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When it comes to User Experience you don’t have to be a UX Professional to participate. In fact, it’s often more important for you to care if you’re NOT specifically in the field.

User Experience Professionals (hopefully) know what they’re talking about. (Note the “Professional” part). UXers have chosen to make a career out of ensuring the user has a great experience and that fact should be embraced across every aspect of your business.

Sure there are business goals, financial projections and ROIs to meet. User Experience Professionals are well aware of this. But you know what? Part of their job is to ensure this happens as well. You see, if the company isn’t reaching it’s goals, they are out of a job too! :)

So what if you’re not a User Experience Pro? What can you do?

Embrace a customer/user-centric culture
This doesn’t necessarily mean the customer is always right. It means do what IS best for them and not what you want to be best for them.

Test, Analyze, Iterate
Sometimes we can’t all agree on the above. So, test it. Analyze the metrics. Improve the experience. It is arrogant to think you know what will work with nothing to back it up.

User Experience is not just a person or a team. It is how we present, interact, and offer value or usefulness to our users.

So you see, User Experience really is everyone’s business.

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Cognitive Dissonance and The Choice Paradox

Cogni-Huh What-O-Nance?

A powerful cause of dissonance is an idea in conflict with a fundamental element of the self-concept, such as “I am a good person” or “I made the right decision”. The anxiety that comes with the possibility of having made a bad decision can lead to rationalization, the tendency to create additional reasons or justifications to support one’s choices. A person who just spent too much money on a new car might decide that the new vehicle is much less likely to break down than his or her old car. This belief may or may not be true, but it would reduce dissonance and make the person feel better. Dissonance can also lead to confirmation bias, the denial of disconfirming evidence, and other ego defense mechanisms.

Options

Everyone likes having options, right? I mean, if there was only one car ever made, regardless of how well it was built, or how cool it looked, there is nothing fun about being forced into a decision.

We want to personalize! We want the red convertible with the tan leather interior and the iPod hook-up, with custom rims. Green just won’t do! It’s this definitive decision that makes us happy, even ecstatic when we find the perfect [insert your idea of perfect here]. However, it is this same choice that can ruin an otherwise perfect experience.

Observed in many cases is the paradox that more choices may lead to a poorer decision or a failure to make a decision at all. It is sometimes theorized to be caused by analysis paralysis, real or perceived, or perhaps from rational ignorance. A number of researchers including Sheena S. Iyengar and Mark R. Lepper have published studies on this phenomenon.[2] This analysis was popularized by Barry Schwartz in his 2004 book, The Paradox of Choice.

I Want More Options… No, You Don’t

We are very busy people, we have schedules to keep, places to be, things to do. We don’t always have a gratuitous amount of time to make an informed decision and rely on what we’re presented with to help us make that choice. User Interface Designers, UX Professionals and hopefully “decision makers” know the value of a persons time, and ensure choices are as simple as possible.

Consumers have been bred to think more is better. We’re all guilty of it in some way or another but the fact is, choice suppresses conversion. We are more likely to be unhappy with our decision if we have too many options to choose from.

If we can not limit the number of options, there needs to be some method to narrow them down. This could be anything from a customer rating system to, putting the most common choice(s) up front.

Conclusion and Sources

Sometimes we can’t take away the number of options we’re asking the user to choose from. But we can try and solve for the best possible outcome. By giving the user a means to drill down their choices, or offering up a “Best Value” or “Popular Choice” we help minimize cognitive dissonance thus giving them a richer user experience.

When Choice is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?
Cognitive Dissonance Wiki
Changing Minds

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We’ve all heard the question before. “Where is the fold?” If you haven’t been asked this question before, consider yourself lucky. Wikipedia says…

“Above the fold” is a graphic design concept that refers to the location of an important news story or a visually appealing photograph on the upper half of the front page of a newspaper. Most papers are delivered and displayed to customers folded up, meaning that only the top half of the front page is visible. Thus, an item that is “above the fold” may be one that the editors feel will entice people to buy the paper. Alternatively, it reflects a decision, on the part of the editors, that the article is one of the day’s most important. By extension, the space above the fold is also preferred by advertisers, since it is the most prominent and visible even when the newspaper is on stands.

The term can be used more generally to refer to anything that is prominently displayed or of highest priority.

This term has been extended and used in web development to refer the portions of a webpage that can be visible without scrolling. However, some have suggested that this term is inaccurate as screen sizes vary greatly between users, especially in an era where websites are viewed with mobile devices as much as home computers.

The problem is that the people asking this question haven’t been properly educated as to where the fold actually came from and how we can use it or if we should even care.

Resources For Educating Fold-Mongers

To start off here are links to some valuable insight from industry experts both recent and spanning back several years.

