Destruction is always sexier

Which of these two images, attract your attention.

• Quickly
• Deeply
• Longterm

This is the irony of our attention. Destruction is more sexier than construction. Maybe that is the reason why, TV Media shows so much more negative imagery.

Few comparisions :

• Construction – is slow and messy, while destruction is flashy.
• Destruction triggers our fight-or-flight response
• Appreciation of construction needs healthy mind
• Destruction wows everyone

The other attention grabbers are mystery, challenge, humor …

It is very tempting for designers to use this affinity of our mind to the spectacular (often destructive) images. But then.. it is always easy to inspire humans to go for war (or terror), while it is very difficult to motivate them to be creative and build something valueable. Ask US Prez, how difficult it would be to realize energy independence (versus energy dominance).

As a designer of experiences, it is very essential to recognise the power of imagery and the responsibility of using it.

Passion but not addiction

Salt to Taste – designers can give better guidance than that

1. How does one decide how much of salt is good taste ?
2. Can a recipe designer guide better ?

Amount of salt is important part of taste of many foods. Yet all the recipes, come with a disclaimer – salt to taste !

Why ?

because salty taste depends on :

1. Salt sensitivity of individual tongue

2. What you eat along (and its saltiness) is dynamic

3. What you eat before and after also matters

This is a challenge for a designer of experiences. Some design parameters have dynamic impact on the final experience.

The following might help :

• Offer multiple versions of design (like shampoo designers do)
• Hire tasters with same sensitivity as end users (or designer him/herself becomes such a taster).
• Allow some variations in dynamic design parameter (Salt) at the end user level.
• Guide end user (by giving samples with corresponding salt levels) so that end user can take an average design to great levels on his/her own.

Designing for great experience requires one to understand the user at much deeper level.

We need fat-meter turning Red

Ignore-if-you-don’t-see-it attitude towards even critical things

Seth’s Blog: The problem with “global warming”:

“Because you don’t see your coal being burned (it accounts for 75% of US electricity) and because the stuff coming out of your car is invisible, and because you don’t live near a glacier, it’s all invisible.”

Ignore-if-you-don’t-see-it

This applies to bigger issues like global warming, as well to personal projects like reducing weight. If you start becoming fat, but don’t notice much, you would probably do nothing about it. However one day some one comments or you realize how shockingly out of shape you became. That drives you to crash diets and morning walks.

Challenge in design is to understand this phenomenon, and still create experiences which are benefitial in long run (like reducing global warming – or “atmosphere cancer”).

Most of fast food, furniture design, consumer electronics takes advantage of this phenomenon, while ignoring basic design issues.

Long is boring, short is in effective !!

Seth says it much better !

Seth’s Blog: Once more, but slowly

The paradox is that the long stuff gets skipped. The long stuff gets ignored. Short books sell better, short commercials get more viewers. So repetition becomes essential.

Isn’t that a struggle for every artist, marketing guy, teacher ….

Attention is very scarce commodity, best poetry is one which makes a statement within that few moments of available attention from the reader /viewer.

My Design for experience video in vsocial

Design for Human experience – my video

Browser design – a diary of my online experiences

Why can’t my browser help me create such diaries ?

Capture life, re-imagine it …

impressions, clips, notes, observations, friends, opinions, …..

Why are browsers not designed as a book ?