Thinking Micro
Stepping away from big data and sweating the small stuff
The big data excitement has pretty much passed and I couldn’t be happier. I love data and I love the insight you can glean from it on a large scale but it always felt so impersonal to me. Yes five thousand other people like a movie I like but who’s to say I’m the same as them? Big data does however give some hilarious insights like people buying a gallon of lube also looked at horse head masks… but I digress.
Move over Big Data
So what is big data? It’s fairly self explanatory but incase you haven’t heard the definition its massive amounts of data that is collected and is difficult to process conventionally. Netflix is a great example of this and you’ve probably noticed the recommended viewing options under every movie you watch. This is all derived from stats they collect on your interactions in their app and what you like to watch. Also as noted above Amazon uses this data to analyze shopping behaviours and recommend other products as you shop.
So that’s all great and big data can help you suggest things to users and try to shape their experience based on that data and in most cases it’ll work out. BUT what about that person that hates seeing World War Z pop up for the 50th time in their recommendations because Brad Pitt’s long hair makes their stomach itch? Ok that’s a stretch, but you know what I’m getting at. You can predict all you like but none of it will tell you the small details that can differentiate an experience from being good to being great. They can’t tell you the individual experiences that users are having that could make that difference. Like what that person is doing while they watch the movie and the subtle influences on their life that make their decision making process what it is.
Small (Micro) Data
So if the term big data is all about the machines and algorithms monitoring a product, then small data is all about the people using it. Small data is data that’s small enough in size that our tiny human brains can comprehend it.
Or in trekkie terms:
Martin Lindstrom the branding guru has written a book on small data which is well worth a read. He talks about small data in his every day branding work and how it helps him glean insight that he uses to turn brands around. Disney in Europe had noticed a drop in numbers and turned to Martin to help them. How did he fix it? By going to a church and observing people going in and out and how they moved around it. Long story short he noticed that the reverence, the transformation and the ritual was missing. He fixed this for Disney by turning to Tinker Bell’s pixie dust! Staff at Disney went around with bags of coloured pixie dust and handed them out to park visitors and asked them to throw it into the fountains and make a wish. Seemingly simple but a magical touch for any little kid.
“Seemingly insignificant behavioral observations containing very specific attributes pointing towards an unmet customer need. Small data is the foundation for break through ideas or completely new ways to turnaround brands.”
Martin Lindstrom
UX Small Data
In UX terms we observe behaviours all the time with usability testing and with contextual inquiry. Observing the users behaviours when they use your product is key to understanding why an app is failing or why your call centre is getting way more calls since your redesign.
I’ve seen a recorded user test where the user was looking for the search bar on the Time Magazine site and became totally frustrated. He hovered his mouse around the top right of the page while he was looking because that’s where he wanted it to be. He then opened the expandable menu which covered what he was looking for. It was not only painful to watch and, in a cringeworthy way pretty funny, but so worthwhile in understanding how people’s behaviours will give you clues to what they want.
Micro Cultures
Micro Cultures are the smaller groups of people that have something that makes them unique in common. William Belk wrote a great article on this so I won’t labour it too much. In a world where people are becoming more openly diverse and less obviously easy to categorize, the need for good user personas in UX is a definite necessity in any project. If you don’t understand what makes your user tick you can’t expect them to enjoy using what you’ve designed, no matter how pretty it is.
The days of designing something for the masses are dead, don’t design for everyone, design for someone and make it meaningful.
Get to know your users on a personal level and what makes them tick, we can’t expect to make decisions based only on users being mostly male vs female or if they’re earning $40k vs $100k. Those things don’t define people and what they want it’s their quirks, their behaviours and their frustrations that make them human.
Micro Interactions
Since the days of Flash passed and responsive design has taken hold along with flat design there’s been a lull in the web design world where a lot of web design feels prescribed and typical. As a UX guy it’s a debate every day on what is usable vs what just looks the same as every other site out there. Where is the differentiation? Where’s the fun that makes it an “experience”?
Enter micro interactions. These little details are what have me excited about the web again! They’re the small details that make you feel special when you use a product, it makes it feel more personal and sets your site apart from the others out there.
Sweat the small stuff
My grandma used to tell me when I was younger and in my dating days that I should take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves. All of these little details that are gaining more and more traction are hard to ignore, it may seem like a step backwards but I’m all for it.
“It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.
John Wooden
Let’s connect with our users and our customers on a personal level again and not just prescribe to them what they should want based on what the rest of the world thinks.
