Goal-Directed Design

If we design and construct products in such a way that the people who use them achieve their goals, these people will be satisfied, effective,and happy and will gladly pay for the products and recommend that others do the same. Assuming that this can be achieved in a cost-effective manner, it will translate into business success.

One of my all time favorite books. I definitely need to read it again the upcoming months. There is no other book that changed the way I perceive the world more than this one. For those who read the book and take the advice by heart know how much it will change the you.

A lot has been written about user interfaces in software and online services. About face 1, 2 & 3 are probably the best books in the field. These books give you some insight in the psychological effect good and bad interfaces have on users. But most info is about common mistakes, best practices and technical aspects of the interface. So lets forget all this.

Lets go back to the basics of the interface. Its soul purpose is to communicate. What would an interface of an online service look like and how would it behave if you model it around the best practices found in How to win friend and influence people.

Today I was at High Profile’s New media Congress 07. An event for event organizers about new media. Most talks were about blogging, online video and online event participant registration and some hints about flickr, twitter and mobile internet. It is amazing how low tech this branch is, these parties still use a fax to confirm your registration.

As an event organizer you provide the services to get an event together. For me it is much like the travel agencies. The hook you up to a hotel in Italy and arrange the flight for you. The way the travel branch has developed in last couple of years is totally different though. All you want from these agencies can be done online. When will this happen in the event industry? Looks like a perfect blue ocean to me.

Users of a service don’t care how it all works. All the code, the logic, data, css and html, they don’t care. What they do care about is what it does for them. People love to involve themselves emotionally in a product. This involvement and the way it changes their lives is way more influential than the product price. If you really want something you’ll pay for it no matter what. People even take proud in the fact that they don’t know a thing about how a service works as long as it does what it’s supposed to do for them.

With commodities people go even further when a service is very important to them. They are willing to take two extra steps to make sure the service will be available to them again in the case something goes wrong as soon as possible. You probably also have an insurance for road service. Two extras to make sure you don’t have to understand anything about your car, but it will be available to you any time any where. Just to be sure.

Do you like your butt huggers in your car?