3 Nov, 2011
It’s Friday night. You’re starving and eager to try that new bistro your friends are raving about. When you walk in, it’s crowded. You’re thinking:
- Damn hipsters
- I guess I should have expected this. It is Friday night after all
- I wonder how long it will take to get a table
You’re willing to wait—even though you’re hungry—because the restaurant has received positive buzz from people you trust. You approach the hostess stand and are informed that there will be a 15-20 minute wait. Not bad. You decide to stay and wait for a table.
After 15 minutes have passed, the hostess informs you that will probably be another 5-10 minutes. Still in the ballpark of the initial estimate, and you appreciate that she took the time to keep you apprised of the situation. Finally, after twenty-two minutes, you’re guided to your table…
Let’s examine the expectation setting (explicit & implicit) that took place in the scenario described above:
- The Diner expected the restaurant to be crowded because it had received positive reviews and it was a Friday night
- The Diner anticipated receiving a good meal due to positive word of mouth from friends
- The crowd also indicates to the Diner that they should be in for a good meal
- The Hostess clearly and accurately outlined the time that the Diner would need to wait for a table—even checking in later with the Diner to provide feedback and keep him updated on the estimated wait time
As humans, we make several subconscious judgements and decisions every second. Expectation setting helps to focus and guide our subconscious decision-making engine. It’s critical that we apply this practice to user-centered design.
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1 Oct, 2011
Remember the Stephen King novel and film, Pet Cemetery? Basically there’s this mysterious pet cemetery way out in the woods–I think it’s an ancient indian burial ground or some shit. Basically, if you bury the dead in the pet cemetery it will come back to life, crawl out of the ground, and return home. Unfortunately, as you would expect, after the thing you buried is resurrected, it returns as a lesser (usually evil) form of itself. And the longer you wait to bury the corpse in the pet cemetery, the more demented it becomes.
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11 Jul, 2011
I admit it… I’m kind of anal retentive. I’m not a germophobe or a neat freak per se. I’ve never been diagnosed with OCD. But I do have this thing about organization. I like things in their place—organized in such a way that I (or someone else) will intuitively be able to find them. This is an attribute of many people in my profession (user experience design, information architecture); we do our best to make content online easier to find and consume.
Remember, you can add accounts to multiple Circles…
Enter, Google+ and their nifty new Circles feature. Circles are a very useful means of segmenting people within your online social graph. Google is wisely making it easier for people to selectively share content online within their new social network offering. Users may place people within audience segments (Circles) in order to make sure they’re sharing and consuming content that is more relevant to their relationships. In other words, only your closest friends get to see the pictures from your ski trip to Vail, while a broader audience may get to check out that article you contributed to A List Apart. Continue Reading
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