Optimizing digital product design with real-world observations
When you build digital products, you usually make a lot of assumptions about the people using it.
Often, those assumptions turn out to not work the way you thought of; and it is even harder to uncover why this is the case.
This especially comes true, if you are not dealing with people from within your tech bubble, but all the other 99%.
That’s when it is time to have a look at the real world, in order to realize again, that people behave in strange, yet predictable ways.
Situation
For me, a quite recent observation happened at the local bakery, where I go to at least once a week.
Due to Covid-19 rules, there are only 3 people allowed inside, while all others need to keep distance and wait outside.
People are waiting in line. Nothing special so far.
The interesting part is how the line forms itself — each single time.
Observations
Around the bakery, there is a lot of space, which belongs to the house and would be an ideal place to wait.
However, people are always (!) waiting directly on the sidewalk.
To make this clear, the only difference between the two areas is a small line on the ground.
The reason why this bothers me is the following: The sidewalk is thought for people to walk by.
Since people are waiting on the sidewalk, all other pedestrians face the problem that they need to navigate through this line.
Do you see the person running in my illustration? Do you see the conflict?
Remember why this line emerged!
Because people are keeping distance. It is a little ironic that due to the fact that they are waiting on the sidewalk, they are NOT keeping distance to the moving pedestrians.
The thing is, it is not logical to behave that way.
Minding all the facts and details, it would be way more efficient and effective to simply form the line around the building.
It would keep space for the mentioned other people, while there is no downside for the waiting folks.
Still, people are not behaving that way!
Before I get into an analysis, one more interesting fact and observation.
Last summer, the bakery staff painted a chalk line on the ground (as in my illustration).
The result: People suddenly behaved exactly as pictured above. But when the rain washed away the line, the exact same people fell back into the old behavior to wait on the sidewalk, fighting the “walkers” moving through them.
This makes me assume that most people rely on a clear guidance.
They are not thinking on their own or trying to optimize the overall situation.
Since I am a person, who is always motivated to change bad things into something better, I made different tests by trying to influence the style of the line with my own position.
When I (the orange triangle in the illustration below) moved onto the offside area, I always (N = 12) saw people following my position.
So, people are not only following lines, they are following other people.
The interesting part here: Both things, other people and the line, are having similar effects at the same time.
The more people lined up behind my position, the more they got drawn back to the sidewalk again.
Interesting, isn’t it?
Conclusion
- Many people in many situations do not think or act in logical ways (following COVID-19 rules, but breaking them at the same time — keeping distance in the line, but not to other people around).
- Many people do not care about others actively.
- Many people follow guidance — subconsciously…
- … from lines.
- … from other people.
- Multiple guidance elements add up somehow.
- This might most probably (looking at research) vary depending on the situation and people’s involvement. Waiting for the bakery on a Sunday morning is most probably the best example for a situation where people don’t give a fuck about anything.
Learnings for Product Design
People love guidance.
They do not want to think on their own in many situations.
Especially if there is low involvement.
This goes in line with “don’t make me think” and “keep it simple stupid” principles.
Guidance needs to be as simple as following a line.
People might not follow your fancy UX design.
Especially if it is too complicated.
From my example, people were told to keep distance, but did not keep it. Simply because more simple triggers moved them around.
So, it must be simple, ideally referring to something your audience already knows — like a line to wait in line.
Also mind unwanted UX guidance or guidance you would not think about.
In this case, it is the pedestrian way, which has nothing to do directly with the bakery, but exists and distracts people.
In software cases it could be the place, where people use it (office vs. kitchen) or even surrounding software, like the browser (when using a SaaS).
You might add an arrow to your page, but people (in western countries) still follow the simpler rule to read from left to right.
Mind the thing around your product!
User behavior often seems complicated.
Yet, it is somehow brutally simple, predictable, and stupid (in an almost horrifying way).
However, this makes it complicated again.
All the best for optimizing your product with real world insights, which you often find right around the corner! 🙂
