Susan M. Weinschenk's Blog, page 36

5 Favorite Tips From Famous UX Experts

[image error]I attended and spoke at the Virtual conference from Rosenfeld Media today “31 Awesomely Practical UX Tips”.  Each speaker presented their favorite user experience tips. I took one tip from each of the speakers as my favorite. Here they are:

Steve Krug — Test your competition/comparables. Before you choose a design path or design idea, find someone else who is doing it and run a user test of their site/app/product. That way you can see what works and what doesn’t before you even start your design.

Whitney Quesenbery — Many of the best designs we all use started out as products designed for accessibility, for example, rolling mail carts for postal delivery people (started off being used by women since it wasn’t believed they could carry a heavy load) and Good Grips tools from OXO (started as special tools for people with arthritis, but now they are just known as well-designed tools).

Jeffrey Eisenberg — Instead of designing to fit your selling process and selling cycle, design instead to fit the customer’s BUYING process and buying cycle. These are not the same thing.

Aaron Walter — Stop designing in Photoshop. Use something like Bootstrap where you can see what things really look like and you can concentrate on the “system” not the “page”.

Luke Wroblewski — 75% of people using smartphone apps are using one thumb — Have you designed for one thumb use?

It was a GREAT day of learning. It was hard to just pick one from each!

 

Design For Engagement Live Video event

Join me on June 5th at 12 noon EDT for a FREE live video event via Livestream.

Design for Engagement Live Website Critiques

Wed Jun 5, 2013 12:00pm  — 1:00pm EDT

Come join me in a free live online video event. I’ll be taking website suggestions from the audience and then discussing–on the spot–how to improve the persuasion and engagement of the various websites. While I’m reviewing and discussing each website, you’ll be participating through chat that all participants can see and respond to. We’ll review as many websites as we can get to 20 minutes and then we’ll have lots of time for Q&A. Email your suggestions to me (susan@theteamw) for websites you’d like to see reviewed ahead of time or put them in the comments here, and don’t miss this fun and educational opportunity.

To join the free Livestream event all you have to do is go to the Livestream event page on June 5th, at 12 noon Eastern US time. That’s it! No registration is necessary.

In the meantime, go to the event page now and you can click a link to put the event in your calendar, or follow the event for updates.

I hope you will join me, and don’t forget to submit ideas for the websites that will get the engagement critique, either here in the comments or email me at susan@theteamw.com

 

Should Technology Follow Human-To-Human Communication Rules?

What do we expect when we communicate with technology? Do we expect that the technology will communicate with us following the same rules as when we communicate with other people? The answer is yes, and I explain the implication of this in this video excerpt from my Design For Engagement online video course.

Give Me Your Opinion — What Should Be My Next Online Video Course?

[image error]In April 50 people signed up to take one of my online video courses that I offer through Udemy.com. A big thank you to those who have signed up for a course. I have enjoyed putting these together, and the feedback I’m getting is that they are helpful and that people are learning a lot by taking them.

Now I need YOUR feedback on what the next courses should be that I develop.

Currently I have these four courses:

 

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I’m working right now on this course:

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which will be ready in a few weeks.

Now the question is, what’s next?

I have a lot of ideas (in fact I have a whole list of courses in the queue, but I haven’t started them). Give me your opinion. What online video courses are you interested in taking that I should consider developing?

Write your ideas in the comments area, or send an email to susan@theteamw.com

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

How To Get People To Do Stuff #6: Hot drinks, soft pillows & heavy objects

Do you think you’d make different decisions if you were holding something heavy in your hand than holding nothing? Or if you were holding a cup of hot coffee instead of a cold drink? Sounds unlikely, but it’s true: Here’s a video about “haptic sensations.” Or, if you prefer, you can read the summary text after the video.

 

Joshua Ackerman and John Bargh (2010) conducted research where they had candidates for job interviews hand in their resume one of three ways. One candidate handed in her resume on regular printer paper. Another candidate handed in her resume on regular printer paper, but had it clipped to a light clipboard. A third candidate handed in her resume on regular printer paper, but had it clipped to a heavy clipboard. Then they had interviewers rate which candidates were the best for the job. The interviewers gave higher ratings to candidates whose resume they were reading while the interviewer was holding a heavy clipboard.

