#1: Error message saying "unable to calculate shipping for this zip code" (a perfectly valid U.S. zip code -- turns out the problem was not the zip code, but a required field about desired shipping mode that had been left empty). Then it wouldn't let me upload a logo.
#2: Unsuccessful attempts to upload a logo with size and format compliant with website requirements. No feedback to user about the reason for failure or how to fix the problem.
#3: "Only Internet Explorer users can upload logos." Considering that 53% of visitors of this blog use Firefox, I wonder how many clients are being sent away because of this limitation.
#4: Easy interface to upload the logo (even using Chromium and Ubuntu), make any changes you want to the layout of your card, save your design, and proceed to checkout. I had forgotten (mainly because of the inexpressive name), but this is the exact same company I used last time, and the quality of the cards was excellent. Had I found the link to their website sooner, I wouldn't have even tried other providers.
The interesting thing is that despite providing a substantially better user experience, provider #4 still managed to offer the lowest price. I wasn't even making a choice based on price, and ended up getting a great experience, at an excellent price.

Goals Are the Reason Why We Perform Tasks
Users come to your website to achieve a goal: order business cards with a layout and content of their choice. They are not there to fill forms, be forced to choose among numerous options of paper, formats and sizes, or guess what an "error 447 while uploading image" is.
Designing from tasks instead of goals is one of the main causes of user frustration.
Asking, "What are the user's goals?" lets us see through the confusion and create more appropriate and satisfactory designs.
Oh, I almost forgot: when you need new business cards, go to 123PRINT, where you can achieve your goal without having to deal with annoying, difficult, or inappropriate software behavior.
Related posts:
Not what the user wants
Evil interfaces
Thankfully, bears don't need the Shift Key to hibernate




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