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With User Experience (UX), the primary objective is to remove barriers between the user and the outcome we want to create. We start by putting ourselves in the shoes of users and trying as best we can to get inside their heads so that we can approach the experience from their perspective. What kind of experience would they naturally gravitate toward? What might baffle them? What could thrill them? All of this becomes especially important when clients are trying to communicate something particularly detailed, nuanced or complex. In our experience, having a handful of solid principles to guide you can be particularly helpful.<\/p>\n
Story<\/strong><\/p>\n People have always turned to stories to help them communicate ideas\u2014from cave wall drawings to myths and fables to novels and films. Even the best jokes tell a story. Stories help us make sense of the world, and they have a unique power to bring people together. Today, the cave walls we communicate with are the screens on people\u2019s desks or in their pockets. But, story is still there\u2014from strategy sessions and research (where the narrative is often discovered), to the structure taking shape in a sitemap and wireframes, to the finer points of an experience\u2019s design and execution.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not that digital experiences should contain (nor need) the dramatic arc of Hamlet, or the suspense of Stephen King, but so many good experiences actually do take advantage of the same kind of story arc that\u2019s been used for millennia. A journey is embarked upon, a perspective is shifted, a destination is reached. Something awakens us, propels us forward, and ultimately transports us somewhere. It\u2019s through this narrative journey that we build an emotional connection with our audience\u2014a connection that leads to trust and deeper engagement, and that allows complex ideas to be communicated.<\/p>\n Metaphor<\/strong><\/p>\n One way to make sense of a new idea or complex concept is by likening it to something we\u2019re already familiar with. This might be done with navigation features like tabbed browsing that recall file folders, or by providing a \u201cshopping cart\u201d for potential purchases. Or it could be a logo that suggests a company\u2019s function (think of those fingers walking on Yellow Pages, or the open blue Dropbox that suggests all the things one might put inside). Metaphors abound in taglines too, often used to trigger emotions: \u201cLet\u2019s take this outside,\u201d says Mercedes. \u201cLife tastes good,\u201d says Coke. Icons use metaphor to show rather than tell, and infographics can provide clarity while making something potentially dull (data!) more relatable and intriguing. Now, it\u2019s certainly easy to make things more complex instead of less by overloading an experience with too much metaphor, mixing your metaphors, or torturing one till it\u2019s no longer effective. But the right metaphor at the right time can make a huge difference to UX. Why? Thoughtful and well-chosen metaphors make the abstract far more concrete, stir us emotionally, and take us further into the story.<\/p>\n Chunking<\/strong><\/p>\n How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Good design is easy to digest, and information grouped into familiar, manageable units is more easily understood and remembered. If information\u2014especially when it gets complex\u2014isn\u2019t chunked into clear, scannable portions, you risk the user missing important info, or struggling too long to find what they need. The tolerance for this kind of thing is lower every day. If a user has to work hard at all, you\u2019ve lost her. Chunked portions of content are the chapters of an experience\u2019s story, and they\u2019re vital if you want clean and clear design that\u2019s easy for a user to process, both mentally and visually. This is also important when we think about shareability.<\/p>\n Framing<\/strong><\/p>\n Which would you prefer: a treatment with a 10% chance of failure, or one with a 90% chance of success? They\u2019re the same, of course, but how we frame things matters. It\u2019s the same with UX. The way content (copy, visuals, data) is presented can alter our judgment and affect decisions. For another example, suppose a corporation wants to discuss their global water footprint and throws out a number like 300B gallons per year. Well, it\u2019s tough for anyone to grasp how much 300B gallons really is. Framing it in a way that provides some context and equivalencies to help users relate can make it far less abstract. (Perhaps showing with an infographic that this is the amount of water used annually by all residents in Lexington, KY.) Again, this is more than simply helping your user get it logically\u2014it\u2019s about creating the emotional response you want, and pulling people deeper into the story.<\/p>\n Delight<\/strong><\/p>\n We don\u2019t have to view usability and delight as engaged in constant battle. Sure, they push and pull at each other, and there are always choices to be made. But finding ways to work in as much delight as possible is key. We remember and respond favorably to unexpected and playful interactions that elevate the content, and hence the overall experience. Delight isn\u2019t something we should try to shove in as an afterthought once we\u2019ve taken care of usability.<\/p>\n And it isn\u2019t all bells and whistles. Sure, it can be intuitive user interfaces, beautiful animation, smooth transitions, tactile pleasures, pure sound\u2026 and many users will delight simply at the ease-of-use you\u2019ve offered them. But sometimes delight is also getting out of the user\u2019s way so they can have an actual experience.<\/p>\n All this is what can help lead users to that a-ha moment when something they thought hazy and complex crystallizes into perfect clarity. And, hopefully, to the ultimate delight: when users become so surrounded by an experience that, if only for a moment, they forget they\u2019re even looking at a screen. The story you\u2019re telling has just merged with their own.<\/p>\n With User Experience (UX), the primary objective is to remove barriers between the user and the outcome we want to create. We start by putting ourselves in the shoes of users and trying as best we can to get inside their heads so that we can approach the experience from their perspective. What kind of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":2859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,17,20],"tags":[],"message_area_of_focus":[],"buy_cycle":[],"target_audience":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n