Holding a heavy object while looking at a resume makes a job candidate appear more important. In fact, any idea you’re considering while holding something heavy (for instance, a book) you will deem to be more important. The metaphor of an idea being “weighty” has a physical corollary.

There are two terms that are used for this. Sometimes it’s called “haptic sensation” and sometimes you will find it referred to as “embodied cognition.”  We are very influenced by the meaning that our sense of touch perceives.

You may be surprised to find out all the ways that these haptic sensations affect our perceptions and judgments. Besides the effect for a heavy object, people also react to these other haptic sensations:

•      When people touch a rough object during a social interaction, for instance, if they’re sitting on a chair with coarse wool upholstery, they rate the interaction more difficult than if they touch a soft object.

•      When people touch a hard object, they rate a negotiation as more rigid than if they touch a soft object.

•      When people hold a warm cup (for example, a warm cup of coffee), they judge the person they’re interacting with to have a warmer personality than if they’re holding a cup of cold liquid.

You can use these haptic sensations to get people to do stuff. If you want people to have easier interactions with others, then you might want to have soft furniture, not hard chairs, in your conference room, and use a soft fabric covering for them rather than a scratchy tweed. If you have an important client coming to your office, and you want her to feel warmly about you, get her a cup of hot coffee or tea in a mug that will transmit the heat before you start.

Ackerman, Joshua M., Christopher Nocera, and John Bargh. 2010. “Incidental haptic sensations influence social judgments and decisions.” Science. 328 (5986): 1712-1715. DOI: 10.1126/science.1189993

Designing for Engagement

My new online video course Designing for Engagement is now available on Udemy.com 

I’ve set up some of the lessons so that you can preview them for free. I hope you will check it out.

To celebrate the unveiling of the course I’m offering 50% off from now till April 15th. To get the discount enter the word April as the coupon code.

I’ve very excited to have this course ready to go!

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Here’s the first video that introduces the course:

 

 

To check out my other online video course offerings, go to my Courses page.

 

 

How To Get People To Do Stuff Book Tour

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To celebrate my new book, I’m going on a book tour! I will be touring the US and Europe and speaking on the new book How to Get People to Do Stuff.

If you’d like me to come speak/lead a discussion or have a Q&A in your city or for your group, let me know. These sessions are FREE. You need to provide the location and room. I do a one-hour session. Before and after the session books are available for purchase and I am available to sign them.

I’m putting together the schedule of locations now, so if you are interested you should let me know. Preference is given to groups who can publicize the event,can accommodate a large audience (i.e., 300 people), and fit into my travel schedule and map!

If you are interested contact me at susan@theteamw.com

 

How To Get People To Do Stuff

[image error]Are you good with people? Do you know how to get them to do stuff? Are you using tips and techniques you picked up from others or experimented with? If so, I bet that sometimes your strategies work and other times they don’t.

There are 7 basic drivers of human motivation. And if you understand what motivates people you’ll be better able to figure out how to get people to do stuff. That’s the premise of my new book that just hit the shelves. Some of my previous video posts are topics from the new book, and I’ll be posting more video blogs as time goes on. In the meantime, here’s a summary of the 7 drivers of motivation:

The Need to Belong

Have you ever felt left out? Not part of a group you wanted to be part of? It probably made you feel sad, depressed or angry, or all of the above. We are ultimately social animals, and our desire to connect with others is a strong, innate drive. We’re not meant to live alone, and we’ll work hard to be socially accepted. We need to feel that we have a place in the world where we belong.

You can use the need to belong, and the longing for connectedness, to get people to do stuff.

For example:

If you use nouns when making a request, rather than verbs – for example: “Be a donor” versus “Donate now” –  it results in more people taking action. That’s because nouns invoke group identity.
People are more likely to comply with a request if they trust you.
The best way to get others to trust you is to first show that you trust them.

Habits

It might surprise you to learn how much of everything we do in a typical day we do out of habit without even thinking about it. We don’t even remember how those habits got formed.

