Max · Human Experience Design

05/01/2022

Building a product, be it digital or physical is not easy.

You do your best to map out all the use cases. Then you move on to corner cases if you're a decent designer. QA hands you a few as well. You have all the bases covered, right?

But nothing will ever beat real-life testing of your product. The insights that you gather often raise eyebrows, bring value and raise the bar.

Sometimes, a smile.

Elon Musk's Starlink internet dishes are attracting local cats on cold days, apparently to stay warm and take advantage of the heat it produces.

27/08/2021

You're not alone

I'm talking about , and feeling when you're growing your dream.

18/08/2021

I know nothing about your business

And that’s a very good thing!

A lifetime’s worth of experience will not erase a fundamental truth: each human being is unique. What could you say then about the mix of people building a business?

If you see smoke, probably there’s a fire somewhere. Based on observations, filtered by what happened in the past, when we see smoke we come up with a story on where’s the fire, and what we need to put it out.

We look for those we feel are worth to listen to that story: those that have the patience and expertise to connect with our vision and perception.

“The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.”
— Aristotle

I have worked on several digital platforms, with clients from over two dozen countries and industries. I know cues don’t provide clear paths — it’s the details that make the difference we’re after.

Employees, resources, the market, positioning, features, customers, needs, and expectations make up an ecosystem that can’t accommodate conventional solutions.

Of course, I see where they point at. When I spot the patterns I jump and think it’s a slam dunk! Our brains are wired to optimize, in order to reduce the cost of processing.

That’s why, when you hear a problem framed the same way so many times before, you relax and embrace the closest match. I did it plenty of times, as a rookie.

But I know better now.

The symptoms are the first step on the path to discovering the solution with the most desirable outcomes and lowest resource requirements.

So, we walk through a design process to properly identify what’s creaky and actually needs oiling. Sure, it may seem tedious, but it’s illuminating.

I balance experience and enthusiasm by keeping an open mind to the challenges your organization is facing.

Those questions I ask during our first meeting don’t feed my curiosity, and my answers might not feed yours.

At the risk of irritating you by asking “Why is that?”, I refrain from blurting out recipes, and plug into your matrix.

Because my job is not to know, it’s to find out.

I talk about keeping an when it comes to in and .

10/08/2021

Good products reduce negative emotions

Collecting recipes on how to make products bump-free could be more than a hobby. We’re chasing checkmarks in the quest to avoid complaints: remove friction, make it faster!

Yet, such recipes are meant for the majority of products. Is yours one of them?

Positive friction creates memories, experiences that connect your customers to the brand.

So, how do we create positive friction?

In the 1940s, Pillsbury started making instant cake mixes. You could bake a cake with their mix. Just add water. They eliminated all friction, and yet the product failed to get the traction they anticipated.

‍After talking to customers, they stumbled upon a surprising finding: instead of being a source of frustration, making cake was a way to express love. At the time women felt it was their moral, social, and emotional responsibility

Psychologist and marketing expert, Ernest Dichter, posited the “egg theory”: allowing women to add eggs to the mix would ensure that they felt like they fulfilled their cooking responsibilities.

Sales picked up, and cake mixes still rake in millions to this day. Adding in the right amount of friction made their product more rewarding and therefore appealing.

Most products deliver core functionality without a hitch. When they look at what’s next to get ahead, eyes drop on new features rather than upgrading the status quo.

Every experience is a flow of emotions and we enjoy sharing those that made us feel like raising above the bar.

We value speed because products like Uber and Takeaway make life frictionless. I pay to reduce the anxiety of waiting, squirming through traffic, and the annoyance of dealing with cash. That’s how we avoid the top half of the wheel of emotion: fear, anger, sadness.

Yet, it’s the bottom half that contains the emotions that build loyalty. Joy, love, and surprise transform a product that gets the job done into an experience worth repeating.

We're no strangers to the struggles of coming up with the best solution for a problem: balancing ease of access and security, clear and short, to get the user in the right spot is challenging. Going a layer above requires attention.

Figuring out the right flow of emotions in your product brings clarity on how to further improve it.

When an experience has the potential to explore love, joy, and surprise, lean into it: slow down the tempo.

Good products reduce negative emotions by solving an important problem. Great products do all that and look for ways to imprint what made your journey with them, special.

05/08/2021

What’s the unforeseen variable when you design a product?

When designing a product, we tend to focus on a single scenario: the journey of one persona, going after their job to be done, ending up in ecstasy.

We come up with the best solution for that angle. Personas and journeys gather, patterns emerge and we have a viable vision of success.

Based on our own experience, backed by research, we make assumptions and rely on affordances. We’re aware of cultural inconsistencies, varying levels of experience in a given matter, mental models, concurrent biases and we come up with a solution.

But it’s only by exploring the limits with real users that allows us to improve it. Next to the unique nature of the human, the context shines a bright light. And that’s when we facepalm.

Why?

Most of the time we’re assuming our user is fully rested, naturally patient, knows exactly what they’re after and are eager to follow our lead.

But what are the chances that you want to settle a debt via Revolut after a blurry night out with a new colleague?

Or use the bank app to confirm a payment, angry that they cut the Internet service?

How about authenticating while kneading the dough, paying invoices while holding a crying toddler, or enrolling yet another card to get a ride home during a storm?

Are such contexts so rare? Are these corner cases? They don’t require dedicated personas or alternative journeys to activate “accessibility options”. It’s the same persona, temporarily disabled.

We use services and products when we’re angry, sad, or anxious too. It can happen by the dunes or by the pool, in a crowded and noisy environment, when the battery is at 5% or the connection speed is lagging. Because that’s when we rely on them to deliver.

Consider another layer, when you screen for how things might go wrong: context.

Offer the best experiences, especially when your users can’t present the best version of themselves.

