The document discusses cultivating meaningful experiences through online communities. It emphasizes that user experience design should focus not just on functionality, usability, and reliability, but also on creating experiences that are pleasurable, memorable, convenient, and meaningful to users. To do this, designers must prioritize aesthetics, design for flow states, leverage game mechanics and learning theory, and create experiences with personality that empower users and elicit desire. The goal is to build products that bring joy to people's lives rather than just functioning as programmed.

1. CULTIVATING ONLINE
COMMUNITIES
THROUGH MEANINGFUL
EXPERIENCES
or, “making things work for people”.
Howie Chang | MinistryNet 2011

2. CULTIVATING ONLINE
COMMUNITIES
THROUGH MEANINGFUL
EXPERIENCES
or, “making things work for people”.
Howie Chang | MinistryNet 2011

3. A LITTLE
ABOUT ME
PASSIONATE IN ALL THINGS DIGITAL
AND HAVE DEEP APPRECIATION IN
GOOD USER EXPERIENCES.
• UX & Design Partner at BuUuk
• Adjunct Lecturer at DMIT, SP
• Small Group Leader
• Co-Founder of STYLELOGUE.IT
Rae, Howie and Joy

4. A LITTLE
ABOUT BUUUK
WE MAKE MOBILE APPS FOR ANY
SCREEN YOU CAN SWIPE.
• WeatherLah
• BuUuk - Restaurant & Bar Guide
• The Straits Times
BuUuk • and many more...

5. WHAT IS USER
EXPERIENCE?
Comprehends all aspects of digital products and services that users
experience directly - and perceive, learn, and use - including products’
form, behavior, and content, but also encompassing users’ broader
brand experience and the response that experience evokes in them. Key
factors contributing to the quality of users’ experience of products are
learnability, usability, usefulness, and aesthetic appeal.
Pabini Gabriel-Petit

6. WHAT IS USER
EXPERIENCE?
+

7. WHAT IS A MEANINGFUL
EXPERIENCE TO YOU?
Share with the person next to you.

8. WHAT IS A MEANINGFUL
EXPERIENCE TO YOU?
oh no! feelings!

9. WHAT IS A MEANINGFUL
EXPERIENCE TO YOU?
i love what i can
do! it’s super
awesome!
oh no! feelings!

10. WHAT IS A MEANINGFUL
EXPERIENCE TO YOU?
i can do
everything i need.
cool!
oh no! feelings!

11. WHAT IS A MEANINGFUL
EXPERIENCE TO YOU?
it’s ok i guess.
sometimes i have
problems.
oh no! feelings!

12. WHAT IS A MEANINGFUL
EXPERIENCE TO YOU?
it makes me feel
stupid. i hate it
and you.
oh no! feelings!

13. IT IS NOT ENOUGH THAT WE BUILD
PRODUCTS THAT FUNCTION, THAT ARE
UNDERSTANDABLE AND USABLE - WE ALSO
NEED TO BUILD PRODUCTS THAT BRING JOY
AND EXCITEMENT, PLEASURE AND FUN, AND
YES, BEAUTY, TO PEOPLE’S LIVES.
Don Norman

14. SUBJECTIVE / QUALITATIVE
Focused on
“It is not enough that we build
Have a believable story Experiences products that function, that are
Co-create value with customers (People, Activities, Context)
understandable and usable -
Connect people in community we also need to build products
Are part of a bigger system that bring joy and excitement,
Prioritize Aesthetics (no, not Graphic Design)
Appeal to emotional, spiritual, and (visual, behaviors, sounds, psychology) pleasure and fun, and yes,
social values
Design for FLOW (boredom vs anxiety) beauty, to people’s lives.”
Create a tolerance for faults at
lower levels Leverage Game Mechanics/Learning Theory -Donald Norman
(completeness)
Are tied to a person’s self-image,
highly personal Have a Personality
Empower people to do things Meaningful Create conversational and context aware
previously not possible Has personal significance interactions
(“Adaptive Interfaces”; narrative IA structures)
Pleasurable Elicit Desire
Memorable experience worth sharing (Limited availability, limited access, curious and
Simplify, organize, and clarify seductive experiences)
information Convenient THIS IS THE “CHASM” THAT IS REALLY, REALLY
HARD FOR ORGANIZATIONS TO CROSS
Display information visually Super easy to use, works like I think
Reduce features and complexity
Are easier to understand
Usable
Use language for more natural
Can be used without difficulty
Creating Pleasurable Interfaces:
interactions
Add features that support desired
Reliable
Is available and accurate
Getting from Tasks to Experiences
behaviors (offline browsing) created by Stephen P. Anderson | poetpainter.com
Functional (Useful)
Works as programmed
Focused on
Tasks
(Products, Features)
OBJECTIVE / QUANTIFIABLE © 2006 Stephen P. Anderson | poetpainter.com

