A Head Rush and Other Inspirations

There’s a blog I stumbled on when doing some random research on usability. It’s called Creating Passionate Users and it’s maintained by Kathy Sierra, a game developer and co-creator of the bestselling Head First series. I have been terribly inspired by her blog, almost as much as I have been inspired by users and all things that concern them. If you feel the same, read on because the rest of the piece is about the latter inspiration.

Users cannot ask for something they cannot conceive of. The iPod was not invented because a user asked for it.

This does not reflect badly on the user, but it does reflect on our ability to understand the user. Get to the root of the users’ suggestion (do not accept it at face value)... often times it will lead to something much more radical and relevant like the iPod (I wish:).

Experts say that we have moved from the knowledge economy to the experience economy. This means that every little word, graphic, animation, line, tone influences the user’s experience. The litmus test of whether is design works – Check if it meets the user’s true intended message and not the one that the user communicated to you.

So how do you do this? Put yourself in the user’s shoes, ask questions, role play, observe the user and then keep focusing on the user even as you design. Resist the temptation to highlight what you think is great about the product. Remember when a user says, “I don’t think I can use this feature,” the user may actually mean, “I have no clue what to do with it.” So set context–Context setting is overrated and underrated at the same time–I guess we do it, but we don’t do it right all the time.
Also, I try to keep these points in mind during the design phase:
· Provide intuitive and task-based content based on sound learning principles. Focus on what the user might want to do with the product. Also, the user should actually learn without trying too hard.
· Add motivation through progression path and other means. In other words, give people a sense of accomplishment for figuring out the solution themselves
· Maintain modularity, extendibility of content.
· Customize within limits of cost and localization
Typically, learning materials need to be generic to take care of budgets and localization. Consider customizing content to some extent based on the key features of the product– maintain a fine balance between leveraged content and customized/customizable content. The tasks the user can accomplish using the product hold the key. Identify such tasks for every product and use them to give a customized feel to the help files.
· Add relevant visuals and games that aid learning and not distraction
· Provide non-linear access to information with tips, super tools, intuitive troubleshooting pop-ups

In fact, I can summarize all of the above into five points. It almost sounds like a lyrical jingle to me. If someone is ready to set it to a tune, I would be game.
Use a wee bit of instruction,
Add a lot of motivation,
Allow for great navigation,
Now, how about some smart games and sims,
And oh, doing away with visuals is a cardinal sin.
(Repeat in chorus)

And more that anything else, keep the content simple and fun and you will have a happy user!

Here’s a great example I found in the Kathy’s blog: http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/07/usability_throu.html

Now, get out of this web page and go to Kathy’s.