1. Blasting the Myth of the Fold
2. The myth of the page fold: evidence from user testing
3. Utilizing the Cut-off Look to Encourage Users To Scroll

These three examples alone should be enough to convince even the most staunch fold evangelists. Hell, even this report from 1994 by usability expert Jakob Nielsen says,

In more recent studies, we have seen that most users scroll when they visit a long home page or a long navigation screen. This change in behavior is probably due to users getting more experience with scrolling Web pages.

When We Should Pay Attention To The Fold

Now that we have truly established that paying attention to the fold is stupid, I will put on my stoopid hat and give you a couple reasons where we SHOULD pay attention. These are more common sense examples and really will help the usability and user experience.

1. Short Pages

If you have a limited amount of content that CAN all fit on one screen (above the fold) it’s best to try. There’s no reason to force the user to scroll a couple hundred pixels.

2. Don’t Give A Reason To Second Guess

Check your designs at different resolutions. If you have any hard horizontal breaks across the page, make sure they’re not right at the fold. Easy to fix by vertically spacing your content. We want to avoid guessing if this is the bottom of the page or not. Guide them down the page by trying to avoid these fold breaks.
These two examples may seem contradictory to the posts title, however they’re not meant to be strict usability guidelines and are more design common sense.

Summary

Whew! Glad you made it. This is below the fold and I was a little worried.

There are mountains of data and information slaying the fold myth. Some are backed by years and years of expertise and research and some are more comical and intended to prove a point. It is almost as absurd as not turning the page of a book if it ends with a period.

It is our responsibility to educate those who aren’t familiar with the findings and continue to study user behaviors to educate ourselves.

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This week’s Seven (plus or minus two) has to do with your shelf. Book shelf that is! Below is a list of 7 books that should be within arms reach of every serious designer.

1. Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition – by Steven Krug

Five years and more than 100,000 copies after it was first published, it’s hard to imagine anyone working in Web design who hasn’t read Steve Krug’s “instant classic” on Web usability, but people are still discovering it every day.

In this second edition, Steve adds three new chapters in the same style as the original: wry and entertaining, yet loaded with insights and practical advice for novice and veteran alike. Don’t be surprised if it completely changes the way you think about Web design.

2. The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity – by Alan Cooper

Imagine, at a terrifyingly aggressive rate, everything you regularly use is being equipped with computer technology. Think about your phone, cameras, cars – everything – being automated and programmed by people who in their rush to accept the many benefits of the silicon chip, have abdicated their responsibility to make these products easy to use.

The Inmates are Running the Asylum argues that, despite appearances, business executives are simply not the ones in control of the high-tech industry. They have inadvertently put programmers and engineers in charge, leading to products and processes that waste money, squander customer loyalty, and erode competitive advantage. Business executives have let the inmates run the asylum!
In his book The Inmates Are Running the Asylum Alan Cooper calls for revolution – we need technology to work in the same way average people think – we need to restore the sanity. He offers a provocative, insightful and entertaining explanation of how talented people continuously design bad software-based products. More importantly, he uses his own work with companies big and small to show how to harness those talents to create products that will both thrill their users and grow the bottom line

3. About Face 3 – by Alan Cooper

This completely updated volume presents the effective and practical tools you need to design great desktop applications, Web 2.0 sites, and mobile devices.

You’ll learn the principles of good product behavior and gain an understanding of Cooper’s Goal-Directed Design method, which involves everything from conducting user research to defining your product using personas and scenarios. Ultimately, you’ll acquire the knowledge to design the best possible digital products and services.

4. The Design of Everyday Things – by Donald Norman

Anybody who has ever complained that “they don’t make things like they used to” will immediately connect with this book. Norman’s thesis is that when designers fail to understand the processes by which devices work, they create unworkable technology.

Director of the Institute for Cognitive Sciences at University of California, San Diego, the author examines the psychological processes needed in operating and comprehending devices.

5. The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web – by Jesse James Garret

Smart organizations recognize that Web design is more than just creating clean code and sharp graphics. A site that really works fulfills your strategic objectives while meeting the needs of your users. Even the best content and the most sophisticated technology won’t help you balance those goals without a cohesive, consistent user experience to support it.

But creating the user experience can seem overwhelmingly complex. With so many issues involved-usability, brand identity, information architecture, interaction design-it can seem as if the only way to build a successful site is to spend a fortune on specialists who understand all the details.

The Elements of User Experience cuts through the complexity of user-centered design for the Web with clear explanations and vivid illustrations that focus on ideas rather than tools or techniques. Jesse James Garrett gives readers the big picture of Web user experience development, from strategy and requirements to information architecture and visual design. This accessible introduction helps any Web development team, large or small, to create a successful user experience.

