Heath and Heath's notion of keeping things simple seems really relevant today because of how dynamic and constantly changing modern technology and trends are. The desire to communicate and relate to people at its very "core" has been around for hundreds of years, but because of technology that idea has been able to manifest in a million different ways via online communities and social networks. You can notice that social networking sites, particularly the most successful ones, all carry with them the basic objective of communication, whether it be staying in touch with old friends, making new ones, discussing mutual topics of interest, etc. And there actually may be a lot of sites who share that core idea, but whose platform or means to facilitate that objective don't fit aesthetically or functionally with the user, and that could be an explanation for a lot of site failures. They have the best intention or goal, but perhaps they didn't fulfill that basic idea in the simplest way or they tried to plan too far ahead and in too complicated a way, to the point that their plan wasn't sustainable in the changing modern settings.
I also enjoyed the chapter, "Unexpected", which talks about the difficulty in getting and maintaining someone's attention. The Apple company comes to mind with the interpretation that sticky ideas are unexpected ideas. One of Apple's design and development objectives is to create a product with features that the consumer didn't even know they wanted, but that make perfect sense once they have them — these features are unexpected. And although Heath and Heath point out that "planned unexpectedness" is an oxymoron, I think this is a perfect example.
When reading your first paragraph, I instantly thought of Facebook and Twitter and how simple both of those sites are. Both of those sites are super successful websites. Facebook and Twitter both include the basic objective of communication- keeping up with old friends, making new friends, and discussing popular topics.
ReplyDeleteFacebook and Twitter, along with other sites like Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube, are really simple/obvious to use and extremely user friendly. They are all sustainable websites because they know how to keep up with modern things and change when users are looking for something new.
I also thought the blurb about unexpectedness as a method for creating lasting ideas was interesting. It stands to reason that people tend to expect something "good" or "better" but have a difficult time pinpointing exactly what that means. For companies to identify those characteristics and cater to those unknown needs is extremely important because it can increase brand loyalty more than simply meeting the common desires of consumers. Social media is evidence of this, as well. In my personal Twitter usage, I am more severely drawn to things that are especially funny or poignant when deciding what to retweet. I find myself drawn even more to those things when they come from unexpected sources.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on your observations in Heath and Heath's Belonging chapter. There is so much stuff out there: social networks, social communities, etc. Keeping it simple helps all of us to balance this social networking craziness. Like you said, some sites out there have the best intention, but if those intentions are too complicated, it is hard for users to understand it. All of us want something simple to understand and use; there is no need to extra mess. "Trimming that fat" around anything whether it is an idea, proposal, social media site layout, etc. will greatly improve your audience's view of the information you are presenting.
ReplyDelete