Nathan Snell :: The Technopian

Experience and Creating It

I have been involved with a lot of projects that have involved a lot of designing (websites, games, social networks, etc). I’ve spent more time sitting around a big oval table than I would have like to have (as is often the case when it comes to that kind of stuff, I guess). The worst part about it is that while you might put three hours into getting that color, table position, or other design element “perfect”, most people don’t notice. But that does not mean they don’t care.

This is something I’ve picked up from reading Signal vs. Noise by 37signals. So what is Signal vs. Noise? On the top level it’s a great blog about design by some guys who do a great job of it. But under the surface it’s a genius marketing blog. They lure you in with the guise of just being about design so you take a few reads and offering free candy (not really). This works out well as it’s likely you’re a potential customer. After reading a few posts, you see they discuss a variety of things including why they chose to design parts of their products the way they did. Sometimes they even go into depth on even the smallest design element (I mean that as no insult, I find it fascinating).

That’s where they get you. Suddenly you start seeing and hearing what was discussed in those meetings. You begin to see the time that was taken into making the decisions that lead up to the product you’re using today. If you decide to use the product, you oddly feel a different kind of experience. You have a bit of intimate knowledge about it. “Oh, there’s that gold, uncolor text they wrote about,” you think. It’s like these elements are now features instead of just a piece of the bigger, final puzzle that you really want to be looking at. It adds a different, special experience.

It’s an entirely different approached centered around helping people notice.

Creating this experience is a bit of an art, though. For example, explaining how you wasted an hour deciding between whether your submit button read “Submit” or “Publish” is probably a bad idea. Try it out, though. The worse thing that happens is that people understand why you made a decision (which actually is a good thing). Best case is you’re a natural and they notice something they hadn’t noticed before.

p.s. Apparently Firefox Beta 3 only sometimes believes “doesn’t” is a proper contraction. Anyone else having this issue?

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