6. Measuring the User Experience: Collecting, Analyzing, and Presenting Usability Metrics – by Tom Tulis & Bil Albert

The first practical, detailed instructions on how to measure improved usability for the web, web-based applications, and electronic products of all kinds.

“This book is a great resource about the many ways you can gather usability metrics without busting your budget. If you’re ready to take your user experience career to the next level of professionalism, Tullis and Albert are here for you and share generously of their vast experience. Highly recommended.”
- Jakob Nielsen

7. Designing Web Usability – by Jakob Nielsen

While everyone wants to design cool web sites, no one wants to think simple and consider whether the design actually accomplishes its goal, which is usually to sell, teach, or entertain. The sole exception is Nielsen, who has made a living speaking and writing about what works and what doesn’t work in interactive media. His simple, well-written, and well-illustrated book discusses web usability, page design, content design, site design, intranet design, accessibility for users with disabilities, international use, future directions, and simplicity.

Add Your Books

What’s on your bookshelf? Add your favorite books to the comments and why you think it should be on everyones list?

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In Meyers-Briggs typology, as it pertains to information there are two types, “Sensing(S)” and “Intuitive(I)”. Neither is right or wrong they are just how we prefer to digest information.

Sensing personalities prefer the up-front and obvious as where Intuitives get more from reading between the lines and problem solving. Something to consider when developing your UI for the users who will be interacting with it. Will it be a new, innovative navigation or will it be a step-by-step process with big orange buttons and plenty of instruction. Singling out which type is most likely to be your audience is a great first step to establishing how your UI will flow.

Creating personas will help you decide which type will be more likely to use your interface, and thus how basic, or feature-rich your UI can or should be.

Personas aid in developing your UX by creating fictional users and establishing what behaviors they have and what they want to get out of using your UI. The tricky part is ensuring these personas are realistic and not just created to ultimately align with your goals. You might even try using someone you know and trust to give you their honest input. Preferably this person would be in your target audience. You wouldn’t want to get into the mind of your grandmother if your selling skateboards! (no offense grandma, you can still shred a mean half-pipe).

In short, creating personas will help you plan your UI and UX strategy by helping you decide who will be using your user interface. Stick to your personas and don’t change them to align with your goals. Make the changes to the UI to align with what the user wants to do. You can change the UI, but you can not change the user.

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Over the past couple of weeks we have looked at a small handful of 2009s top 100 e-commerce sites. We looked at product detail pages and examined the good and the bad, we looked at footers and how best to organize some of its content and now we will look at navigation.

The size of the product catalog of your online store will decide how to lay out your site’s nav. Generally speaking, there isn’t much difference from one site to another. Looking at a handful of the sites from the top 100 list has shown that most sites with similar competitors will use the same style of navigation. Furthermore, we discover a good percentage of the top sites use a horizontal nav bar with drop down menus broken down by store front and then broken down further into various departments, brands, and so on.

This is neither a comparison nor a showcase, but rather a case study, or the philosophy behind how e-tailers use user interface design to (hopefully) get you where you need to go in as few clicks as possible.

1. The Home Page

Navigation starts at ground zero, the home page. Sites like QVC, Overstock or Amazon start their top nav differently than specialized retailers like BestBuy. Where the aforementioned sites may have an Electronics section, BestBuy’s subject is electronics so they break their top nav into “Departments” from the beginning. Sites like QVC and Amazon will take one step back and start their navigation presenting you with “Store Fronts”.

This is a basic hierarchy that tries to emulate how brick and mortar stores are physically presented. Next time your in a store like Target or Wal-Mart, look at how the store is layed out and then compare it to their online presence. See how they are similar and also how they differ.

Trends

• Horizontal navigation across the top of the page with drop down menus letting the user “jump ahead” to specific areas of the site related to that specific category. Moving from the home page directly to a specific brand is a big time saver. Less clicks equals happier customer. This is the primary means of navigation and because of this, it is persistent across the entire site. Nothing surprising here, sites have employed this type of navigation for a long time and this isn’t limited to e-commerce sites. Nevertheless, for the purposes of this study it is still a noticeable “trend”
• Large promotional advertisements, usually using “lifestyle” imagery. Often times there are multiple promotions that cycle through, one after the other. We also notice that some of these promotions aren’t static, but allow the customer to interact with them without clicking through to it. Using this type of progressive disclosure gives the user more information and helps them decide whether this is the correct path to take. It Cleans up the design by not forcing context without it being asked for.

2. The Storefront

Like we mentioned before, this is how sites like BestBuy will start their navigation. You’ll find departments like TVs, Cameras, and Computers presented to you up front, where a site like QVC will store all these under an Electronics storefront. The reason for this is real estate. Amazon.com may have more laptops than BestBuy, but because they sell so many other products, to make the UI more usable they break it down one step further.