We hear so much about how it takes months to create a new habit. How could that be, when we seem to have created hundreds of them easily without even realizing it? It turns out that it’s actually very easy to create a new habit or even change an existing one, if you understand the science behind habit formation. You can use the science of habits to help other people create or change habits, so you can get them to do stuff. Here’s a little bit of information about the science of habits:

The easiest way to create a new habit is to anchor it to an existing habit.
If you use anchoring you can get people to create a new habit in less than a week.
An important part of getting someone to create a new habit is to break things into really small steps.

The Power of Stories

What kind of person are you? Are you someone who helps those in need? Do you keep up on the latest trends and fashions? Are you a family person who spends time and energy to nurture family relationships?

We all have self-personas. We tell ourselves, and other people, stories about who we are and why we do what we do. Some of our self-personas and our stories are conscious, but others are largely unconscious.

If you understand these self-personas, then you can communicate in a way that matches those self-stories and thereby get people to do stuff. For example:

If you can get people to take one small action that is in conflict with one of their self-personas, that one small step can eventually lead to big behavior change.
You can prompt someone to change their own story by having other people share their stories. If someone hears the right story you can get people to change their own self-stories in as little as 30 minutes and that one change can alter their behavior for a lifetime.
Writing something down (in longhand, not typing) activates certain parts of the brain and makes it more likely that people will commit to what they wrote.

Carrots and Sticks

Have you ever been to a casino? Think about this: You spend a lot of time and energy trying to get people to do stuff; you may even offer rewards or pay people to do stuff. And yet a casino gets people to pay them!

Casinos understand the science of reward and reinforcement. Here are just a few things the science of reward and reinforcement tells us about how to get people to do stuff:

If you want consistent behavior don’t reward people every time they do something, just some of the time.
People are more motivated to reach a goal the closer they get to it.
Let’s say you own a coffee shop and give people a stamp for each cup of coffee they buy. After 10 stamps they get a free coffee. Did you know that as soon as they get that free coffee their coffee buying and drinking behavior will slow down for a while?
When you punish someone it only works for a little while. Giving rewards is more effective than punishment.

Instincts

Imagine you’re driving down the road and there’s an accident ahead. You tell yourself not to slow down and look, and yet you feel the irresistible urge to do exactly that.

Being fascinated by danger is one of our basic instincts. Instincts are strong and largely unconscious. They affect our behavior. Sometimes you can get people to do stuff just by tapping into these instincts. For example:

People are more motivated by fear of losing than the possibility of gaining something.
We are basically all “control freaks”. The desire to control starts as young as 4 months old.
When people are sad or scared they will want is familiar. If they’re happy and comfortable they’ll crave something new.

The Desire for Mastery

Even stronger than giving an external reward is the desire for mastery. People are very motivated to learn and master skills and knowledge.

Certain situations encourage a desire for mastery, and others dampen the desire for mastery. You can use what we know from the research on mastery to set up conditions that will encourage and stimulate the desire for mastery, and, by doing so, get people to do stuff. For example:

Giving people autonomy over what they are doing will stimulate them to master a skill and will motivate them to work harder.
If people feel that something is difficult they will be more motivated to do it.
Don’t mix praise with feedback if you want to stimulate the desire for mastery. Just give objective feedback.

Tricks of the Mind

You’ve probably seen visual illusions—where your eye and brain think they’re seeing something different than they really are. What you may not realize is that there are cognitive illusions, too. There are several biases in how we think. Our brains are wired to jump to quick conclusions. This is useful in reacting quickly to our environment, but sometimes these fast conclusions and decisions lead to cognitive illusions. You can use these tricks of the mind to get people to do stuff. For example:

If you mention money then people become more independent and less willing to help others.
People filter out information they don’t agree with, but you can get past those filters by first agreeing with them.
People are more likely to do something if you can get them to phrase it as a question to themselves (Will I exercise each week?) than if you get them to say a declarative statement (I will exercise each week.)

If you understand what motivates people, then you can change and modify what you do, what you offer, and how and what you ask of people. You can change your strategies and tactics to get people to do stuff.

