Voices of UX
From inside the box: 5 UX strategies learned from COVID-19
Use these lockdown-inspired strategies to create digestible user experiences that don’t box users in.
It’s 2021, and I think it’s safe to say we’ve all just about had it with predominantly indoor living.
Winter doesn’t help. As I write this article, I’m barred inside by snow. There isn’t too much I can do to mitigate that. Bundle up, maybe, but my cold tolerance is arguably underwhelming for a native New Englander. I could choose to break away into the great outdoors for a bit, but only with a promised (and imminent) return to my house.
We all, to some degree, move in a series of patterns. Quarantine and social distancing, as it turns out, have only limited the variability in those real-world workflows.
Lately, I’ve been frustrated. For those of us living responsibly during a global pandemic, choices for what do and how to do it have been pared down to restricted basics. Go for a walk, a hike. Work from home. Work out. Read. Rinse, repeat.
You’d think limited possibilities would empower us to hone in to what we want to do. Eliminate analysis paralysis and the skies should clear up for sharp decision-making –– right?
Not quite.
Operating within the constraints that come with living in a household at high risk for COVID-19 brought me to a profoundly UX-like realization:
Condensing possible options solves analysis paralysis. But limit them too much, and you just might encounter free-will standstill.
Free-will standstill is what I use to describe the effect radically reduced options have on someone who’s aware that more exist. They’re paralyzed not by too many options, but by the knowledge that the ones presented to them don’t completely satisfy their needs.
In a pandemic-ridden world, free-will standstill might capture folks who know they thrive off of in-person social interaction but know, based on current circumstances, they can’t fulfill that need.
In an interface, the same feelings might impact a user whose in-product options don’t allow them to accomplish each of their tasks or goals.
It’s a fine line to walk, offering the Goldilocks amount of customizations and paths to get the job done.
Often, thought leaders praise condensing user journeys. Simple is better. Complexity begets friction. It’s Hick’s Law at its finest: The more options you give, the more time it takes a user to make a decision. Reduce the options, reduce the reaction time, and voila –– you’ve got yourself a smoother user experience.
But even Hick’s Law has its limits.
If our lives in lockdown were user interfaces, they’d be stripped of critical choices that help us meet our end goals. They’d box us in to strict task flows that may not accomplish all we hope to tackle. Yes, in UX terms, we’d survive –– we’d check the minimal boxes to get our jobs done. But we likely wouldn’t enjoy doing it. And, as users, we certainly wouldn’t feel empowered by that process.
COVID-19 has inspired leagues of us to reflect, to look inward. If anything, these daunting times have taught me the value of free choice –– and the frustrating stasis that ensues when it’s taken away.
By no means am I suggesting we should hack up Hick’s Law, or funnel floods of frivolous functionality into our designs. We should keep task flows digestible and easy to process. But we should also think critically about how, when, and why we limit certain options.
So how can we keep workflows simple without trapping our users?
Avoiding free-will standstill in lockdown hasn’t been easy. Here are five lessons I’ve learned to shape and navigate limited options without feeling boxed in.
1. Emphasize agency.
When choices are limited, underscore the act of selecting them.
As silly as it sounds, I spend extra time each day deciding what to eat, what music to listen to while I work, and what kind of workout to pursue. Focusing and making deliberate decisions about what I can control allows me to focus less on what I can’t.
The same thing goes for users navigating any interface. Place power in their hands to pave the paths available to them.
2. List key user motivations and link them to each possible outcome.
Make sure each motivation connects to an end result. If it doesn’t, evaluate it: Is it a reasonable expectation to have while engaging with your product? If not, how can you communicate your product’s purpose upfront so that users don’t expect functions that are outside your wheelhouse?
3. If a certain functionality or feature isn’t available, consider offering a viable alternative or explanation.
Offline, this lesson stems from adjusting living patterns to COVID-19 precautions: Ordering groceries online, connecting through video calls, foregoing daily errands and trips.
Online, whether you provide alternatives or explanations will vary by use case. It may not be intuitive to explain why a certain feature isn’t available if you have no plans to implement it. But if you’re looking to add more functionality to your product in the future, those considerations may be worth including in release notes –– especially if that function is something end users might search for in-product.
4. Focus on the quality of the options you do support, in theory and in action.
We’re less likely to fixate on something we can’t do if we’re satisfied by what we can accomplish. Whether in-product or offline, we can channel resources into rethinking how we carry out the tasks that are at our disposal.
If we make our current environment (digital or tactile) more enjoyable and intuitive, we’ll spend less time at the window with our noses pressed against the glass.
5. Listen, listen, listen.
Listen for satisfaction. But more importantly? Listen for the opposite. For the grumbles and mumbles, the eye rolls, the disgruntled sighs. Then explore their why’s.
Ongoing dialogue will help you gain a better understanding for what you’re providing your users, what they need, and how you can resolve the spaces in between. Maybe you’ll be able to bridge that gap. Maybe that’s out of your control. Either way, you’ll gain insight and empathy for your users and how they engage with your product –– and they’ll gain a better understanding of your product, too.
These five strategies should help you on the road to reducing analysis paralysis and free-will standstill in your user base.
Whether we’re in the material world or the digital one, understanding external limitations allows us to own what we do control –– and fixate less on what we don’t.
With that functional fulfillment, we –– and our users –– may feel less trapped making choices from inside the box.
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