The Storefront will also be one of your higher traffic areas and where you’ll find more targeted promotion. Next to the Home Page, Storefronts are where retailers target customers with offers and deals to persuade them to buy a specific item, or browse deeper into a department.

By this point we find the navigation will normally switch from the horizontal top nav to a vertical navigation on the left. Since now we aren’t limited by real estate, we start to realize this is where things can get confusing. We want to help the consumer narrow down their choice, so we see keeping relevant information at the top and reserving secondary options below. This secondary information varies from site to site, and range anywhere from “Buying Guides” and “Community Links” like blogs and forums to “Clearance”, “Best Sellers” and other promotional messaging.

Trends

• Again we see large promotional space, obviously now targeted depending on which storefront you’ve entered. We also noticed that products being promoted typically have a seasonal influence behind the messaging. Taking the Electronics storefront as an example, you may see cameras being promoted to capture your child’s graduation moments in the Fall and perhaps a Father taking pictures of his son at his first baseball game in the Spring. All used to evoke an emotional response to persuade the consumer to make a purchase.
• We also see secondary promotions that might promote high-rated products, or even target a specific brand if it has a promotion that entices the user to dive deeper into the site. An example would be Free Shipping on select Asus laptops, taking the user directly to the Asus Brand Page.

3. The Department Page

Depending on we’re lead through the experience, a Department Page is where the consumer really starts to make tougher decisions. They’ve made it from the Home page on through the Electronics Storefront and into the Computer Department, but do they want a Desktop or a Laptop? Perhaps a Netbook or a Tablet PC? Decisions, decisions… OH THE HUMANITY!

The Grid

Generally speaking the Department Page is also where we see grids of product show up. These product grids show us product top-line description (headline), prices, ratings, and the ability to add the product to our cart or bag. In most cases the grid page will also give us the ability to sort the grid by specific relevance. Price low to high, rating, new products, or featured items are some of the more common sorting options as well as letting the user choose how many products to display per page.

Trends

• We see some interesting trends on a few sites that offer an overview of an individual product without going to that particular product detail page, keeping the visitor from yet another click off the path. This “quick look” is like a mini product detail page giving the customer color swatches, alternate images, size choice and even sometimes sharing options posting items to Facebook and Twitter. Sites like QVC even offer video at the grid level which is “easy” for them to do since they are also a 24 hour television shopping network, giving them mountains of video to work with, and video is already playing a huge part in online commerce.
• The grid itself is getting some attention, sometimes allowing the user to switch between types of views. From the standard grid to a larger version and even list view. Whenever possible allowing the consumer to tailor or personalize their experience, even if there isn’t a lift in conversion it shows the customer you care enough about them by giving them the choice, which reinforces their loyalty to your sites brand.

4. The Brand Page

Drilling down to a sites Brand Page the customer is ultimately at a decision-making stage. Sites like Dell.com will consume you with their brand because thats who they are and that’s what they sell. When you take a site like BestBuy who has their own brand, brand pages take on a duality which can sometimes be difficult to convey. BestBuy sells Dell computers yet still needs to represent themselves to the user for a consistent experience. They also need to embrace the consumer will the Dell brand. This is acomplished with either subtly or with obvious in-your-face promotion depending on how each brands needs are met. It is as simple as brand-familiar top-line descriptions, logo usage and product images to, in some cases, creating a brand specific experience.

Factors that come into play when deciding between a heavy brand representation are many. Customer demographics, promotional appeal and strength of brand are but a few. The one thing to never lose sight of is the user experience. Never assume you know what the customer wants. Good user experience offers the customer options but doesn’t trap them into an experience they may not want. We see it offered as an alternative, but always see a clear path to where they want to go.

Trends

• We mostly see simple grids with not a lot of whiz-bang promotional elements unless that particular brand is promoting something like free shipping, buy-one-get-one, or spend $X save $Y.
• Bigger promotional space will vary based on stickiness or popularity of the brand. Brands that offer interactivity or promotions that take the focus away are usually reserved for the specific demographic. It’s the, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” mentality. For example, a Levis department page may offer a simple grid, where the Electronic Arts department page may offer some animation or video game trailer for the latest EA Game. This is ok since the video game consumer could be persuaded to “commit” with a flashy promotion or some other interactive element.

Wrap Up

This concludes our series on eCommerce UI design. From PD pages, to Footers and a Navigation study we hope you enjoyed reading them as much as we did writing them.

It’s no coincidence that we see many similarities between sites. But it’s nice to see some of them exploring new alternatives to the way it’s been done. With new technologies and the number of tech-savvy of consumers increasing, I’m sure we will start to see this happen more and more.