I hope you’ll consider buying the book! If you are interested, my publisher, Peachpit, is offering a 35% coupon code to purchase the book in print or as a PDF. The code is DOSTUFF and you can use it at the book website.

Or, if you prefer Amazon, here’s a link to the Amazon page:

15 Questions To Ask Yourself When Evaluating A Photo

[image error]I’m a big fan of online video, video blogging and the importance of photography in design. But I’m a total amateur when it comes to the technical side of photography and video, such as lighting and cameras. You know that phrase, “know enough to be dangerous”. That pretty much describes me. I’m largely self-taught, and if you watch some of my videos over time I’m sure you can see the evidence that I’m learning as I go!

Luckily I’m going to shortly get some help. I’m teaching part-time this semester at University of Wisconsin, and one of my colleagues at the university, Katie Stern, is an expert at all things photography. I’m hiring her to come to my video studio and help me work with lighting, and I’m really excited to do so!

In the meantime I’ve been reading her book, Photo 1: An Introduction to the Art of Photography (Amazon affiliate link)

(Warning… it’s a textbook and full of beautiful images — i.e., it’s not inexpensive!!) There’s this great section towards the end that kind of sums up all the things you can learn in the book, and I thought it was an interesting set of questions to ask yourself when you are evaluating a photo that you are thinking of using in one of your projects, for example, at a website, book, or whatever else you are designing. Here are the questions that Katie suggests you ask:

Describe the photograph. What does it look like? Color, grayscale, areas of each?
What is the subject matter in the photograph?
Can you tell from which social era it came? What clues give you that information?
Does the photograph give you a sense of time (day or night, long exposure or short exposure)? What clues give you that information?
What can you discern about the camera’s aperture, shutter speed, and ISO settings when the photograph was made? What visual clues lead you to your conclusions?
What was the approximate focal length of the lens? Wide angle? Telephoto? What leads you to your conclusion?
What were the lighting conditions when the photograph was made? Do you think flash was used at all? Can you discern the distance, direction, and color temperature of light source(s)?
What was the vantage point of the camera when the photograph was made? Was the camera low to the ground, at eye level, overhead, or somewehre in between?
Did the photograph have an emotional impact on you when you first saw it? What emotions did the photograph trigger in you?
What emotional response do you think the photographer was trying to evoke in a viewer? Did the photgrapher’s intention match your emotional reaction?
What concept or idea do you think the photographer was trying to portray with the photograph?
Do you think the photographer was successful in translating these thoughts into a visual form? What aspects of the photograph lead you to this conclusion?
Considering your thoughts on the lighting, choice of lens, vantage point, aperature, shutter speed, and ISO the photographer used, what could the photographer have done differently to strengthen the message?
Do the following elements help or hurt what you perceive as the concept of the photograph?

              Cropping of the photo

              Density (lightness or darkness) in the overall photograph

              Contrast (the range between the lightest and darkest areas of the photo)

              Details (or lack thereof) in shadows and highlights

              Depth of field

              Composition

              Color (if it’s a color image) such as color balance, brightness or dullness of the colors, and how the colors relate to each other within the photograph

What changes would you make if you could have made the photograph yourself?

Wow, makes me realize just how much I don’t know!

What do you think? Do you know enough to evaluate photos this thoroughly? How important do you think it is to evaluate the photos you use?

If you are interested in Katie and her book you can find more info on her Amazon author page.

How To Get People To Do Stuff #5: What makes things go viral?

Why do some ideas, articles, videos go viral and others don’t? Check out these ideas and the research in the video:

Here’s a summmary:

Things go viral if one or more of the following is true:

The piece elicits a strong emotional response — either positive or negative

The person who is doing the communicating is passionate and committed to the idea

If there is a compelling story around the idea

If it’s cute or funny (cats in hats, babies, puppies)

If by passing it on to your network it will make you look smart

What do you think? Do you agree with these ideas? With the research? What do you think makes something go viral?

References:

J. Berger and and K. L. Milkman. 2012. “What makes online content viral?” Journal of Marketing Research, 49(2), 192–205. DOI: 10.1509/jmr.10.0353

Jennifer Aaker, The Dragonfly Effect