In response to The Elements of User Experience, Jesse James Garret.
Strategy
LastPass was created to address the needs of Web users to create unique, complex passwords for all of the interfaces they use. Given the risks of having one’s passwords leaked in a security breach, best practices dictate that users avoid using the same passwords for multiple accounts.
But with all those passwords to remember, users might keep track using a Google Doc, a spreadsheet on their local hard drive, or pen and paper, but none of these solutions are ideal as far as cyber hygiene is concerned.
LastPass was designed to be a virtual “vault,” storing and encrypting your personal information behind a single master password, yet remotely accessible via desktop and mobile interfaces. Indeed, your master password is the last password you would ever need to remember.
The LastPass Vault
Scope & Structure
LastPass’ functional specifications were designed to address the problem of password management for websites, accounts, and services across the Web. Its main selling point is that it will simplify your life by allowing you to let go of all your passwords except one, your master password, which will be used to unlock your vault and retrieve all of your passwords.
Users can use LastPass to store other kinds of information such as payment card numbers, server passwords, and secure notes, and sort those items into folders based on function or category.
As users sign up for new products and services which require new, unique passwords, LastPass encourages its users to employ best practices in creating new login information. Users can create passwords of varying length and complexity with the “Generate Secure Password” tool.
LastPass also offers a browser extension that will auto populate username and password fields and store new passwords as they are created, without the need to log into the LastPass site.
As good as this sounds however, conflicts sometimes arise when this feature interferes with the autofill function of the browser itself, presenting the user with a confusing overlap of opposing systems.
To mitigate this issue, which is not quite an “error” as Garret describes, LastPass might be more forward in encouraging their users to disable password storage in their favorite browser. Even if this prevention measure does not work (as you can see, I myself am still holding on to my saved passwords in Chrome), LastPass should offer a correction measure to make these fields easier to see and fill.
There are dozens more features available in this software, especially as a paying premium user, but these basic features are the ones that I use most frequently.
Skeleton and Surface
The interface design of LastPass on desktop is simple and easy to navigate. A red search bar stretches across the top of the page. Courtesy navigation in the top left corner provide easy access to account settings and the help center. The menu, a gray column on the left side, expands to display account categories and additional settings.
Tiles represent the user’s accounts and services. A “Launch” button that appears upon hover sends the user to the appropriate site where, if the LastPass extension is enabled, the login information will auto populate. Icons for editing, sharing, and deleting also appear on hover.
LastPass provides users with an even simpler interface on the mobile app. Even though the same options (editing, sharing, deleting) are available, the developers thoughtfully included a button for users to easily copy a password from here into another app.