What do you think the future of e-commerce holds? Will it be virtual like Microsoft’s Project Natal? or will it be a marriage between the internet and television where we buy products right from our remotes based on the show were watching? Imagine watching the season premiere of House, and just as you would a DVD or Blu-Ray, pause the show, scroll through what Hugh Laurie is wearing, and buy the entire outfit he has on. There’s no telling what the future holds. But Fuel Your Interface will be sure to let you know when it does!

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We can all enjoy a good conversation. Many companies, including “big business,” have learned this and, as of late, have implemented it more than ever before. The truth of the matter is that people are more willing to trust a laid-back, conversational person than they are the stiff-necked (ex-)marketing guru. We can see this conversational style all over the advertising world. For instance, Apple’s campaign of Mac and PC. Apple isn’t lambasting Windows like a cheesy, poorly created 1970’s political ad. Rather, they are approaching the situation from a humorous, ironic perspective. What we mean by irony is this: the dichotomy of the seriousness of the subject matter juxtaposed to the humorous nature of the ad.

Cheeky Web

This tongue in cheek has made it’s way all over the web, and doesn’t show signs of slowing down. With Twitter, we first saw the “Fail Whale”; another juxtaposition of a fairly odd theme for a 404 page. Also, with Twitter, the entire branding concept is wrapped around a small, cartoon bird. Ten years ago, seemingly, this kind of branding and user experience was limited to cereal boxes. But “Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids” has turned into “silly PC, Macs are for grownups.” Leading social platform Facebook has adopted the tongue-in-cheek concept as well, offering “Pirate” as a language choice, extending support even for the automated emails sent to notify the user of a new wall post or message.

Facebook's Pirate language let's you log-in with your 'Lectric Parrot and Secret Code

Google (long known for their sense of humor, anyway) has even adopted the conversational idea with their latest video push for Chrome OS.

Why does funny work so well?

Well, there’s no proof necessarily as to why the slightly ironic tinge of the latest web-trends appeals to us (maybe the Trix rabbit is the real cause for it all). But one theory suggests that, especially for those in the United States, the economic crisis and the media surrounding it are “heavy,” so to speak; the light-hearted jabs Apple takes at Microsoft are a relief from the weight of the situation at hand.

But hey, nobody really knows why mullets caught on in the eighties, except that the popular guys did it. When it comes down to it, it could be said that a lot of it is simply a stylistic trend that is spearheaded by some guys up top that have a good sense of humor, and know that laughter, even in advertising, is like medicine. And it seems like it’s an addicting pill.

The Bandwagon

Other players in the humor game pop up daily. Just taking a quick glance over at sites like LogoPond will show the toyish-look of branding. Often resembling caricatures, a “hot trend” in logo design is to give the mark some “personality.” This is all a huge part of the user experience.

Source: LogoPond.com

User Experience

The result of the conversational, tongue-in-cheek attitude towards business is a strong brand loyalty, and at least positive recognition of the humor, if it is done well. We’ve all met the Windows user who chuckled at the most recent “promise” ad from Apple. The front end of a person’s experience with a company is extremely important; whether that person becomes a customer or not, the companies implementing this into their advertising and branding understand the importance of perception; even though PC users may never use Apple’s OS, they quite possibly (more probably) will own an iPod, or perhaps an iPhone; by maintaining a humorous stance, Apple doesn’t estrange the opponent’s customers.

Conclusion

We can see quite clearly that the cheeky attitude of companies on and off the web has had a major impact on user experience study as we know it. What have you found to be effective, or anti-effective, about this kind of front-end user experience?

Note: This article talks about advertising and branding quite a bit. This is because advertising is a very significant portion of the user experience, whether the advertising targets new customers or existing customers. Often, advertising and branding are the only communication between a company and its potential, new, or loyal customers.

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Today, we will be talking about the concept of context. Context, as defined by the wonderful Dictionary.com, is:

the set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, situation, etcetera, or the parts of a written or spoken statement that precede or follow a specific word or passage, usually influencing its meaning or effect.

Already, by this definition, we should be able to see the importance of context when designing interfaces. So, what exactly might this look like in an interface design? Let’s look at a few examples.

Developers of iPhone applications in particular have a responsibility to maintain continuity with context. The social network giant Facebook emulates the native iPhone OS interface by adding the different regular actions of Facebook as a grid of 9 application-like icons, as well as a second page for “favorites”. Both pages of icons are rearrangeable just like the native home page icons. Also, most applications that have notifications are usually placed in the “dock” on the iPhone; Facebook has also adopted this and has placed notifications at the bottom of the application. This is a perfect example of creating an interface in context.

But what else does context mean? Sure, it could mean adapting stylistically to the surrounding context, as in the previous example. But what about usability?

When designing an interface, sometimes there are multiple possible choices, but only one best choice.

Take, for example, the placement of the “Home” link on various sites. On Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, the “Home” link is the first in the navigation, while Ebay doesn’t have a button labeled “Home” at all.

