iterative prototyping and testing.
Design Principles:
Make it Clear: Improve visibility and feedback through consistent iconography.
Make it Personal: Enable layout customization for different workflows.
Make it Forgiving: Add control mechanisms to reduce mis-taps and recovery time.
The Redesigned Touch Bar:
Smart Controls: Persistent access to brightness, volume, and Mission Control.
Wider Layout: Adjusted key size for natural finger reach and fewer mis-taps.
Undo/Reset: One-tap recovery to restore confidence and control.
Dual Layout Modes: Minimal View for focus, Expanded View for advanced tasks.
Visual Feedback: Subtle animations for confirmation of actions.
Users described the redesign as “finally functional and worth using.”
Impact & Reflection
✅ Improved task completion speed and reduced user frustration.
✅ Boosted confidence and willingness to use the Touch Bar.
What I learned:
How to synthesize multi-method research (survey, heuristic evaluation, task analysis) into actionable design principles.
Reinforced the importance of visibility, feedback, and control in any interface, no matter how innovative.
If I were to take this project further, I would:
Explore context-aware customization using AI to adapt the Touch Bar dynamically based on user habits.
Test the redesign with real users over time for long-term usability insights.