15. FUNCTIONAL (USEFUL)
WORKS AS PROGRAMMED
Martin Cooper with the original Motorola phone

16. RELIABLE
IS AVAILABLE AND ACCURATE
Twitter’s Fail Whale

17. USABLE
CAN BE USED WITHOUT DIFFICULTY
Usability Makes a Difference

18. CONVENIENT
SUPER EASY TO USE, WORKS LIKE I THINK
Google Maps

19. PLEASURABLE
MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE WORTH SHARING
iLike.com Social Music Discovery

20. MEANINGFUL
HAS PERSONAL SIGNIFICANCE
Discover.redeemer.com

21. SUBJECTIVE / QUALITATIVE
Focused on
“It is not enough that we build
Have a believable story Experiences products that function, that are
Co-create value with customers (People, Activities, Context)
understandable and usable -
Connect people in community we also need to build products
Are part of a bigger system that bring joy and excitement,
Prioritize Aesthetics (no, not Graphic Design)
Appeal to emotional, spiritual, and (visual, behaviors, sounds, psychology) pleasure and fun, and yes,
social values
Design for FLOW (boredom vs anxiety) beauty, to people’s lives.”
Create a tolerance for faults at
lower levels Leverage Game Mechanics/Learning Theory -Donald Norman
(completeness)
Are tied to a person’s self-image,
highly personal Have a Personality
Empower people to do things Meaningful Create conversational and context aware
previously not possible Has personal significance interactions
(“Adaptive Interfaces”; narrative IA structures)
Pleasurable Elicit Desire
Memorable experience worth sharing (Limited availability, limited access, curious and
Simplify, organize, and clarify seductive experiences)
information Convenient THIS IS THE “CHASM” THAT IS REALLY, REALLY
HARD FOR ORGANIZATIONS TO CROSS
Display information visually Super easy to use, works like I think
Reduce features and complexity
Are easier to understand
Usable
Use language for more natural
Can be used without difficulty
Creating Pleasurable Interfaces:
interactions
Add features that support desired
Reliable
Is available and accurate
Getting from Tasks to Experiences
behaviors (offline browsing) created by Stephen P. Anderson | poetpainter.com
Functional (Useful)
Works as programmed
Focused on
Tasks
(Products, Features)
OBJECTIVE / QUANTIFIABLE © 2006 Stephen P. Anderson | poetpainter.com

22. GOOD
EXAMPLES
THREADLESS.COM
New graphic t-shirts
released weekly. Awesome
new designs submitted and
rated by the Threadless
community.

23. GOOD
EXAMPLES
THEFIFTHCOLUMN.CO.UK
Audio podcasts on
controversial & topical
issues.

24. GOOD
EXAMPLES
REDNOSEDAY.COM
Red Nose Day is a day like
no other when the whole
country gets together to do
something funny for money
and change countless lives
in the process.

25. UX SITES
‣ PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST HTTP://WWW.EXPERIENTIA.COM/BLOG/
‣ 52 WEEKS OF UX HTTP://52WEEKSOFUX.COM/
‣ EVERYDAY UX HTTP://WWW.EVERYDAYUX.COM/
‣ UX MYTHS HTTP://UXMYTHS.COM/
‣ JOHNNY HOLLAND HTTP://JOHNNYHOLLAND.ORG/
‣ LOGIC+EMOTION HTTP://DARMANO.TYPEPAD.COM/LOGIC_EMOTION/
‣ ADAPTIVE PATH HTTP://WWW.ADAPTIVEPATH.COM/IDEAS/

26. BONUS
HOW TOP BRANDS BUILD EFFECTIVE ONLINE COMMUNITIES - BY SIMON MAINWARING
CONCEPTUAL ASSUMPTIONS: An effective online 5. INFORMATIVE: The brand must serve as a resource for
community starts with the right thinking and that involves members looking to learn more about the goals of the
certain fundamental assumptions. community and those already involved.
1. BOTTOM UP: A brand must start from the premise that this 6. SELF-PROMOTION: The brand must provide tools that
is a bottom up organization that will live or die on the strength enable members to spread information about your community
of the dialogue it generates. What the community has to say is and its goals beyond the site across different social media.
important, what you have to say is secondary.
7. GOALS: The goal, and therefore the site, must be structured
2. SUSTAINABILITY: The site must be conceived in a way that in a way that allows for an expanded portfolio of goals that will
keeps the community active and growing after each initiative or keep the community engaged, growing, and migrating from
project. Too often even the best communities suffer fatal one goal to the next.
attrition once their primary goal is reached.
8. MEASUREMENT AND CELEBRATION: The brand must
3. CONVERSATION: Brands often seem incapable of not track, measure and reward success within the community.
talking about themselves. Rather, they must generate
discussion around topics that are meaningful to the community
they want to establish (whether it’s a gathering of CFO’s, stay-
at-home moms or activists of any kind). Only then can their
products be positioned as a relevant (and inoffensive)
contributions to the conversation.
4. OWNERSHIP: The site must be structured in a way that
allows members to feel ownership over the process as the
community experiences success, growth and innovation.

27. BONUS
CONTINUED
DESIGN FUNDAMENTALS: If you hope to create a site that
doesn’t just raise awareness but motivates behavior,
certain design fundamentals are essential:
1. OWNERSHIP and RESPONSIBILITY: The site must be
designed in a manner that gives members a sense that they
are acting for themselves and their community.
2. RECOGNITION and REWARDS STRUCTURE: There must
be ways in which members are rewarded within their
community to encourage further participation.
3. UNIFYING GOAL: In order to constantly reinforce a goal and
maintain community focus, the brand must regularly share the
emotional stories of those participating. That way the online
community is consistently humanized and the emotions that
motivate their efforts are reinforced.

28. TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN DRIVEN MORE BY
A MIND-SET OF 'I CAN' THAN 'I SHOULD'... TECHNOLOGISTS LOVE
TO CRAM MAXIMUM FUNCTIONALITY INTO THEIR PRODUCTS.
THAT'S 'I CAN' THINKING, WHICH IS DRIVEN BY PEER COMPETITION
AND MARKET FORCES... BUT THIS APPROACH IGNORES THE FAR
MORE IMPORTANT QUESTION OF HOW THE CONSUMER WILL
ACTUALLY USE THE DEVICE... FOCUS ON WHAT WE SHOULD BE
DOING, NOT JUST WHAT WE CAN.
Jon Maeda

29. END. :)
QUESTIONS?
www.howiechang.com | @howiec | www.fb.com/hellohowie