Why would Ebay make such an incredibly different interface decision? It all has to do with context. If you look at another e-commerce site, such as Amazon.com, there is also not a “Home” link in the nav. Rather, with both Ebay and Amazon, the interface gives the option to go to the personal account (”My Ebay” or “Your Amazon.com”). A “brick-and-mortar” store would never want to send you “home”; rather, they would want for you to know exactly what your favorite part of the store is. This approach is very much a contextual consideration.

Other contextual considerations might include tooltips. Tooltips are tips or instructions that appear on a mouse hover. The user may need further explanation on how to do certain actions within an interface, but you don’t want to bog down the interface with a lot of body copy. Tooltips are a great solution to this problem.

You as the designer are responsible for making it, the interface, work. Contextual decisions are made by users and designers on a daily basis. Make decisions such as allowing the user to press “return” to submit a form, but insert a line break by pressing “return” while using a larger text input box. Consider the full context of the user; everything from what kind of computer and what speed, to their demographics, to their cultural background, to their local context (what probably is happening at the time they use the interface), and to the internal context (their line of reasoning while using the interface).

Conclusion

So all of this is to say, interface designers must consider context to be a very important factor while designing interfaces. This could mean the simple placement of a “send” button, or the entire feel of the interface itself, or the decision to remove the “Home” link entirely from a webpage. Thinking and designing in context will improve both the usability and user experience of your particular interface.

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In many areas of interactive design, the ultimate goal is to make the user feel like part of the experience. Surround sound, IMAX theaters and cutting-edge video games all strive to make us feel like we’re not just witnessing a story, but living the story as it plays out. Whether it’s a movie displayed on a television screen, music blasting through a pair of headphones or a story printed on the pages of a book, immersion is an attempt to make the user forget about the medium in question and focus solely on the narrative. But is an immersive interface always necessary to achieve a memorable experience?

Immersive vs Casual Gaming

When the game Myst was released in 1993, it received wide acclaim for its innovative visuals and gameplay. A large part of what made the game so memorable was its high level of immersion, a point that the developers themselves made sure to drive home in the instruction manual:

The key to Myst is to lose yourself in this fantastic virtual exploration, and act and react as if you really were there.

With no toolbars or interface components aside from the hand cursor, Myst was about as immersive as a computer game could be in its day.

With Myst and its sequels, little was offered in the way of instructions, aside from suggestions to turn the lights down and the volume up. Ideally, such an experience doesn’t allow for visible taskbars and flashing LEDs from equipment in the room. The creators of Myst knew their game was to be experienced with 100% attention given to the game itself. Most popular computer and console games use this same mentality, that players want to place themselves in another world through beautiful imagery, rich sounds and even vibrating controllers.
Casual games, on the other hand, are not necessarily meant to demand the player’s full attention. Solitaire and puzzle games usually don’t try to wow the player with stunning graphics, fullscreen gameplay or background music, and can be paused and tucked away when something else comes up. Games like these are designed with the assumption that users will play them in short bursts, during breaks or to kill time, and the lack of features and options reflects this assumption.

Multitasking vs Single-Focus Computing

Since the dawn of multitasking operating systems, most applications no longer take up the entire screen, may be shuffled behind other windows and minimized to take no real estate on the screen at all. More recent versions of the Mac and Windows operating systems have become more immersive than previous releases, each one attempting to become a gratifying experience in and of itself, making use of animated menus, customizable widgets and integration with internet technologies to the point that some users may get all that they need from the operating system alone.

But with more immersive operating systems come less immersive applications. As operating systems strive to draw more attention, individual programs lose their ability to hold a user’s focus. How easy is it to pay full attention to a document you’re working on when an icon keeps jumping into the corner of the screen, trying to tell you about an unrelated file error that just can’t wait for you to acknowledge it? Or finish a round of Minesweeper when Windows keeps bugging you to accept or deny access to a program you left running?

With desktop widgets like these, computer interfaces are focusing more on the operating systems themselves. Source: apple.com

While the lines blur a little more each day, operating systems are still primarily a starting point for launching other applications. But the more immersive they become, the more distracted users will be when trying to focus on a particular application. This is one reason some users choose classic desktop themes, turn off animated windows and transparencies that use more resources and demand more of the user’s attention. Sure, it’s a great way to show off what a computer can do, but more often than not, we look to the programs we run to create our computing experience, not the operating systems that launch them.

