Tell A Story Not Just Sell A Product
You log in , click on social-media sign-up , sign-up and from there it takes you to the Main Home Screen , finish. From a developmental standpoint yes, from a UX point-of-view … maybe not. Why ? Let’s look at three key factors found in various design principles and guides such as Circular Design Guide , Ideo Stories ,The Hook Process and Atomic Design.
As a young designer and millennial , I find myself asking what are the three common patterns I see in services such as Facebook , Uber , Flipboard , Twitter, and others that make us as millennials and others use them repeatedly.
Habit-Forming
I’m lost in a city I am unfamiliar with , my knowledge of the streets & it’s surroundings is lacking , it’s too risky to take chances with metered taxis. However Uber has a simple interface to learn that has 3 simple steps no matter what the tweak or upgrade in version :
1.) Where to — From where I am (current location) to where I would like to go to.
2.) Choose an Option — Uber X, Uber Black or UberVan , and it gives me fare estimate of how much this is going to cost.
3.) Request — Request my ride. Let’s go!
Since the inception of Uber , this core pattern habit-forming three steps have remained. There are other features, but the habit in terms of UX , this habit has not fundamentally changed in versions.
Ecosystem
Facebook , our generations social-media behemoth is not just Facebook as a standalone services.Take a look at how it keeps you in the Facebook ecosystem (and by default in their “loop”).
I really like a post I saw of a silly funny-cat video , I want to share it with my friend. Instead of redirecting me to another social media platform to share it , I can share it first on Facebook Messenger as a direct message (even if you can also share it someplace else).
Furthermore if that silly funny-cat video is really to much to keep under wraps, Facebook has a service called Instagram that allows me to share it with the world.
Although I’m no longer on Facebook , I am still within the Facebook ecosystem. I am still part of Facebook’s story in other words.
Human Touch
This in my belief when it comes to all the world’s best-designed systems is the key separator between a good user experience and a great user-experience . It’s Facebook saying Good Evening, UberEats telling you that there is a cool new Thai restaurant down the road. They are small elements , but mean a lot to users.
Snapchat captured the millennials sense of human touch by being the first to take advantage of human touch with it’s weird and unique filters.
The well-designed system is a continuous -feedback loop that evolves over time and gets refined , a story that is constantly being refined not one with a defined end.
We’re not designing pages, we’re designing systems of components. — Stephen Hay
