Philosophy
"Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that it's invisible." Don Norman's sentiment dramatically changed the way I approach design strategy, which inspired me to develop these three core tenants. They serve as a foundation to measurable success in every project I lead.
1. Time
"Time isn't the main thing. It's the only thing" - Miles Davis
You can lose money in the stock market and then make it back, but no one has ever recovered a second of their time. The moment a customer begins engaging with your brand they are investing this most valuable asset. In digital experiences we would lower their risk by front-loading our timelines with sufficient learning. This will enable us to understand their motivations and needs, identify their pain points, and then solve them through design to help them achieve their goals. This ensures a clear value-exchange for their investment.
2. Delight
"The key is to set realistic expectations, and then not just meet them, exceed them." - Sir Richard Branson
If Henry Ford had asked people what they wanted, they would have said "a faster horse". It's not the customer's job to know what they want. They all knew the problem: transportation took too long. When we help businesses understand the customer problem and then pour our time and resources into solving it, the transactional now becomes delightful. Customers will then no longer question if they should hand you their money, but rather why they shouldn't.
3. Impact
"If you don't clearly define the goal, it is impossible to determine the best method to track performance." - Neilsen Norman Group
You can't improve that which you don't measure, but clicks and page views are rarely the type of data that will give us insight into users' needs. To ensure that both customer and business goals are represented, it's critical for ux leaders to be at the table when determining kpi's. Then a learning agenda can be established so multiple forms of data are triangulated to ensure that iterative decisions are well-informed.