Flashy vs Simplistic Websites

A decade ago, Flash sites began popping up all over the internet. While a large number of them launched splash animations right off the bat, a good number of more user-conscious sites allowed two options: a static HTML site for slower connection speeds and processors, and a more immersive, bandwidth- and CPU-heavy Flash site, for users who wanted the full online experience and were willing to wait for it. The ability to choose between the two options meant designers were putting extra effort into their sites, understanding that not all users wanted the immersive experience Flash has to offer.
This splash page gives the user a choice between a static HTML or animated Flash site. Source: aikido-tessen.ee

The Nielsen Norman Group, whose website looks like it was last updated when AOL still shipped on floppy disks, is designed that way for a very specific reason: the group’s founders, Jakob Nielsen and Donald Norman, believe their site (and in most cases, the rest of the internet) is not meant to be an immersive experience, but rather a tool for storing and retrieving information. Approaching the design of their site from this viewpoint makes an assumption that the user will want to find what he or she is looking for in the fastest, least fettered way possible. While there are likely those who would want a little more style to their online experience, the NN Group prefers to err on the side of functionality rather than immersion. A wise choice when you think about every website you’ve visited that forces your browser to full screen and blares music through your speakers. There are worse alternatives to being bland.

The Nielsen Norman Group website appears dull in comparison, but follows strict usability guidelines for presenting information. Source: nngroup.com

Companies such as real estate and car dealerships can get away with more immersive websites. After all, their products are fully immersive experiences in themselves. There’s a good chance a user will want to know what it’s like to sit in the seat of a new car, or stand in the living room of a new house and get a feel for what it would be like to live there. It would only be appropriate to try and portray those feelings as effectively as our current technology will allow.

Virtual Reality vs Augmented Reality

Virtual Reality was on everyone’s tongue near the end of the last century. Science fiction phenomena such as Tron’s Light Cycles and Star Trek’s holodeck had us excited to lose ourselves in fantastic make-believe worlds, while Nintendo’s Virtual Boy reminded us that we had a while before the dream would fully take shape. We’re still waiting for an acceptable immersive virtual experience, but VR has recently taken a backseat to a different form of technology-assisted experience.
Augmented Reality serves to enhance the user’s perception of the real world, not ignore it completely in exchange for a fictitious one. With AR, developers and users alike lower their desire for a fully immersive experience, and the tool that has become the most popularly utilized AR device–the mobile phone–is helping us realize the benefits of a lower degree of immersion.

With Layar, an AR app for Android, icons depicting locations such as this restaurant are superimposed over an image of the real world as seen through the phone’s camera.

While VR commonly relies on goggles, a large helmet or an entire room to immerse the user in a virtual world, AR skips the quest for illusion and aims instead to enhance the physical world with useful information. Developers of AR know the benefits of embracing and functioning within the real world, and since the most commonly used AR devices are handheld, the user is not as physically immersed in the equipment as would be the case with VR goggles or a helmet. A mobile phone can be moved independently of the user’s eyes, shared with other users and put away easier than a pair of glasses, and the form factor of the phone makes it more of a portable window to the augmented world, something that may be used casually and pocketed until it’s needed again. This lower level of immersion becomes a great advantage to fully immersive virtual reality applications, allowing the user to operate in the real world rather than escape from it.

Conclusion

The best interfaces are designed with a good understanding of the real-life context in which they will be used. It’s important to determine early on whether your website or application will be used alongside others or receive the full attention of its user.
When tailoring your design for the appropriate level of immersion, it’s important to keep a few things in mind:

• Survey users to find out where and how they would use your product or website.
• Animations and sounds make for a more immersive experience.
• Less immersive interfaces don’t need to be boring. Rounded edges and gradients can spice up any application, no matter how simplistic.
• Don’t let pride get in the way of your design. If surveys and user testing conclude that most users will expect a non-immersive experience, give them what they want. Demanding that users focus on your product and nothing else only works when your users are already willing to do so.
• If your interface is meant to be fully immersive, prime your users first. Ease them into the experience with examples and tutorials, if possible.
• When you feel some users would want a more immersive experience than others, or you simply can’t anticipate which one would be more appropriate, offer both.
• After the product is released, run tests and surveys again. Users will be able to provide much more accurate data once they’ve spent some time using it.

Above all, remember that your users ultimately decide how immersive an experience they’re looking for with every product they use. If a product doesn’t conform to those expectations, chances are they will stop using it before changing their lifestyle to accommodate it. Products that show understanding and empathy for the user experience will be much more welcome in a user’s life than products that don’t.

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We’ve had a great Interface 101 series thus far, and we are excited about creating content that you, as our readers, are enjoying and learning from. We’ve covered a lot about the basics of interfaces, what they are and what they aren’t. If you haven’t read the previous parts, read them here:
Part One: Basic Interfaces
Part Two: Advanced Interfaces
In this post, we will discuss the concept of user experience.

What is “user experience”?

