Delight is that word we use to describe those pleasurable moments in digital and offline products, that make an experience just that little bit more fun.
CAN YOU WIREFRAME DELIGHTFUL?
BEN TOLLADY @tollady
BEN ROWE @benhyphenrowe
DES TRAYNOR
Our inspiration for this talk camefrom this article : Some things can’t be wireframedhttp://insideintercom.io/things-cant-wireframed/
An example of delight that the author mentions is Squarespace, which makes great use of beautiful imagery and typography …
…but if we were to wireframe this page?It doesn’t convey the same feeling of delight at all.
Another example the article mentions is the Keezy app. !
Keezy may never have been as delightful if it had been “wireframed”.
RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS HELP SHOW YOU THE WORKFLOWS, USABILITY PRINCIPLES ENSURE IT’S CLEAR AND INTUITIVE, BUT
HOW DO YOU GET TO DELIGHTFUL? YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN THERE.
The article concludes by saying that designing for delight is difficult, risky and messy, and that there is no real trick to it. !
Which left us asking more questions.
DESIGNING DELIGHT
So we wanted to take this opportunity to investigate further… !
Is there actually a formula to adding delight to the things that we’re creating?
WHY SHOULDWE CARE?But first things first - Why
should we even care about Delight? !
Isn’t it just a meaningless buzzword anyway?
ACQUISITION • Great First Impression • Memorable / Sharable
!
RETENTION • Happy Users = Loyal Users
Well, maybe. !
But Delight is what makes your users fall in love with your product. There are clearly benefits to offering a delightful experience.
AARRON WALTER - DESIGNING FOR EMOTION
Of course - delight isn’t the be all and end all. !
As Aarron Walter has said, our products need to Functional, Reliable, and Usable first.
MINIMUM VIABLE
DELIGHTFUL PRODUCT
That said, Delight isn’t something that you can just tack on. We need to be creating minimum delightful products, that bake in Delight from day one.
BEAUTIFUL UI
Let’s have a look at some examples of delight. !
A beautifully designed interface, like AirBnB, is a common and obvious way.
MICROCOPY
Microcopy helps break down any barriers that might exist between human and computer, reminding users that there are real people behind a product.
ANIMATIONhttps://www.campaignmonitor.com/monitor/
Captivating animations like those used to create parallax scrolling effects is another common way to add delight. !
Campaign Monitor’s mobile app website does a great job of this.
TRANSITIONS & INTERACTIONS
We mentioned Keezy before - it’s a wonderful example of how tactile transitions and interactions can make something delightful.
SOUND
Done well, sound can also be used to delight. Like that lovely twinkling bell sound when you tick off a to-do item in Wunderlist.
SURFACE DELIGHT
These examples are what we call ‘Surface’ delight. They are often very obvious and visceral.
DELIGHT FADES
Surface delight can be very effective. But the problem with these types of delight is that they fade over time.
DEEP DELIGHT
So we were interested in exploring if there was a deeper level of delight, beyond this ‘Surface’ level. So we explored a little further…
INVISIBILITY “IT JUST WORKS”
A delightful user experience is often about Invisibility. Getting out of the user’s way. Or something that “Just Works”.
FLOW
MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALY - FLOW
Deeper delight is also about getting users into a state of ‘flow’; that feeling of being completely absorbed in what you are doing, where nothing else seems to matter.
iA Writer is a super simple writing app, and a great example of a product that gets you into a flow state.
PAIN POINT DELIGHTGILES COLBORNE - CX PARTNERS
Pain points in an experience that are resolved effortlessly can actually become moments of delight. !
This is something that Giles Colborne has spoken about.
VISCERAL ENGAGEMENT AND DELIGHT
!
BEHAVIOURAL HOW THE THING PERFORMS
!
REFLECTIVE WHAT THE THING EVOKES IN THE USER
DON NORMAN
Don Norman talks about a “reflective layer” of a design - Which isn’t about the product at all, but more what the product evokes in the user.
PLEASURE SURFACE DELIGHT
!
FLOW REMOVE THE UNNECESSARY
!
MEANING INTEGRITY & AUTHENTICITY
DANA CHISNELL
Dana Chisnell describes a third level of delight - “Meaning”. !
This is where a deeper level of delight is felt through an organisation having values that align with the user’s.
SAMUEL HULICK - USERONBOARD.COM
We realised that Deep Delight delight isn’t about your product at all, it’s actually about your user.
IT’S NOT GAMIFICATION
VS
But let’s not confuse true delight with gamification. !
Delight isn’t about ‘badges’. It’s about helping users improve their skills, their health, and their lives …
KATHY SIERRA - THE KICK ASS CURVE
…It’s about helping users “Kick Ass”, as Kathy Sierra put it. !
So we need to help our users get from “suck” to “awesome” as quickly as possible.
• How do we get out of a users’ way? And into Flow?
• How de we over-deliver at the pain-points • How does our product align with their values? • How dow we help them “Kick Ass”?
GETTING TO DEEPER DELIGHT
So deeper delight is about understanding our users. !
It’s about knowing who they are, what’s important to them, and what progress looks like in their life, not just on their screen.
SURFACE DELIGHT
DEEP DELIGHT
Delight isn’t just a simple, single, one-dimensional thing. It’s much more complex an operates across multiple levels.
SURFACE DELIGHT
DEEP DELIGHT
is visceral
is often invisible
SURFACE DELIGHT
DEEP DELIGHT
is novel
has a higher purpose
SURFACE DELIGHT
DEEP DELIGHT
is fleeting
is ongoing
SURFACE DELIGHT
DEEP DELIGHT
is the first date
is the relationship
SURFACE DELIGHT
DEEP DELIGHT
is product focussed
is user focussed
DELIGHT IS AS MUCH ART AND ‘FEEL’ AS IT IS LEARNED SCIENCE
Delight is part science (where our UX skills come in) and part art. The art is about knowing when to apply just the right amount of delight, and at what level.
A great example of an organisation has really nailed it is Simple bank. !
They manage to delight customers on multiple levels.
SURFACEOn the surface, their UI is gorgeous and their microcopy is lovely and fun.
DEEPBut at a deeper level, they understand what people really want from a bank.
They create Meaning, and a deeper level of delight, by disrupting the ‘fees and charges’ model of most other banks.
THANKS
BEN TOLLADY @tollady
BEN ROWE @benhyphenrowe
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