Beyond frustration: 3 levels of happy design

Dana ChisnellMidwest UX 2011

@danachis #happy

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BROKEN

EXPERIENCE

Usability isn’t just about eliminating frustration anymore.

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If you want users to love your designs, fallin love with your users.

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Lessons for designing for delight

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MeaningFlowPleasure

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3 levels of happy experience design

1. Pleasure

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• Consideration

• Anticipation of needs

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Houdini’s birthday

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Anniversary of the Eiffel Tour

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Matt Groening’s birthday

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Swackett extended forecast

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1. Evidence of Pleasure

✤ Smiling

✤ Exclamations, “Nice!” or “Got it!”

✤ Behaving with infatuation

Cautions of Pleasure

Habituation

Distraction

Disruption

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2. Flow

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• Challenge to skill

• Plays on mastery

Quora

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Activity of people or questions you follow

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2. Evidence of Flow

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✤ Gratification

✤ Feeling productive

✤ Focused concentration

✤ Energized

✤ Stop talking

✤ Empowerment

✤ Key strengths tapped

Cautions of Flow

Could translate as eitherengagement or frustration

User control is key

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3. Meaning

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• Connectedness

• Making a difference

• Belonging • Virtuousness

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Zipcar.com

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Zipcar.com

✤ Feeling of groundedness and morality

✤ Feelings of compassion and empathy

✤ Expansiveness, openness

✤Devoted, engaged

✤ Long lasting glow

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3. Evidence of Meaning

Cautions of Meaning

Must be authentic, genuine

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Go. Do good things.

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Creating a remarkable experience versus a satisfactory one is possible

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Pleasure

Flow

Meaning

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How much happiness can you design in?

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Where to learn more about the psychology of happiness

TED Talks: The psychology of happiness - Martin Seligman TED Talks: Play is more than fun - Stuart Brown

TED Talks : Happy design - Stefan Sagmeister

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things, by Donald Norman

Happiness: A History, by Darrin M. McMahon

Where to learn more

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Dana’s blog: http://usabilitytestinghowto.blogspot.com/

Download templates, examples, and links to other resources from www.wiley.com/go/usabilitytesting

Thank You.

Dana Chisnell

dana@usabilityworks.net

www.usabilityworks.net 415.519.1148

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