Updates below
When UPS let me down last year in delivering my Christmas presents to my family in Texas in 2013, I attributed it to the Amazon avalanche and let it go. But they’ve done it again this year with my package to the same sister!
The Wow! or How You Know You’ve Delighted the User
On a recent trip, I was waiting for the hotel shuttle outside and a man pulled up in a red convertible Lamborghini. The only reason I know its was a Lamborghini is because I read it in large letters splayed across the back quarter panel. I hadn’t even noticed it until a toddler standing with his family nearby pointed and started saying “Wow!” repeatedly. He said it with a breathy, reverend tone. He was clearly delighted.
Apple Watch UX Fail
Update 9/10/2014
What a difference a day makes! Yesterday during Apple’s announcement of the Apple Watch, they went on and on about how the screen wasn’t obstructed by our fat fingers because they invented the “digital crown”—a phrase so pretentious I can only use it with an eye roll.
Want to Make a Real Difference? UX Scout Is Where It’s At!
I don’t know about you but I’m completely over arguing with developers about correctly implementing the company’s branding. This is coming from someone who used to be a creative director and responsible for creating and enforcing the company’s brand standards. Don’t get me wrong, those arguments still need to happen. I just don’t want to be the one having them anymore.
Can LinkedIn Solve This Cold Contact Problem?
Recruiters cold contact me every week about positions I’m not qualified for, don’t want, or that really shouldn’t exist, like a UX Designer/Developer. Sometimes I tell them, I’m not a developer. Sometimes I remind them that unicorns don’t exist. If I’m in a really bad mood, I just delete the emails/voicemails and don’t respond at all. For repeat offenders who clearly have no idea about my qualifications, I’ve even been known to mark as SPAM.
Who are you really trying to delight?
Any UXer knows that part of the job in user experience is to delight the end-user.
Step 1. Create a usable interface and flow.
Step 2. Delight the user.
It sounds pretty simple on paper but it’s fraught with pitfalls over the course of a project. The biggest problem I see time and time again is that the project team forgets who they’re supposed to delight. They delight themselves with sparkly gimmicks that add no real value and then pat themselves on the back when they succeed (in delighting themselves). By the time the end-user weighs in, the team is dispersed into new projects and all too often insulated from criticism.