Announcing Score7

I’ve started a new blog called Score 7, which will rail against dissapointing trends in video game media and celebrate the unsung heroes.  If you’re interested in the growth of this industry too, take a look:

Score 7

I’ll still publish to this blog about general digital design stuff, I’ll just have them going in parallel.

Filed under: folly, revolutions, user-centred

Finding the formula

I’m fascinated by the lifecycle of TV shows and what makes one survive over another. Ultimately it comes down to the advertising value and the ROI for the series, but it strikes me that the shows that live on tend to be the ones that hit on a good formula.  Get the right formula and the audiences keep showing up for more.

A show like Bones, which isn’t particularly innovative or fresh, has apparently struck a good formula of detective stories and quirky drama.  Most importantly, they have a good grip on what works about the show and keep delivering on the successful formula.  Contrast that with Heroes, which brought something fresh and new, but they don’t seem to know what exactly their winning formula was.

There’s a parallel with successful companies – dig back in the history of a lot of companies and you’ll find the story of a few people who hit on a good formula then built a business by repeating it and scaling it up.  Do you know the formula of your own company?  Does the company know it’s formula?  If you just had a great success, do you actually know what the formula to repeat it will be?

Filed under: method, user-centred , audience, bones, branding, companies, formula, heroes, simplify, strategy, success

Anyone can make a compelling promotion

I’ve settled on a simple formula for crafting a promotional message.   The approach is to engage the target audience on a basic emotional level plus a rational intentional level, then have a single obvious next step for them to take.  Granted, some promotions may be simpler or more complex, but for the vast majority fit this formula.  The benefit is that it really gets to the core of what not only captures a person’s attention, but then causes them to follow through and respond to the ad.

The first and most impactful aspect of the promotion should be an immediate emotional hook.  The best way to craft this is to get inside the head of the person and understand what are the emotional buttons for this subject matter, and aim for one directly (I’m talking about doing a little ethnography here).  Chances are the people you talk to will not consciously be aware of these emotive buttons and you’ll need to look deeper than their surface explanations.  This is the part that makes the person really genuinely want to engage.  For example lets say the promotion is for a phone – here’s where you provide an image of style, status, dating or suchlike.  There’s no rational argument, it’s just a raw emotional “I need that” pull.

The moment after you’ve caught their attention, the person’s conscious thought processes will catch up and they’ll be looking for a sound reason to back up their initial instinctive response (an ‘albi’ in Clotaire Rapaille’s lingo).  Here’s where you need to present the offer, argument or statement that will carry the person on to take action.  For the phone, this is probably a price point or new feature that makes rational sense as a cause to engage further.  This needs to be as simple as possible – one idea, one statement, not a laundry list of stuff. Simpler gets you more memorable and understandable.

Finally, now that you have their attention and engagement, give them one thing to do next.  In marketing jargon this is the call to action. Phone this number, go to this website.  Again, something simple and memorable.  You really want them to do this one thing after all, right?

The hard part in all this is translating the insight about the emotional hot-buttons into a relevant, appropriate design.  You can’t beat having a talented creative involved who understands the nuances and how to address them with design concepts.  The rest is just a matter of discipline and not cramming in unnecessary junk!

Filed under: creative delivery, method, user-centred , ads, formula, marketing, promotions

Google’s choice of utility over beauty

Bruce Temkin, whose blog I follow fervently, just commented on the design approach taken by Google.  He felt conflicted after reading insights into Google’s method and raised the question of whether good design needs a soul.  It’s a great question. Here’s the comment I made:

There’s no question in my mind that Google does indeed take the soul out of their design. They’re so good at speed and utility that they can get away with it, but if it were an even choice between Google and another search that worked just as well, that had a more delightful design, there wouldn’t be any contest.
That said there’s always a tension between beautiful design and practical utility, and more often it’s better to achieve one really well than make something halfway between which is half as good. That Google chose to take the utilitarian approach meant they could focus on doing their thing without distraction, and clearly it worked out well. It’s a very rare company that can achieve both utility and gorgeous design.

My response is largely based on witnessing attempts (including my own) to achieve both utility and beauty that end in a disappointing compromise.  Apple is the company that does both utility and beauty – and proves it is possible to have both – but it’s very difficult to achieve what they do.  It’s no mistake that few other companies also achieve it.

Filed under: creative delivery, method, style, user interface, user-centred , apple, beauty, compromise, delight, design, google, method, soul, utilitarian, utility

Xbox 360 New Interface and Avatars

It seems like a fair time to revisit my previous post about the Xbox 360 digital facelift.

I started off by lamenting the work-in-progress nature of console interfaces these days.  Well generally the new Apple-style interface does seem an improvement over the very confusing ‘blades’ system, and the upgrade process was pleasantly fast and effortless.  Could they have fixed their previous interface without totally redesigning it?  I would say yes, but this isn’t so much about redesign…  

It’s immediately evident that the real objective for Microsoft is about introducing their avatars and opening up their marketing/sales opportunities for downloadable content. Most notably, while there are some usability improvements here, the amount of ads and sales channels are borderline irritating and introduce needless steps between turning on the console and playing a game.

Referring again to my previous post, I was concerned that Cover Flow wouldn’t work for the complexity of the menu options. I think I was half right there.  In addition to left-right navigation of the current menu, which is very pleasant and fits very well, they’ve added an up-down channel selection carousel which is rather less successful.  It’s definitely visually pleasing but I often find myself lost.

Comparing the avatars to the Miis on the Nintendo Wii, I’d say they made some mistakes:

Flexibility – Wii avatars allow for detailed customization (eg, choose exactly how far apart your eyebrows are) whereas the Xbox avatars are quite limited in their flexibility (I doubt we’ll see caricatures of famous people on Xbox)

Optional – Wii avatars are an option in many games and are found under a sub-section of the main menu, whereas Xbox avatars are forced upon you and shown front-and-centre whenever you start the console

Style – Although the Wii avatars have a cartoony cuteness about them, their high level of  simplification allows for a wide range of character styles to be made, whereas the Xbox avatars are firmly set in a cute, family-friendly style

Ulterior motive – there’s no doubt that the Xbox avatars are part of a plan to introduce monetized content (ie, pay for clothing upgrades)

Overall, I’ve no doubt that the target audience they are now aiming at will lap this up. The monetization and downloadable content features are also very impressive, if a little too geared towards Microsoft’s interests than the customer’s enjoyment.  One of the biggest factors in brand affinity is simply the question ‘is it me?’ and while they’ve given a new consumer segment good reasons to say Yes, I suspect there’s a large number of people from the established base who are a little doubtful in their answer now.

PS – I’ll save the usability horrors of the PS3 interface for another day – just so you know I’m not only about Microsoft-bashing

Filed under: 3D, folly, presentation, style, trends, user interface, user-centred , avatars, downloadable content, microsoft, miis, monetization, ui, usability, user experience, user interface, wii, xbox 360