User experience, or “UX”, is just what its name implies – the experience of the user. It is very important to treat this concept from a holistic standpoint. The user experience involves every feeling, notion, belief, action, and response that the user undergoes when in contact with your interface set, brand, or product. User experience extends well beyond the world of interface design (although it is extremely important within the confines of interface design). As a case example, we will discuss the user experience for Moe’s Southwestern Grill. For those of you who are not acquainted, Moe’s is known primarily for their tongue-in-cheek marketing, welcoming atmosphere, and ridiculously large burritos.

A customer follows a line of actions that the user experience team studies very carefully.

1. Initial information

For one to choose to go to Moe’s, they have to have some kind of initial information of Moe’s. There are many possible informants for companies, including:

• Advertisement (broadcast or print)
• “Window-shopping”
• Word-of-mouth

A good company makes sure that each of these initial informants provide the potential customer with the correct image and initial emotion and perception of the company. Advertisements will be created to match or further the branding and feel of the company, and to entice the target audience without being pushy. “Window-shopping” is when a potential customer who has never heard of Moe’s from any advertisement or word-of-mouth sees the actual company venue, and decides to give it a try. When speaking of internet user experience, window-shopping would be the use of a search engine to find a desired website, and is a far more common initial informant than advertising or word-of-mouth. (This statement only applies for online user experience.)
While both advertising and “window-shopping” are largely controlled by the company, the customers have complete control of word-of-mouth information. The company’s branding and product or service usually are the heaviest influencing factors on the word-of-mouth information, but in the end, what the customer has to say is not decided by the company itself. (This constitutes the importance of product reviews.)

So in the case of Moe’s, one like myself may have had a myriad of experiences with the initial informants before actually going and purchasing food at Moe’s. A mixture of advertisements and word-of-mouth were the final drawing factors.

2. Product and Service Experience

Product or service experience deal with every single aspect of the use and interaction with a company and their product or service (I know, that was a tough one to guess). This is where most companies place the highest emphasis. Studies show that it is much cheaper to retain a loyal customer than to try to gain new customers; for most companies, then, the initial informants are not nearly as important as the product and service experience.

It is important to note that the word-of-mouth informant is regenerated by excellent product and service experience.

Take the following (false) story for example.

One day, my friend Joe walks into Moe’s with a coupon ad in his hand. He is welcomed thunderously (”Welcome to Moe’s” screamed by the employees). The restaurant has a vibrant color scheme, and the menu is full of tongue-in-cheek humor. Joe pays a modest amount for a burrito and some chips. He sits down after visiting Moe’s infamous salsa bar and takes a bite out of his burrito. He is blown away! He finishes every last bite of his meal, all the while looking around the room at the odd phrases on posters on the walls, intrigued by the music, and most importantly captivated by the food he is eating. Immediately after Joe leaves the restaurant, he twitters about his amazing lunch at Moe’s. Later that day, while Joe and I are hanging out, Joe mentions one of the posters in Moe’s. This is my initial informant. I ask Joe if he liked Moe’s. Joe, obviously, goes on a 20 minute rant about his Homewrecker (for those of you who are unfamiliar, that’s a burrito). So I decide to go to lunch that next week with Joe to Moe’s.

In the example, Joe’s experience was good enough to entice him to tell someone else about the product or service. This is an extremely powerful, free way of advertising.

Often, product and service experience is reoccurring. This is particularly true outside of the food industry. Most of what we use on a daily basis will be used again the next day, week, month, or even year. Very seldom will we visit and use a website or store one time. This is a very important consideration for user experience teams, again because of the loyal customer to new customer price tag ratio.

3. Employee/Customer Interaction

Employee/customer interaction may not necessarily take place with every user experience, but it is definitely important to note aside from product and service experience. Employees are the face of a company more than anything else. It is therefore important to make sure that any interaction between an employee and a customer supports the company’s existing image, standards, and brand. Emplyee/customer interaction can take place in multiple ways.

• Product demonstration/”sales pitch”
• Technical support
• Customer support line (phone)
• Alternative support

An example of great alternative support can be seen by Charter Communications. While frustrated with a recent error on his bill, my same Moe’s friend (Joe) tweeted about it, mentioning Charter in his tweet. Within a few minutes, a Charter representative replied to his tweet, offering to help and to fix his bill. Not only was his bill fixed by the representative, but he received a credit on his bill as well. This greatly improved Joe’s user experience as a whole.

Conclusion

As we have seen, good user experience regenerates a company’s customer base. There is a line of actions that a person follows to become a customer with a particular company. It is of great importance to study that line of action and increase the quality of the user experience at all points, most importantly in the field of product and service experience. The user experience revolves around the customer’s experience with the actual product or service, and therefore should be central to the user experience team’s strategy.

These are the main points of user experience; there are thousands of different ways a person interacts with a company’s brand, product, and employees. Hopefully these basic interactions will help you better understand what user experience is, and will help you on the path to creating the best user experience for your customers.