30/07/2021

What's the easiest way to disagree with someone?

"They're obviously misinformed. As soon as I share what I know, they will surely change their mind."
Sure, that always works: we're all eating healthy and exercising regularly.

"They're stubborn, a soldier in an army of passionate ideology-driven puppets, refusing to see the truth."
Yup, we all know you hold the absolute version of it. There's no chance they would see you in the same manner.

"I know already, way better than you, what you need", so I won't listen to what you have to say.
You walked in my shoes and know exactly what would make me cherish your contribution, isn't it?

So, what would be the hardest?

We're different: we had different families, friends, schools, cultural contexts as we grew up. I understand that you see issues from a different angle, and your perspective on this was shaped long before this situation. You feel strongly about certain details because you encountered situations that support those feelings. Are you open to consider another angle?

That's what I share with clients when I attempt to discover what's behind the curtain of a certain attitude, perspective or when I attempt to move the focus from the forest of customers to the tree.

The difference is a valuable resource: it starts off as misunderstanding, disagreement but it ends up propelling learning, exploration, change, leading to better for us all. As passionate as we may feel about ours, we'll be able to connect when we agree that the other party may hold a part of the truth.

If you want to make the change you seek, consider telling stories that resonate. Argue on the same frequency. And in order to resonate, listen first. To understand.

28/07/2021

What's brilliant design for you?

We want him or her happy, so let's help the user to do whatever the user wants to do!

Sure, that's one angle: come up with solutions for what the user has in mind in the short run. Give them what they want. Deliver a smile, make a sale, move on.

In practice, designers try to get the user to do what we want.

Sneaky bastards! Why is that?

Of course, you want your users happy. Like you want your kids to be happy. But is that enough?

You know that if you give them cotton candy, every time they ask for it, they won't thank you each time they visit the dentist in their 30s.

A company's success relies on its customers' success. The goal becomes to come up with a solution that takes the user's needs and goals into account.

So, we look at the bigger picture and ask the likes of:

Hey, why do they really need to solve that problem?
What does success looks like for them?
How do we know we provided a decent solution?
What are the steps they need to take to ensure a positive outcome?
What would make them get to the next step?

We're trying to focus their attention on accomplishing something that's worth it for them. We're playing the long game, and we seek to become a reliable partner.

A well-designed website won't facilitate aimless clicking and eventually a bounce. We're pushing the user to do more than explore: engage with the available offer, educate their perspective, add to their knowledge on a subject matter, inform their opinion, add weight to a decision.

Designing for everyone to do anything can't lead to success. You're not pizza.

Brilliant design will ease the path towards accomplishments that he'll thank you for later, and brilliant designers will gladly answer "what do you want the user to do?"

22/07/2021

User research doesn't end after we ship.

Awareness is like a ping on a radar: he is offering that service, she's now handling such cases, they are having a sale.

Trust requires more work. It comes from experience: repeated interactions that tell me that your organization does more good than bad, word-of-mouth that you can solve my problem, threads and reviews that discuss issues that I face.

Action is what happens when I actually go and input my digits in your form, I show up to your event, or just offer my time and attention to listen to what only you have to say.

To do this, I must've dealt with the fear (uncertainty, price) and decided to do something, to make a change in the status quo.

You are aware you can buy a new laptop, you know it's worth the effort but don't end up taking the action. How many are just like you? Action is the difficult part.

Companies, brands, products, are in fact inviting change in our lives. When their proposal seems familiar, safe, we accept. Action happens: it feels right to connect and exchange value.

Ask your clients about their individual struggles like you would a friend. Look for patterns. That's the puzzle piece that ongoing research brings to the table: the means to build and nurture that connection.

After you developed a decent, usable product, keeping the line wide open with your tribe is key to growth.

20/07/2021

What's on your to-do list for tomorrow?

I had to write and publish this post, so that I may pop on your screen and into your mind when you least expect it. Done!

You... gotta pay that invoice, the dog needs a walk, the report is due, 3 emails in a queue and you're a problem solver for the day. Kudos!

We've been taught over twelve years of school that's how you measure your performance: how well you're solving your to-do list. We were trained to expect positive outcomes when we get the job done, on time, and less desirables ones when we don't.

Our brain is optimized for performance. So we trained ourselves to deliver on time, with the least effort invested. That's because we don't feel that all the items on the list are worth the time, or care that we're capable of.

Why is that?

Many things that we don't enjoy end up on our agenda. In the meantime, a walk with a friend, playing with your kid, making love, learning, and personal growth, contributing to a cause that makes you feel whole - these end up pushed to the bottom. And often, never end up on the list.

Is it just me — the stick, rather than the carrot ends up driving our daily focus? Fear, instead of vision and design, take hold and gears us towards what we came to define as success: getting the job done.

As soon as you sign up for a social network, it becomes one of the items on your list. Sure, it's not written anywhere, but it does get a generous slot. Oftentimes, it's the first. But is it the right one?

As a human, I came to question the wisdom of what we choose to prioritize in our to-do lists. As a designer, one of the items on my list is to help other people see that the things they care about belong on their lists. I ask my clients a lot of questions to surface motivation, authenticity, and uniqueness. That helps me build a solid bridge with their customers through the digital products and services that we end up building.

There is room for passion, patience, tolerance, listening, and exploring beyond the daily errands.

For each Yes we say when we make room for a new task, we end up saying a bunch of noes. Striking a balance is challenging, I know.

But, if all you're doing are the jobs you're used to doing, what are you missing out on?

22/09/2020

If you want to inspire people to do the right thing, don’t guilt-trip them. Positive emotions are a more powerful motivator

04/09/2020

Affluence—not willpower—seems to be what’s behind some kids’ capacity to delay gratification.