A hunch

We’ve changed. 2004, Facebook. 2007, Twitter. These things monopolize a lot of our lives. We’ve shifted from private persona to a very public persona. We have a more honest dialog with each other.

Needs

Maslow. Humans need this stuff. Self-actualization.  There is a similar relationship with computers and interfaces which connect us to them. How I see them mapped in this way.

• Functional
• Reliable
• Usable
• Pleasurable

The bar is low for web sites. We make them “usable” which is akin to a chef saying “I like to make my food edible”

Usable = edible in culinary sense. Of course we want usability. SPAM is definitely edible, but is it your favorite food?

Pleasurable = your app is filled with personality. Personality is a platform for emotion.

Firmware, Gestalt & Contrast

The ability to see difference. Is this good for me or is it bad for me? We’re always doing a cost-benefit analysis. Contrast, this path is different from this path. Contrast, zebras have the most of any other animal. When together they blend in. Same applies when you speed, do it in a group because there are predators out there.

Delta – Boarding Pass Fail. Low contrast interface that doesn’t group things very well. http://passfail.squarespace.com If you’re not a designer, contrast can take you a long way.

Emotion

People will forgive shortcomings, following your lead and sing your praises if you reward them with positive emotion. Humans want to empathize. Personality invites empathy. Personality is a platform for emotion.

When someone adores your (web) application, that’s real power. iPhone apps, ConvertBot and Weightbot. How do people react to these? “I adore the way their apps look and sound.” -John Gruber

Wufoo is fun in a different way. There isn’t a character, but the content and color scheme is fun. They created an emotional profile to give users a small taste of humanity when sitting in their gray, colorless, windowless cubicle.

Treats

MailChimp. The app has always had a personality. Why am I smiling? Because I’m not wearing any pants. Provide a compliment, tell a joke. Creating an e-mail to send to people may not be the most fun task, but adding personality can make it slightly more delightful. Small treats built-in. People start to tell other people about it, post it on Flickr, their blogs. The treats are like a magic eight-ball. In gaming, it’s called an open-system.

Aesthetic Usability

If you have an interface and it’s attractive, perceived usability is improved. If you can stack the deck in a positive direction, people will stick with you. We’re engaged in Pavlonian training. MailChimp varies their log in screen based upon season or other notable events. Hit a cross-over conversion and show your humanity. We love this and others may too.

Photojojo, place for photographers to geek out on their craft. Sad cart becomes happy when adding an item to it. Checkout process is conversational. Enter your name then watch what happens.

Doubts, because we’re skeptics because we’re always doing a cost-benefit analysis. Help users overcome their fears. Mint.com does a great job of this, because the idea of putting all your financial info in an online app.

Forgiveness, build in or instill a sense of forgiveness in users. Give the kid in the back seat the coloring book so they quit crying until we get to grandma’s house. See Flickr outage example with circles.

Attention is Finite

When you add something, you lose something. See cssdrive. Consider many people speaking loudly in a room and you can’t hear any of them. See godaddy. People look for the path of least resistance. If we were programmed to take the hard route every time, eventually it would have an impact on our well-being.

Dropbox is about educating their users and gives them something free. A progress meter is there to show status along the way. Gowalla uses this by giving virtual rewards. It’s like a record of your humanity. The objects are so beautiful. Gowalla and Brightkite are very similar, but Brightkite doesn’t have the emotional engagement, the items, stamps on your passport.

Concerns

MailChimp has a party pooper mode. There is some danger if you come across the wrong personality on your team or in your user base. Take small steps. Learn to take the comments, analyze them and let them go.

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