Ghost in the Pixel

From Paul Kunkel’s Apple Design, c1996:

“As Apple designers we will continue to deliver power, ease of use and functionality  second to none. But the fruit of our work will be shaping the perceptions of those who use our products. The more we learn about our customers, easier it will be to reach that goal. Ultimately, the pursuit isn’t differentiation for it’s own sake, it’s value. Value is defined by usable, engaging and emotive solutions.”

Continuing: “We’re tired of restyling computers. The very act of styling distracts the designer from trickier issues of meaning. Differentiation has never been a goal at Apple. It has been a consequence, the result of an ongoing effort to humanize technology, understand what it means, and convey that meaning to users everywhere. Our goal at Apple has never been to look or feel different. The goal is to be better.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself ;-)

Actually this reminds me of what Steve Jobs said recently at the iPad 2 unveiling about the intersection of liberal arts and technology: “It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough — it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing.”

Or when Hartmut Esslinger, founder of Frog Design coined the firm’s famous slogan, “Form Follows Emotion”: “Things don’t stand alone but for us. For human beings with a history and the need to realize themselves in objects.”

Ultimately design is about enabling the fundamental humanism of ourselves and our lives, not the objects or the technologies.

 

 

 

This recently came up in an email convo at work, of how to effectively convince or at least strongly suggest the relevancy of aesthetic experience to business personnel and product managers–who are often furiously focused on marketing demographics and cost efficiency metrics. Who among them has time to worry about the “aesthetics of a product/service”, right? ;-)

Well, from my perspective the aesthetic power of integrating Style + Utility + Performance + Story is highly relevant to business managers in a few ways:

1. An aesthetic POV helps form a complete value prop and marketing message that speaks to users’ emotional needs, beyond silly slogans or incomprehensible feature lists but actually connects to everyday goals and behaviors. It’s simply the “why” that drives a product’s purpose, it’s raison d’etre, the cause that makes a customer want to believe in its value.

2. This approach enables the consistency and clarity of a company (and product) brand, delivering an integrated aesthetic (the “voice”) that a user identifies as distinctive against similar competitors. It’s basically what separates a Dyson from a Hoover, for example. The aesthetic character of the Apple iOS brand versus Google’s Android is starkly apparent as well. Any business manager must be well aware of their own voice, spoken to potential customers to ensure proper targeting and conversions (to purchase).

3. Cultural critic Virginia Postrel in her book “Substance of Style” cites various facts & figures that demonstrate the “rise of aesthetic consciousness” in business, with increased profits/market share/margins, etc. As well as Pine & Gilmore in their classic “The Experience Economy”. And by the way, Apple is as of this writing worth more than Microsoft! Just a hint about the financial power of aesthetics ;-)

At the end of the day business managers can either deliver a congested list of incremental features and cost-efficient widgets (a losing battle of price-cutting wars) OR a total aesthetic experience that customers gladly pay a premium price for and truly deeply madly care about with viral affection–thus, enhancing the company/product market valuation and mindshare. Using the classic Boston Consulting Group matrix, the product offering can either be a “dog” or a “star”. Having an integrated aesthetic experience makes it a superstar! No business manager can afford to ignore the tremendous potential of that.

 

Found this description online while, ahem, researching similar or related principal designer jobs in the area ;-) Pretty true to my current role and daily tasks/activities so far. Definitely a leadership position requiring some fortitude…and lots of caffeine!

The Principal Product Designer will engage and work closely with other UX professionals, product teams and end users to accomplish goals.  Operates with considerable latitude toward broadly stated objectives.  Provides design consultation to management on broad, complex problems that require outstanding practical experience and theoretical knowledge. Makes significant contributions to organizational objectives directly affecting the user interface for products. Acts as trusted advisor to management.

Works on significant and unique issues where analysis of situations or data requires an evaluation of intangibles. Exercises independent judgment in methods, techniques and evaluation criteria for obtaining results.  Exercises wide latitude in determining objectives and approaches to critical assignments.  Viewed as a leader by others and represents a dynamic force that motivates and coordinates the organization to accomplish its objectives.

Citrix CEO Mark Templeton likes to talk about having “mojo” in the product, and woven throughout the overall user experience. He likes to use lots of funny metaphors including “cold patient rooms” and “wedding altars” when describing bad interfaces ;-) But “mojo” is one that is of special importance as it gets at the essence of a great product, I think.

What is “mojo”? In my view, basically it has to do with charisma, tone of voice, and delightful qualities that distinguish your product with a coherent, unifying sense of being authentic and special.

The opposite is a product that is boring, dull, stale, flat and frankly mediocre. Just not worthy of our increasingly expensive attention span in a hectic day.

