What & Why, Not How
Remember the last time you heard or told someone about a new product? You excitedly told your friend about how fun, or how unique something was just like you found a hidden treasure. First you tried to put in words what you thought the product was…
“It’s like this thing where you can make your photos look really cool. It’s a lot of fun, you really have to try it!”
“It’s the simplest way to write blog posts! You don’t have to worry about things getting in the way, it’s very elegant and clean.”
Some of the time you might describe how it actually works
“After you take a picture you can use different filters to make the photo really beautiful.”
Notice how it always comes back to the why, even if you briefly tried to describe how the product works? So finally when your friend tries the product they don’t remember how it works, they vaguely remember what it is, but they remember why it matters.
While doing usability testing you see the same thing happen. When people evaluate a new product, they immediately want to know what something is, what makes it different, and why it matters to them. There are only so many things the brain can hold while being introduced to something for the first time. When you show someone in steps how something works, by the time they get to the interface they will have already forgotten.
If the what and why is powerful it will carry through when they use the interface for the first time. It will be the foundation around what they try to do. Getting started on a brand new interface is a whole different beast though, because again the user has to re-orientate themselves and get familiar with where they have landed. Taking the assumptions of all they know about other products with them. This can start to wear on all the things they learned when first hitting the homepage.
I don’t really think there is a sure fire way to get this right the first time. Your best bet really is to show random naive people who have never seen your website before and to get their thoughts on what they think it is. You will be amazed with what they come up with, and forever change the way you think about design.
