This is the presentation I did at the M3 Conference in Co

1. Situational Opportunity
Using Human Behavior To Influence The Design & Features Of Mobile Apps
Andrew Heaton

2. 2012 founding
M3 Conference
our sponsors.
^ platinum
gold
bronze + keynote
friend

3. Hi, I’m Andrew
I’m a Designer

4. Purposely Irregular Big Design, Small Screen
Zen, Punk Rock and Ruthlessness in Experience Design Conceptual Design for Mobile Devices
Andrew Heaton Andrew Heaton
(and a writer).

5. I hope you tweet and take photos.
@tigerstripe | #M3Conf

6. hashgr.am/m3conf
for all M3 Conference photos.

7. Some Quick Rules about UX

8. Rule Number One:
There's no fucking rules, dude.
Photo by unknown, but it’s not by me.

9. Rule Number Two:
Draw everything 3 times before
you go near a computer.
Describe it out loud at least twice.
Photo by Glen E. Friedman

10. What is Situational Opportunity?

11. Who was that guy in that movie with the dog?

12. Did you see that cat who herds goats?

13. Who sings this?

14. I’m at Best Buy, should I buy this TV?

15. I’ll send you that file now.

16. My food looks awesome.

17. My kid is driving me crazy.

18. This person wants to buy my book but
only has a credit card.

19. We already have apps that fulfill certain
needs, these apps fit our mental models
for success on a mobile device

20. Situational Opportunity is the act of finding the
moment in time when a user will reach for a
mobile device as the answer to a need.

21. It should become part of your app design.

22. Nonsense!
My app will be awesome... people are going to love it.

23. Customer Development is not what we are
here to talk about, but it’s a huge part of the
need for Situational Opportunity.

24. When we think of Customer Development we tend
to turn to demographics, statistics and delusion.

25. Situational Opportunity allows for the
understanding of a user through use of the app.

26. It's a fabulous type of persona development, rather
than understanding the user, you understand the
entire situation in which use occurs.

27. It’s the moment the users reach for their pocket.

28. If I understand that moment, my app will be better.

29. How to define a moment?

30. Sketching out an app is the storyboard of the
movie you're about to make.
It's a nice little movie, there's really only 2
characters in it, your app and the person using it.

31. So set your scene, understand the backstory that
has to occur to get someone to act.

32. Scenario Building:
It’s not the who, it’s the when and the why.

33. Identify a moment in time
Craft a story based on need
Refine the need by ignoring the device

34. Ignore the device?

35. WTF?

36. If the need doesn’t exist without the device,
it probably doesn’t exist with the device.

37. The best app idea adapts to cultural change,
not advances in technology.

38. So what’s happening right now?
Let’s consider three variables:
Actor
Location
Scene

39. Actor
What is this person
doing.

40. Actor
What is this person
doing.
Location
State where the user is.
They are mobile.

41. Where’s Actor
The Bus What is this person
doing.
Location
State where the user is.
They are mobile.
Scene
What is happening?

42. To understand human behavior,
research must be done.

43. Cage Match: Data vs. Need

44. Data is much easier to conceive on bigger, meatier things.
If we think about Transit Maps, we look at data and will
tend to show all transit data for the entire city.

45. It’s easier, because there’s only one use.
It may not be a useful one.

46. Data tells us:
What’s supposed to happen,
not what’s happening right now.

47. It’s much harder to create a simple situation:
User wonders where the bus is, bus is a orange dot that
shows on map with estimated time to arrive.

48. Can Situational Opportunity drive features?

49. What stop am I at?
What’s the next stop?
How much does it cost?
How do I pay?
Is there a bike rack on this bus?

50. All opportunities related to situation.

51. Why is a transit map important?

52. We are taking outside variables and
adding them to a known situation.

53. Ignore the device.
What would you add to a paper map
to make it more useful?

54. Certainly not advertising.
Hand-drawn stars or indicators of what’s
important to you.
Social Maps? Notes? History of Use?

55. I spent the last few days in San Francisco.
A city with a wealth of data and content that
should be readily available.

56. I heard the
“You were using the wrong app”
argument already.

57. Here's the gist, the city itself was not producing
real time data for me.

58. The bus was not showing me mapping
information.
I saw no rating that said my hipster hotel was
really in an early gentrified neighborhood.
These are all opportunities yet to be found

59. Before you design, set a scenario and make your
initial concept stronger.

60. Build an app that fits into someone’s life.
Find a mental process and wiggle your ass right in there.
Pick it up at the exact point of doubt or wonder.

61. Thanks.

62. Be Good.

63. @tigerstripe