I created this for educating internal teams on what to look out for when creating digital experiences.

2. AGENDA
Know What Your User Wants
How The Brain Processes an Experience
Fixing a Broken Experience

3. KNOW WHAT
YOUR USERS
WANT

4. 3D TELEVISION – THE BUZZ
“2010 marks the beginning of the 3D home video era.”
– HD Guru
The amount of 3D televisions expected to ship in 2014 is 90
million.
– PC Mag
The 3D TV adoption rate will be near 50% by 2014. [Oct. 2010]
– Wired
83% of the revenue from the release of Avatar was from the 3D
theater release.
– CNN

5. 3D TELEVISION – THE FACTS
On 3D “slightly on the wane again”.
– Nintendo President Satoru Iwata
When it came to 3-D this year(at CES), all you heard from Sony
was crickets. [Jan 2013]
– Mercury News
Samsung “overstocked with 3DTV models requiring the older, now
less popular “active” 3D glasses that require batteries.”
– Paid Content
Sixty eight percent of punters(consumers), he adds, think 3D is
just “nice to have”.
– The Register

6. 3D TELEVISION – THE REASON
“many people just recently upgraded to HDTVs (40 million were
bought in the U.S. between 2007-2009) and will not shell out
thousands on a 3D set”
– Forrester Research
The 3D experience is only good for a handful of viewing
experiences.
– Paid Content
Many consumers purchase the 3D function by default, when
replacing old TVs with mid- to high-end models, which often have
3D capability as a standard.
– TVB Europe
“uncomfortable, unattractive 3D glasses, which have also been
cited in studies as barriers to consumer adoption.”
– Wired

7. WHAT HAPPENED?
A product was made for a market that wasn’t there. Or at least a very limited one.
Companies were creating technologies because their competitors were.
There wasn’t a wealth of content created for the technology.

8. WHAT’S THIS GOT TO DO WITH
DIGITAL?
When we create digital platforms, applications, communities and interactions, we are
creating a new product for a market place. We are not limiting what we’re building to
attempt to connect emotionally with our consumers on their commute to work or happy
hour with friends.
By knowing our users we can get an idea of what it is they are really looking for, not
just providing them the information our brands want to give them.

9. TAKING A LESSON FROM 3D TVS
3D TVs
A product was made for a market
that wasn’t there. Or at least a
very limited one.
Companies were creating
technologies because their
competitors were.
There wasn’t a wealth of content
created for the technology.
Digital Creations
We’re creating content and
interactions for our smallest user
groups, when our main users are
still missing excitement.
Our competitors are doing it so we
need to create something similar,
even if our users are not
interested in it.
We don’t want to create a platform
that houses content if there is no
content to be housed.

10. LET’S NOT MAKE 3D TVS BECAUSE
THEY’RE “COOL”.
LET’S MAKE 3D TVS BECAUSE
THEY’RE NEEDED AND WANTED BY
OUR USERS.

11. HOW THE
BRAIN
PROCESSES AN
EXPERIENCE

12. LEVERAGING EMOTION
In order to achieve our goals the site should be usable and function in the way our
users expect it. Donald Norman is a professor in cognitive science and usability
found that design affects how people experience products in three ways.
VISCERAL
BEHAVIORAL REFLECTIVE
HOW THE BRAIN PROCESSES AN EXPERIENCE

13. VISCERAL – BELLY RUBS ARE GOOD
We’re prewired for certain experiences. Our immediate
feelings provide us with a judgment if an experience will
be good or bad. Such as belly rubs, which are GOOD.
When creating digital experiences it’s important for users
to automatically have positive feelings towards your
experience.
One thing we CAN learn from competitors are the
constants that our users would be interacting with for a
good experience. Leverage the training our competitors
have pushed on their own users for success to achieve
success in our experiences.
Things like a site map or bread crumb trail navigation
could be key to a successful user experience.

14. BEHAVIORAL – THIS IS THE BEST BELLY
RUB EVER
Once we’re interacting with an experience more judgment
is passed on that experience based on our current
findings. This comes into play when users interact with
the functions of our digital experiences, how accessible is
the navigation, how fast are carousel messages
displayed, is the navigation intuitive and does it answer
my questions.
When creating a digital experience it should answer a
users questions or alleviate issues they came to resolve
by interacting with it.
We could develop an application that has a multi-tiered
sorting archive with self analysis for any client, but
would a user at a trade show want to get that
information from an interface or a representative
at the booth. Maybe a simple application to set
up a meeting with a representative is what’s
actually required.

