How to Design for 'Normals'

Hi, I'm Nir Eyal and this is the near and Far Podcast. This podcast is about business, behavior and the brain. On this show, I do a few things. I read quick articles I've written about topics shaping your behavior. I interview authors of books I enjoy, and from time to time I devote episodes to answering your questions. If you want to ask me a question, visit the podcast page on itunes, go to Ratings and Reviews, and ask me a question. By leaving a review, I promise to read it and possibly include your question.

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How to Design for normals by Dr. Katie Fike and Nir Eyal as web watchers, entrepreneurs and investors search for the next big thing, they'd be wise to focus on innovations that can be easily adopted by technology novices. A recent string of companies have found success outside the early adopter digirati by building products simple enough to be used by just about anyone. Designing with tech novices in mind can mean the difference between staying niche and going mainstream. Here are three principles for how to design software for people Silicon Valley too often disparagingly calls normals. Number one what's it for? Don't tell them how it works or what it is. And certainly don't tell them how wonderful your company is. Just tell them in big, uncluttered, blatantly obvious terms what your service is for. Novice users need to know when your service would be useful in their lives. Take a look at Twitter's homepage. For new users. It says simply, welcome to Twitter. Find out what's happening right now with the people and organizations you care about. Same story at Facebook. Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life. Brilliant. Now the tech novice knows in no uncertain terms when and why these sites would be useful. Twitter is for knowing what's happening, and Facebook is for connecting and sharing. Number two, where do I push? Okay, we know what you're thinking. Sure, Facebook and Twitter can use one sentence taglines because new users come to their sites having already heard about them. Well, yes, but that's the point. Most people today hear about sites from someone else. Your job is to help them fulfill the expectations they have for your service as quickly and convincingly as possible. But how do you help new users fall in love with your site? Take them on a romantic walk. Software should provide a guided path, like a pleasant stroll, where users enjoy the experience of learning what the service can do for them. Too many companies dump new users on the site after registration, expecting them to fend for themselves, and figure out what to do next. Instead, think of your new users as dating your site and guide them through a graceful, intuitive, and delightful get to know you process. For technology novices, learning to initiate, navigate, and personalize the experience is particularly important. Novices also appreciate a tolerance for error. Actions should not feel risky or permanent, but rather fluid and easy to undo if necessary. For example, when Twitter's exemplary onboarding teaches new users how to use the service, it also asks about their interests and immediately uses this information to curate and personalize the experience. During the process, irrelevant functionality is disabled so that the user is guided by just a handful of clearly labeled potential actions.

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Solo but not Alone Too often sites ask users to log in with their Facebook credentials before earning their trust. Doing so may disaffect novice and experienced users alike. Many novice web users have novice web friends and may not have many contacts online. Others would like to connect with new people outside of Facebook or, gasp, prefer not to have a Facebook account at all. On the other end of the spectrum, members of the tech savvy crowd are shying away from using the Facebook login for third party sites as they become increasingly wary of yet another app threatening to spam their friends. In both use cases, when a site forces users to create an account or log in with Facebook before they are sure they want to use the service, it risks losing them for good. This isn't to say you shouldn't give users the option of logging in with Facebook eventually, we're just advocating for making them fall in love with you first. Websites should be valuable and engaging to new users before they sign up for an account, and even if none of their friends have joined. For example, Pinterest allows unregistered users to browse freely before creating an account. Users are asked to log in with Facebook only after they decide they want in, and even after they join. They can start repinning, liking and commenting right away, with or without their friends joining the service. Certainly, having a particular user in mind is key to designing products to fit their specific needs. However, even if your target user is not a web novice, ensuring that your site is usable by even the least experienced visitor will pay off. Everyone appreciates an intuitive interface which anticipates the user's next step. To take a product into the mainstream, it must be simple. It must cater to people who don't care what the technology can do, just that it can get their job done. This is where large yet untapped opportunities still lay waiting for entrepreneurs who can build simple solutions to overly complex problems.

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