Designing
Experiences
Not just features
Amir Khella

First, a story.

Earlier this week, I
flew to Seattle to
meet a client.
Photo Courtesy of Google

I rented a car at the airport.
And I was given a nice 2007
Nissan Altima
Photo Courtesy of NetCarShow.com

My car at home is a
2003 Toyota.
And I once forgot to lock the trunk
and had few valuables stolen.

That Nissan came with
keyless ignition.

Photo Courtesy of about.com
At first glance, the
start button looked
confusing.
I felt that I needed to learn a new
language to drive the car.

But I figured out by trial
and error how to make
it run and I drove to my
destination.

When I arrived, I
unplugged the key and
locked the car.

But...

Having had a bad
experience in the past,
I wanted to double check
the trunk was locked.

It wasn’t!

In fact, all doors were
still unlocked!!

I pressed the lock button
again then tried once more.

Same thing!
I could open all doors
after locking the car!

I became frustrated.
Was something wrong with the car?
Was I doing something wrong?

Then I looked at the keys,
and decided to wear my
designer hat for a minute.

So I went and hid the
keys behind a bush and
returned to open the
trunk.

Success!
The trunk was locked.
Conclusion:
The car has a proximity sensor.

So I walked to my
meeting, blaming myself
for not being up to date
with recent car trends.

So, what happened?

The car had a new
feature* that altered a
common experience.
*new to me, that is.

It provided a solution for
some common problems.
But the solution wasn’t intuitive.

It created a new mental
model for locking and
unlocking the car.
But it didn’t provide cues to
transition from the existing model.

It failed to create cause/
effect relationship between
where the key was, and
when the car could be
unlocked without it.

It left me blaming myself for
not being smart enough to
figure out how it worked.

And worst of all...

The bottom line:
Nissan introduced a new feature.
One that I absolutely loved once I got used to.
But it ignored my existing habits and behavior.
And my first experience was one of a total frustration.

How could they
have done it better?
And how you can avoid doing these
mistakes in your own products.

1. Create a consistent
visual language.
And use color coding to indicate
functional coupling
Suggested graphics on the back
of the remote keys.

2. Use further cues to
enforce certain associations.
If the key made a short vibration or beep
in my pocket when I opened the door or
turned on the car, I would have instantly
created a mental association between the
key location and what I just did.

3. Understand and respect
the user’s existing habits.
Habits create strong mental models,
and shape our decisions.
Rather than breaking the user’s habits,
help her transition to the new ones.

4. Prototype new features
and observe how new and
existing users use them.
If your product targets a wide range of
demographics, make sure you test
enough segments.

5. If it the user’s fault, then
it’s probably your fault.
Never let a user feel bad about himself.
Instead, make them feel that they are
much smarter than they thought.

6. Don’t do this!
Forget manuals and documentations.
No one has time for them.
Instead, make your design self explanatory.

This incident reminded me of an old joke
about a guy who bought a private jet and
instructional CDs on how to fly.
Listening to his audio guide, he started
operating the jet and was thrilled that
he could take it off the ground.
In mid-air, his audio CDs concluded with
a message informing him that landing
instructions were sold separately.

Ready for more design stories?
Join the design thinking conversation at
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Amir Khella
User Experience Guru
amir@fictiv.com