15. REFLECTIVE – YOUR BELLY RUB WASN'T
AS GOOD AS CHARLIE’S BELLY RUB.
The final step comes into play after impact and
interaction. Once we’ve had a chance to experience
something we digest that information and begin to
compare and contrast it with other life experiences.
Sometimes what we first thought was a great experience
becomes an OK experience in comparison to past
events.
We want to ensure our users leave experiences with a
positive attitude towards what we’ve created for them. By
building experiences that are already out there or
just because a competitor has it we leave a lot more
room for reflective processing that could have negative
association with the experiences we create.
Remember the 3D TV.

16. LET’S BE THE BEST BELLY RUBBERS ON
THE MARKET.
ENSURE ALL YOUR EXPERIENCES HAVE
POSITIVE ASSOCIATIONS BEFORE
AND AFTER USERS INTERACT WITH
THEM.

17. FIXING A
BROKEN
EXPERIENCE

18. WHAT’S THAT GIRL? AN EXPERIENCE IS
STUCK AT THE BOTTOM OF A WELL?!
Sometimes we don’t get to create new
experiences. All we’re able to do is heighten or
attempt to fix a broken one. Fortunately for us,
and the experience, hope remains and we can fix
it. It just takes a little damage assessment and
user understanding to bring it back up from the
depths and back into the light.

19. GIVE A DOG A (BIG) BONE
The more bones
we give the user
the more needs
we fulfill. But
sometimes we
can’t afford to
buy a big pile of
bones right away,
so we have to
start with one
bone until we
have a big pile of
bones that fulfill
our users needs.
MORE TAIL WAGS (user center)
AMOUNTOFCHEWING(effort)
VISUAL CONSISTENCY
& SIMPLIFICATION
BEHAVIORAL
CONSISTENCY
BEHAVIOR
OPTIMIZATION
UNIFIED EXPERIENCE
STRATEGY
UX CULTURE
Source: Stefan Klocek, Smashing Magazine link

20. VISUAL CONSISTENCY &
SIMPLIFICATION
The lowest amount of effort is to start at the foundation of the experience. This initial
step is like trying house break your pup, every time he successfully lifts leg on a tree we
give him a bone. Every time we ignore him and his needs he gives us our own treat on
the kitchen floor… only we don’t like the “treat”.
We can start by taking a look at the information architecture, fonts,
layouts, colors and styles. This may all be low hanging fruit but
once they’re out of the way it requires us to reach further to get
more fruit.
1 TAIL WAG

21. BEHAVIORAL CONSISTENCY
Now that we have a structural foundation we can begin to work on some individual
items that can become an every day nuisance. We need to train our pup to stop
begging at the table. When we sit down to eat, he awaits till we’re done and knows he’s
rewarded with a bone at the end of the meal.
We can also guide our users expectations by leveraging the new design and pattern
systems from the previous step to bring up to date any tools or widgets. Our goal here
is to ensure current experiences work as they are intended to work without any
bugs or unexpected outcomes.
2 TAIL WAGS

22. BEHAVIORAL OPTIMIZATION
By now our pup is pretty attached to us. Every time we leave his sight he howls and
cries for us, and maybe gnaws on the occasional oak coffee table. So we enhance the
back yard with a play pen to help keep him entertained while we’re away, and if he’s a
good boy when we get back he gets another bone.
This is like taking a look at current products and features against what our users wants
and needs are. Are we giving them everything they need when they’re not directly
connecting with us? If not lets innovate and optimize current offerings to keep them
happy.
3 TAIL WAGS

23. UNIFIED EXPERIENCE STRATEGY
Our pup has so many skills and talents he’s learned for individual every day tasks.
What happens if we take the patience he’s learned from being house broken and
waiting for food after a meal as well as his athletic talents from playing in the pen and
merge them? We get a dog who has the ability to learn better skills like a back flip or
fetching beer form the fridge. Lets make sure to reward him with another bone for that
cold one.
When you have all the core elements of a digital experience working well, you can unify
them under one experience. Allowing our users to move
smoothly and effortlessly from one experience to another
gathering as much information and resource as needed to
accomplish their end goal. This is where we finally start to
see the light towards are kick ass digital experiences.
4 TAIL WAGS

24. UX CULTURE
Odds are our dog is now the coolest and most well trained on the block. There isn’t a
neighbor that’s afraid of approaching him or letting their kid near by. But if we ever
decide to neglect or stop rewarding our dog with bones we’ll learn quickly that he’s
always willing to bite the hand that feeds him.
This is the point where we have to be more proactive in our approach of creating digital
experiences. It’s also the time when we have the most opportunity to create kick ass
digital experiences. Because at this point it’s about solving issues nobody else can.
Supported with great content we know they need and use.
5 TAIL WAGS

25. LET’S CREATE A PILE OF BONES FOR
OUR USERS.
MAKE SURE WE HAVE A GREAT
FOUNDATION SO WE CAN SUPPORT
OR KICK ASS DIGITAL EXPERIENCES.