Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That

Designing for users who have more important things to do

Oh yes, I would love to read / watch / listen to your complete tutorial before I get started… said no one ever.

Take care the most pressing user need first, and then get out of the way.

What is the single most important user need (emphasis on the need) that your user actually needs to accomplish right now? Let them do that and then get out of their way.

But, I have delighters to introduce!

Yes, we all love designing unexpected delighters. (If you’re not familiar with the term, read more about table stakes and delighters at UX Booth.)

But that’s just the thing with unexpected delighters, they’re unexpected. If your user is trying to get an expected task done, they don’t have time or cognitive energy to be side tracked at the moment.

If you can solidly address their most important need first, then you can wait to nudge them into discovering a delighter at a later time. Why? Because, if properly addressing your users’ most pressing expected needs upfront, then you don’t lose them right out the gate.

Example Scenarios

I downloaded this tool to create slides, I have a deliverable to make, just let me start creating slides.

I entered this meeting room to start a meeting, I don’t have time to learn your fancy enterprise system, just let me start a meeting.

I bought this game to play it, I don’t want to waste time learning controls I already know, just let me dive in.

Survey: When the last time you actually paid attention to an intro tutorial?

Personally, I click through those as quickly as possible barely reading the text on the screen. Yet as a designer, I have designed those intro tutorials that point out features on the screen or give a summary of what’s new.

Do you pay attention to intro tutorials? What apps and services do a good job of getting out of your way?

Designer Geeking

Design related articles by Saara Kamppari-Miller

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Saara Kamppari-Miller

Written by

UX Designer at Intel, Co-Founder at Closet Minimal, and Eclipse Chaser. Rapid prototyping advocate who thrives in ambiguity. ♥️ V/AR. Opinions = own.

Designer Geeking

Design related articles by Saara Kamppari-Miller

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