How do you create “mojo”? From a design perspective, there are multiple levers that can be manipulated: The visual palette and style. The animations / transitions / or cinematic flourishes. The layout and structure of elements on-screen with compositional balance and simplicity. The polish of behaviors and well-thought interactions / affordances / feedback that make someone say “wow. thank you. of course.” The user has to “get it” that this is a special product apart from the crowd of competitors and imitators. It has to speak to the user, seductively yet proactively, connecting to the opportunities beyond the user’s imagination.

Note that it’s not just sexy visuals. There has to be something unique to the character of the product, reinforcing the functionality, content, services, and overall lifecycle and ecosystem.

And it’s more than just design! There’s also the fundamental value prop and business strategy / marketing story that connect to a person’s willingness to embrace this product, fold it into their daily lives. The website, the advertising, the sales demos, customer contacts…all of that has to connect back to (and enhance) the “mojo” of the product. Else it just falls flat, something that looks gorgeous and sexy yet is an empty vessel, a decoy, a fake.

A couple weeks later, I wanted to highlight the key talks/presos that still stand out in my mind long after the wonderful festivities have finished…and more than the in-the-moment tweets or day after reactions I had previously posted. Below are my Top 5 Highlights :-)

1. Keynotes: Bill Verplank & Dick Buchanan & Brenda Laurel

What an amazing, thought-provoking triad of keynote talks by the legendary thought leaders and pioneers of “interaction design”, raising critical questions about the history, essence, and directions of the field, from a systems theory POV (Verplank), Aristotelian rhetorical basis (Buchanan), and personal practitioner perspective (Laurel).

Verplank’s live sketching via conte on paper was simply priceless, a true testament to the power of visual storytelling–and the ultimate anti-Powerpoint weapon! He delved patiently into the rich history of interaction design, moving among frames of “doing” (enactive), “seeing” (iconic) and “knowing” (symbolic).

Buchanan brilliantly recapped in a TED-style “alone on the stage” lecture the Graduate Design Seminar from Carnegie Mellon, tracing the trajectory of design thinking (applying John Dewey and Erving Goffman, as well as George Nelson and even St. Augustine as reference points) via his infamous “cross of pain” and “triangle of doom” conceptual tools, which I’ve cap’d here  :-) Perhaps most important, Buchanan stated the overarching principle of all design is “human dignity”, and that the materials of design are “the purposes and behaviors of the people we serve”. Hmm!

Laurel detailed her rich and lively history as a female design practitioner in the heavily testosterone driven world of Silicon Valley software, highlighting lessons learned at Atari, and then Purple Moon, and now as a professor shaping the next generation of designers.

2. Patterns still matter: Film, rhythm, neuroscience

It was interesting to hear quite a bit about patterns in both ridicule (Tim Wood provocatively suggested “patterns are the clip art of designers”) and praise. Particularly the short talks pointing to the value of film-making patterns applied to interface design (motion, transitions, animations to convey orientation / navigation / feedback), musical tempos and rhythms applied to designing interactions to shape a sense of autotelic flow, and of course the neuro-bio-chemical basis of humans being “softwired” for detecting patterns for survival and life improvement in our daily activities. Yep, patterns still matter, and often present their value in interesting ways!

3. Workshop on Advanced Design

Wow, what a fascinating session! The current Creative Director for Phone 7 at Microsoft presented ideas per his own professional experience on what it takes to create an “advanced concept design team” and pursue forward-looking design ideas amidst the hum-drum of daily business/finance/marketing. We performed an interesting activity centered on factory production optimization, to drive home the point about the vexing challenges of intersecting “cool new ideas” with bean counter goals of optimizing efficiencies for profit, within a pre-defined pipeline of financial order. There are various organizational models and approaches for introducing radical ideas like “embedded” or “peel off” or “skunkworks”; but ultimately you have to seek out the “soft spots” which are points in time open to innovative product ideas.

4. Student competition ideas

It was quite humbling to see the wonderful ideas cobbled together by several student design teams in just a few days, addressing the social/humanitarian design issues of reducing consumption, helping the homeless, and enabling sustainable living. Great ideas all around, and such raw curiosity and spirit of wanting to create something viable, desirable, and truly “good”. Kudos! We should do more to cultivate this vitality in corporate design environs too…

5. Complexity & gamification

So glad to hear these talks celebrating the value of “complexity” similar to Don Norman’s recent book, and suggesting ways to augment the playful, rewarding qualities of an app, beyond typical badges and points and rank-ups. Gets to the heart of motivations, incentives, and personal goals in using software…

* And one more… Technobrega!

What a wonderful, fun and eye-opening talk about the “alternative sub-culture” in Brazil, examining from a participatory design POV the lives, values, and expectations of a fascinating mix of people blending music, culture, food, various social contexts to create a techno-music reality, if you will. Entertaining and quite introspective as well.